I was down the shore, and just for fun, and attempting to relive a great moment in AM radio, if there are any left, I tuned to WCMC/1230. While it was a good signal in Ocean City, particularly for 1230, I couldn’t get the call letters or a station I.D. Not at the top of the hour, not at all. No calls no frequency, nothing but the droopy satellite feed format. Wow, the state of local medium market terrestrial. How sad. Isn’t it a pity. Oh well, back to my portable internet protocol radio. AHHHHHHH, Jingles and Hy Lit Oldies, non-stop, baby. Now that's what I’m talkin' about. Portable internet protocol. And I can take it with me everywhere I go. On the beach, here there and everywhere.
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Now, Who say’s the station I.D. is mandatory?
- Thread starter qtpieislit
- Start date
T
The Beave
Guest
If it's over the air an in a non-part 15 station... the following applies.
Top of the hour legal ID - The FCC requires that every FM station identify themselves within five minutes of each top of the hour with their Call letters, Frequency, and City of license.
Top of the hour legal ID - The FCC requires that every FM station identify themselves within five minutes of each top of the hour with their Call letters, Frequency, and City of license.
The legal ID is required once an hour, which include call letters/city of license and if the calls are used on AM and FM, a designation for the AM or FM. The frequency of the station can also be included in the legal ID but isn't required. The ID must be given plus or minus 10 minutes at an established time each hour, so if its buried within a commercial stop, then it has to be given each hour at that time (ie: :20, :30, :40, etc). If the station wasn't running ANYTHING, I'd say their auromation was el busto.
What a shame. I wonder how it would be if WCMC were
1) Live and local?
2) run by someone who actually gave a s***?
1) Live and local?
2) run by someone who actually gave a s***?
The ID is given as close to the top of the hour in a natural break, and at sign on/off. There is no "AM" designation, as AM is still considerd "Standard Broadcast", althought some do insert the frequency or ownership. ie: the old "610 WIP, Metromedia Radio in Philadelphia" and "10-60 KYW, Westinghouse Broadcasting, serving Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware from Philadelphia". "FM" & "TV" suffix are added when there is another set of root calls on AM, like 1060 KYW Philadelphia and KYW-TV Philadelphia.
Technically, ID's like (I'm going way back here) "WIBG AM & FM, Number 1 in Philadelphia" were not correct, but tolerated. It should have been WIBG/WIBG-FM Phila, or WIBG Philadelphia/WIBG-FM Philadelphia. We use to give them at top AND bottom of the hour till the 70's.
The original Legal ID intent was so that ships at sea and aircraft could triangulate there location with a direction finder...the same way they locate Pirate Stations today...no GPS in the 20's...the 1920's. It's how the Japanese could locate Pearl Harbor in the middle of the Pacific. They knew the general direction and just honed in on the AM radio stations.
Here's Uncle Charlies rules: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2007/octqtr/47cfr73.1201.htm
Technically, ID's like (I'm going way back here) "WIBG AM & FM, Number 1 in Philadelphia" were not correct, but tolerated. It should have been WIBG/WIBG-FM Phila, or WIBG Philadelphia/WIBG-FM Philadelphia. We use to give them at top AND bottom of the hour till the 70's.
The original Legal ID intent was so that ships at sea and aircraft could triangulate there location with a direction finder...the same way they locate Pirate Stations today...no GPS in the 20's...the 1920's. It's how the Japanese could locate Pearl Harbor in the middle of the Pacific. They knew the general direction and just honed in on the AM radio stations.
Here's Uncle Charlies rules: http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/cfr_2007/octqtr/47cfr73.1201.htm
C
ccuphl
Guest
Sam Lit said:
Instead of complaining about it on a message board, why not write a good ol' fashioned letter to the station so it goes into their public file (there's a great moment in radio - people writing letters to the station about programming).
ccuphl said:
Because it’s simply more self-ingratiating to troll about it on the internet than to send it to a disconnected management structure and get a generally insidious truncated response.
