new COL for WSOS-FM?

[djtommyr]

Last night, I could swear I heard "WSOS-FM, Fruit Cove, Saint Augustine, Jacksonville."

Watch it now. Stations can name other communities, but the actual city of license has to come first. (Think of the humorous "WJXR, Macclenny, Jacksonville, Orange Park, and The Beaches.")

So did 94.1's COL change with the last upgrade? Fruit Cove--a census designated place on State Road 13 just south of the Jacksonville line--is certainly in the A-grade signal area.

 

[mustangrio]

> Last night, I could swear I heard "WSOS-FM, Fruit Cove,
> Saint Augustine, Jacksonville."
>
> Watch it now. Stations can name other communities, but the
> actual city of license has to come first. (Think of the
> humorous "WJXR, Macclenny, Jacksonville, Orange Park, and
> The Beaches.")
>
> So did 94.1's COL change with the last upgrade? Fruit
> Cove--a census designated place on State Road 13 just south
> of the Jacksonville line--is certainly in the A-grade signal
> area.
>
But i thought and correct me if i'm wrong but its the city that the transmitter is in?

 

[mburg]

well djtommyr you are right about hearing the COL change...it did and its legal....and for mustangrio the COL does not have to be where the transmitter is located at...take WGNE-FM (99.9 Gator Country) for example. The COL is Middleburg but the transmitter is located in downtown Jacksonville on the tower by Alltel that is shared with WEJZ and WAPE....all the COL means is that as long the signal covers more that 50 percent of the COL the transmitter can be anywhere to get that 50 percent.

mburg

> > Last night, I could swear I heard "WSOS-FM, Fruit Cove,
> > Saint Augustine, Jacksonville."
> >
> > Watch it now. Stations can name other communities, but
> the
> > actual city of license has to come first. (Think of the
> > humorous "WJXR, Macclenny, Jacksonville, Orange Park, and
> > The Beaches.")
> >
> > So did 94.1's COL change with the last upgrade? Fruit
> > Cove--a census designated place on State Road 13 just
> south
> > of the Jacksonville line--is certainly in the A-grade
> signal
> > area.
> >
> But i thought and correct me if i'm wrong but its the city
> that the transmitter is in?
>

 

[tibbs]

mburg = Middleburg
Did I make the right connection? You're the COL for Gator???
That's pretty nifty stuff, Mburg.

 

[djtommyr]

> mburg = Middleburg
> Did I make the right connection? You're the COL for Gator???
>
> That's pretty nifty stuff, Mburg.
>

I just got a mental picture of the mobile Jeep studio/transmitter thing at the climax of Pump Up The Volume. Mburg is in Middleburg...wait, now he's in St. Augustine...heading back toward Fruit Cove at a high rate of speed. This guy is nuts, grab him!

This is too much fun.

What were we talking about? Oh yeah...To go back to mustangrio, there is a rule about where your studio must be in relation to your transmitter and signal contour, but the city of license is dictated on the license, and you have to have a copy of your public file within X miles of there. (Right?)

It sure would seem to me to be much easier to broadcast from your transmitter site, which is hopefully in your city of license. Unless you're AM 970 in Jax--where the transmitter is in the middle of a swamp--in which case you would have to wait on low tide to change shifts, or get someone to sponsor a small boat, or trade airtime for some high water boots and a net to catch the snakes.

 

[Braswell]

> What were we talking about? Oh yeah...To go back to
> mustangrio, there is a rule about where your studio must be
> in relation to your transmitter and signal contour, but the
> city of license is dictated on the license, and you have to
> have a copy of your public file within X miles of there.
> (Right?)

Not exactly. For FM radio, you are required to cover at least 80% of the poulation of your assigned city of license, with a minimum of 70 dBu (3.16 mV/m) signal strength. For AM radio, the same applies, except that the signal strength required is 5 mV/m. It does not matter where your transmitter/tower is located, provided you put the right amount of juice over your COL.

As for studios, the rules say that you must maintain a MAIN studio (with a "meaningful presence"...staffed, during business hours, with two management level employees [let's not get into the interpretations of what that means], public access to the public file, and ability to originate and deliver programming to the transmitter) within either (A) a 25 miles radius from the official coordinates of the COL (usually, the main post office), or (B) within the city grade/Grade A contour of any radio (AM or FM) or television station licensed to your COL.

