PSA - Pre-Sunrise Authority

[BarryATL]

WAOS, Austell operates at 1600 khz. In the 1970s the station was WACX with 500 watts PSA and 1000 watts daytime power. I do not see mention of PSA anymore. Is PSA still out there or did it finally get killed off?

 

[BarryATL]

As an added note, WAOS (WACX) had PSA back in the day when Dick Bird was the chief engineer... he had really long hair back then.

 

[RadioFlyerAtl]

While I don't know specifically if WAOS still has PSRA (Pre-Sunrise Authority) of 500 W, you will normally not find indication of this on online databases, including the FCC's. In fact, you will not even find PSRA or PSSA (Post-Sunset Authority) on a station's license - they are supplemental authorizations. I would venture to say that the majority of PSRA authorizations are still the original Western Union telegrams.

Unless they've had any kind of major modifications at WAOS, the PSRA likely still remains intact.

 

[BarryATL]

By the way... I called it PSA because that is the abbreviation that the Broadcasting Yearbook used in the 70s. The Yearbook did list the pre-sunrise authority for each station that had it. I don't know about post-sunset.

WAOS has had a change in power twice. Same tower. They have gone from 1000w to 5000w to 20,000w daytime.

 

[RadioFlyerAtl]

PSA was exactly correct back in the day and up until Post-Sunset Authority came along in the 80s. That's when they added the additional letter to help differentiate between the two authorizations.

If they haven't changed location, the power increases would only be a minor change in facilities and the PSRA should remain. When a station undergoes a major change in facilities, those authorizations are recalculated. Many stations try to avoid such, because they will either lose or take a hit in PSRA and/or take a big hit in nighttime power after the recalculations.

500 W sure beats their 67 W nighttime authorization, so for the station's sake, I would hope they have it and are utilizing it.

 

[Powell]

And the FCC LOST all of the pre and post sunrise authorities in a "computer mishap" some years ago. ??? If you have that piece of paper you are fine. IF BY CHANCE you lost it, you no longer have it.


Powell

 

[oldiesfan6479]

And the FCC LOST all of the pre and post sunrise authorities in a "computer mishap" some years ago.

Since everything's on computer now (no more paper), let's hope they have a mishap
to the hard drive with all the I-CRAP authorizations.

 

[eacalhoun1]

Recently, I notice this information (pre-sunrise and post-sunset) has been restored to the FCC database. Do a detailed output + CDBS links query for any AM station; in the CDBS section of the results click "station info"; then "click for details"; then "view Correspondence Folder". There is the link for the PSRA and a link for PSSA under imported letters. Here's the link to WAOS's:
http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/corrp_list.pl?Facility_id=36157

Eric

 

[BarryATL]

Okay.. I been looking at the PSRAs and PSSAs of several Atlanta area stations. WGUN is a good example. The PSRA and PSSA have power limits that are lower than the night power of 78 watts. Which power does the station use?

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/corrp_list.pl?Facility_id=72134

 

[RadioFlyerAtl]

The authorizations for PSRA and PSSA present in the correspondence folders for most AMs are not valid. When the change in the start and end dates for Daylight Saving Time went into effect in 2007, the FCC recalculated all Pre-Sunrise and Post-Sunset Authorizations for all stations. They placed these in the correspondence folders and issue a Public Notice for stations to look for their new authorizations. The result was a joke - one of our stations went down to 6 watts PSSA (which was lower than the nighttime authorization), one to 12 watts PSRA (down from 500 watts), and the list went on and on. After all hell broke loose on the issue, they blamed it on "computer error" and rescinded all of those authorizations and told stations to use their current PSRA and PSSA authorizations, but adjusting them slightly to account for the change in DST dates.

They said they were going to recalculate the authorizations after they corrected their "computer error", but I haven't heard any updates. Seems like they have a lot of "computer errors" on this issue...

 

[trusty]

OK. Time out. What is the difference between PSA and Critical Hours?

 

[MsMusicRadio]

Critical hours mean being able to do the hog reports at 4:30 AM before the morning high school football scores.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

OK. Time out. What is the difference between PSA and Critical Hours?

Critical hours are post sunrise and pre sunset during the daytime broadcast day, but are the hours closest to sunrise and sunset, when distant signals are bouncing to an extent.

 

[Bored Op]

OK, so riddle me this: I've always been curious about what happens to a daytimer's pre-sunrise authority if said daytimer is now authorized for full-time operation. Example: The first station I worked at many, many years ago was a 1000 watt ND daytimer - 500 watts pre-sunrise. They later put up another tower to go full-time with 500 watts DA-N. Did the night-time authorization take the place of the pre-sunrise authorization?

 

[BarryATL]

OK. Time out. What is the difference between PSA and Critical Hours?

An example is WDPC, Dallas, GA. They sign on at sunrise with 500 watts. Two hours after sunrise, they go to 5000 watts. Two hours before sunset they drop to 500 watts. At sunset they sign off.

As I understand it, the length of the time required to broadcast at critical hours power is determined by the station whose signal is being protected.

 

[RadioFlyerAtl]

OK, so riddle me this: I've always been curious about what happens to a daytimer's pre-sunrise authority if said daytimer is now authorized for full-time operation. Example: The first station I worked at many, many years ago was a 1000 watt ND daytimer - 500 watts pre-sunrise. They later put up another tower to go full-time with 500 watts DA-N. Did the night-time authorization take the place of the pre-sunrise authorization?

No - the Pre-Sunrise Authorization would still remain.

 

[BarryATL]

RadioFlyerAtl, I cannot believe the FCC does not have the original PSRAs from years ago. How did Broadcasting Yearbook get that information?

 

[RadioFlyerAtl]

I never heard that those authorizations had been "lost" until Powell's message in this thread, but I have no doubt they would make that claim. Almost of the AMs we had were put on the air in the 40s and 50s, and along with their station licenses, they had the original Western Union telegrams authorizing them for Pre-Sunrise operation. If small market stations can keep a single telegram around for 60 plus years, through numerous changes in ownership and just as many changes in management, it shouldn't be difficult for the government agency who issued the authorizations to still have record of such... But I digress.

I would say Broadcasting Yearbook got that information through the station surveys.

 

[taylorengineer]

OK. Time out. What is the difference between PSA and Critical Hours?

An example is WDPC, Dallas, GA. They sign on at sunrise with 500 watts. Two hours after sunrise, they go to 5000 watts. Two hours before sunset they drop to 500 watts. At sunset they sign off.

As I understand it, the length of the time required to broadcast at critical hours power is determined by the station whose signal is being protected.

Hey Barry-

WDPC now has 3.2 kW during critical hours! We built that out last July - the pattern is very close to the regular day pattern.
Along with two new phasor cabinets they have a new DAX5 transmitter and central air for that tiny little building. You would never recognize the place!!