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Nashville FM Modulation

O

onetake

I wonder if some engineers are confused. AM signals are fine with 120-130% modulation on positive peaks. It's the negative peaks the FCC supposedly monitors.

But anybody with monitoring equipment can see several FMs in this town that continually go 120% or sometimes 130% on overall modulation.

In addition to giving a market some lousy sounding stations it also shows the FCC seems to be a brokerage clearing house for ownership changes as they focus on other things.
Anybody on the board old enough to remember being in fear of the FCC. An engineer caught overmodulating might get more than a fine, but a firing from the employer. Remember the engineer who checked often to make sure the Scott Shannon and Coyote McCloud's had their 3rd class ticket up to date, and how we had to take transmitter readings every 30 minutes and were always attentive to a "surprise inspection from the FCC regional office" which seldom really happened.

Now, like knowing where you can speed on the interstate & not get caught, engineers know the rules say one thing but other things are overlooked. Or is the FCC behind in monitoring this market. They could have a field day with fines if they were taking this as serious as we used to.
 
Yes..I remember all that...even at the cow pasture station I worked at...Someone from a Nashville station would call and warn us..."FCC'S IN TOWN"..we would all be nervous at the prospect of them walking in. The engineer would run in and look at everyone's 3rd class hanging by the transmitter and make sure they were all current..then scramble to make sure his logs were up to date as well as the jock's transmitter logs..but in all the years i worked in radio..i never saw anyone from the FCC.........now at a radio station no longer on the map..i was there when the IRS came in...but that story would fill up too much space here...just to say...they took everything in the building, locked it in the live studio and sealed the door..plastic plants, phones, staplers..everything but the board and records..all rooms bare to the bone..
 
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