A good example of how liberal this is, is the case of WVMG-AM/FM, licensed to Cochran, Georgia. WVMG(AM) was a kilowatt daytimer on 1440, and WVMG-FM was a 6 kilowatt Class A on 96.7. Several years ago, the new owner relocated the studios to southern Macon, Georgia (about 50 miles away). They were able to do this, because Georgia Public Broadcasting had a full-power UHF televison station licensed to Cochran, and the new studios were within the the Grade A contour of WDCO-TV.

Does that help you get the picture on how the rules can get bent severely out of shape? <P ID="signature">______________
Jay Braswell - Moderator
Atlanta/North Florida/South Carolina/Georgia Boards</P>

 

[RustyCarr]

>>
> Not exactly. For FM radio, you are required to cover at
> least 80% of the poulation of your assigned city of license,
> with a minimum of 70 dBu (3.16 mV/m) signal strength. For AM
> radio, the same applies, except that the signal strength
> required is 5 mV/m. It does not matter where your
> transmitter/tower is located, provided you put the right
> amount of juice over your COL.
>
> As for studios, the rules say that you must maintain a MAIN
> studio (with a "meaningful presence"...staffed, during
> business hours, with two management level employees [let's
> not get into the interpretations of what that means], public
> access to the public file, and ability to originate and
> deliver programming to the transmitter) within either (A) a
> 25 miles radius from the official coordinates of the COL
> (usually, the main post office), or (B) within the city
> grade/Grade A contour of any radio (AM or FM) or television
> station licensed to your COL.
>
> A good example of how liberal this is, is the case of
> WVMG-AM/FM, licensed to Cochran, Georgia. WVMG(AM) was a
> kilowatt daytimer on 1440, and WVMG-FM was a 6 kilowatt
> Class A on 96.7. Several years ago, the new owner relocated
> the studios to southern Macon, Georgia (about 50 miles
> away). They were able to do this, because Georgia Public
> Broadcasting had a full-power UHF televison station licensed
> to Cochran, and the new studios were within the the Grade A
> contour of WDCO-TV.
>
> Does that help you get the picture on how the rules can get
> bent severely out of shape?
>
I assume that the above rules apply only to the COL, not other cities listed in the Legal ID. My favorite of all time has got to be the old WNFI, which listed Palatka, Daytona Beach, Gainesville, Orlando and Jacksonville on the top of the hour ID. Orlando was always a strech to me on that ID, because the signal was real iffy the further south you got on the 4 past the Semoran exit. DB, Gainesvile, and Jax seemed to get good city grade, so no arguments there.

 

[Jeff2]

My all-time favorite "legal" ID was the old South 106 from Alex City, AL. Their studios used to be on Broad Street in Columbus, GA (70 miles away) and their tower is near Auburn.

"South 106, WSTH, Alexander City, Columbus, Phenix City, Auburn, Opelika, Montgomery, LaGrange, The South."

I've got some old South 106 bumper stickers. Maybe they'll be a collector's item someday as they changed to Rooster Country a few years back.

It was a great station for a few years until a series of managers came along who obviously never heard of the old "if it ain't broke" philosophy. It's now part of the CC empire.


> I assume that the above rules apply only to the COL, not
> other cities listed in the Legal ID. My favorite of all
> time has got to be the old WNFI, which listed Palatka,
> Daytona Beach, Gainesville, Orlando and Jacksonville on the
> top of the hour ID. Orlando was always a strech to me on
> that ID, because the signal was real iffy the further south
> you got on the 4 past the Semoran exit. DB, Gainesvile, and
> Jax seemed to get good city grade, so no arguments there.
>

 

[Poledo]

Fibbing in the legal ID

> I assume that the above rules apply only to the COL, not
> other cities listed in the Legal ID. My favorite of all
> time has got to be the old WNFI, which listed Palatka,
> Daytona Beach, Gainesville, Orlando and Jacksonville on the
> top of the hour ID. Orlando was always a strech to me on
> that ID, because the signal was real iffy the further south
> you got on the 4 past the Semoran exit. DB, Gainesvile, and
> Jax seemed to get good city grade, so no arguments there.
>

Back around '93-'95 WYYX Bonifay ID'd with WYYX Bonifay - Panama City - Dothan - Tallahassee - Pensacola - and a whole lotta fish. I don't know if they could be picked up in Tallahassee but their signal died off completely a good 50 miles away from Pensacola.