I like how everyone has a different answer to precisely when the ID is required. I had a professor tell the class it had to be between :58 and :02.
As it is actually written inin 47CFR73.1201:
One of the interesting ones I've heard lately is "102.9 WMGK Philadelphia's Classic Rock"
As it is actually written inin 47CFR73.1201:
One of the interesting ones I've heard lately is "102.9 WMGK Philadelphia's Classic Rock"
T
The Beave
Guest
DKOCW,
Correct on everything but the times... "Within 5 minutes of the top of the hour within a natural break." meaning if it's music it can go between songs, if it's long form programming... During any natural break (commercials, id break or the like with in that 10 minute span of :55, and :05
Correct on everything but the times... "Within 5 minutes of the top of the hour within a natural break." meaning if it's music it can go between songs, if it's long form programming... During any natural break (commercials, id break or the like with in that 10 minute span of :55, and :05
The Beave said:
Go back and read the ACTUAL citation from the Code of Federal Regulations that dkocw posted, and kindly tell us all exactly where you find the "within 5 minutes" language you claim is in there. Here's a helpful hint: it's not. The current language is exactly as dkocw has it - the very vague "natural break in program offerings."
WCMC...Man, the state of the station makes me cringe. Jim MacMillan is the one man show there now. A class act and perfect gentleman. In spite of the Gary Fischer "slumlord" approach to radio, Jim still cranks out respectable radio. During Phillies games, when I listen most, the id's go; WCMC Wildwood....(into 40 yr old jingle) Classic Oldies WMID..(flintstones bed out w/ tympani drum). Shame, back in the days of Ray Martin, when WCMC had a full staff, they did very good "local" programming. Now even the ID stinks 
T
The Beave
Guest
this was off the ONLY FCC web. The article I had looked at made mention that in 2005 a station was actually fined for a "Late" ID.
I'll see if I can find it again.
I'll see if I can find it again.
The Beave said:
Allow me to help. Here's a link to every document on the FCC website that references the legal ID rule, 73.1201:
http://www.hallikainen.org/FCC/FccRules/CiteFind/0731201.htm
There are a couple of NALs each year that involve legal ID violations, usually as part of a laundry list of other problems observed during FCC inspections.
The closest cites I can find are these:
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-05-702A1.pdf
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-237712A1.pdf
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-254048A1.pdf
In the second one, which concerns WEXM in Virginia, we learn that FCC agents monitored the station "On July 18, 2002, from 12:45pm to 2:07pm, November 27, 2002, from 11:45am to 12:11pm, and December 4, 2002, from 10:50am to 11:10am and from 12:50pm to 1:10pm" and heard no legal ID.
But there's nothing in any of these about the mythical "five-minute" rule, because that's not what the current rule says.
T
The Beave
Guest
OK I digress... I knew the rule that was in effect back in the early 1980's.
thank you deregulation. :-X
thank you deregulation. :-X
C
ccuphl
Guest
dkocw said:
Completely legal. They say "Philadelphia" after the call letters. The 's doesn't make it wrong or illegal.
102.3 in Cape May used to ID as, "WSJL Cape May County" - again, completely legal.
E
eyg2181
Guest
how about "Jersey's Home Of Classic Rock, 105.7 The Hawk" or "G Rock, 106.3 106.5 Jersey's Rock Alternative"
these are the two stations i listen to the most, much better than local WMGK and WRFF, i know of other G and Hawk listeners in my area
these are the two stations i listen to the most, much better than local WMGK and WRFF, i know of other G and Hawk listeners in my area
eyg2181 said:
I have never really heard 105.7 The Hawk's ID since I am out of the coverage area but I know for a fact G-Rock ID's themselves at the top of every hour.......G-Rock dosen't even hide the ID (which many stations with 2+ frequencies tend to do) cause you clearly hear them say "WHTG-FM Eatontown/WBBO Bass River Township; A division of Press Communications serving New Jersey for over 100 years. G-Rock 106-3/106-5".
C
ccuphl
Guest
eyg2181 said:
"WCHR-FM Manahawkin, baby!"
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