 

[Braswell]

> I assume that the above rules apply only to the COL, not
> other cities listed in the Legal ID. My favorite of all
> time has got to be the old WNFI, which listed Palatka,
> Daytona Beach, Gainesville, Orlando and Jacksonville on the
> top of the hour ID.

Prior to 1983, you could ONLY use the city of license specified in your license, as part of your legal ID, more or less. Using the above stations as an example, PRIOR to the rule change in '83, they could've said something like, "Serving Daytona Beach, Gainesville, Orlando and Jacksonville, this is WNFI, Palatka".

After the rules changed, provided your official letters were immediately followed by your licensed COL, you could say identify any city you desired, no matter whether you covered or not, i.e., "WNFI, Palatka, Miami, New York, London, Tokyo". If you were willing to believe it, knock yourself out.

The most clever way of "hiding" of an ID I ever heard, had to be WTCB/Orangeburg, South Carolina. After moving their studios from Orangeburg to West Columbia, with a desire to be identified with Columbia, they'd do the weather at the top of the hour..."B-106 Columbia weather, yada, yada, yada. Sunny skies now at WTCB, Orangeburg has 77, Camden reporting 76, Lexington has a warm 79, and it's 77 in Columbia at B-106". It was as smooth as silk, and took me a little while to catch it.
<P ID="signature">______________
Jay Braswell - Moderator
Atlanta/North Florida/South Carolina/Georgia Boards</P>

 

[RustyCarr]

Re: Fibbing in the legal ID

> > I assume that the above rules apply only to the COL, not
> > other cities listed in the Legal ID. My favorite of all
> > time has got to be the old WNFI, which listed Palatka,
> > Daytona Beach, Gainesville, Orlando and Jacksonville on
> the
> > top of the hour ID. Orlando was always a strech to me on
> > that ID, because the signal was real iffy the further
> south
> > you got on the 4 past the Semoran exit. DB, Gainesvile,
> and
> > Jax seemed to get good city grade, so no arguments there.
> >
>
> Back around '93-'95 WYYX Bonifay ID'd with WYYX Bonifay -
> Panama City - Dothan - Tallahassee - Pensacola - and a whole
> lotta fish. I don't know if they could be picked up in
> Tallahassee but their signal died off completely a good 50
> miles away from Pensacola.
>
Wasn't (or isn't) WYYX on 97.7? When I lived in Pensacola, the only time I ever heard WYYX was when 97.5 in Mobile was down with tramsmitter maintainance, power failure, etc, etc. 97.7 is usually a Class A allotment, so the first time I heard them, I thought it was some beginning of a Tropo episode. Just reminising.........

 

[Poledo]

Re: Fibbing in the legal ID

> Wasn't (or isn't) WYYX on 97.7? When I lived in Pensacola,
> the only time I ever heard WYYX was when 97.5 in Mobile was
> down with tramsmitter maintainance, power failure, etc, etc.
> 97.7 is usually a Class A allotment, so the first time I
> heard them, I thought it was some beginning of a Tropo
> episode. Just reminising.........
>
Yeah, WYYX is on 97.7. They get completely overpowered by WABB 97.5 once you drive west of Fort Walton or Crestview. I assume the IDing of Tallahassee and Pensacola was playing off their name "Pirate Radio" and was implying that they were broadcasting with more power than other Panama City/Dothan radio stations. I think the suggestion that they were broadcasting to a "whole lotta fish" was implying that they might be broadcasting from a boat. This was back in the "Pump Up The Volume" days.

I have gotten WYYX in Pensacola a couple of times durring good tropo back with they played Howard Stern but it was much more common to pick up Stern on 97.1 from New Orleans. It was just too hard for 97.7 to compete with their adjacent channel WABB