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Question about the 87.7 FM dial position

BruceS8852

BruceS8852

Aren't all frequencies below 92.1 FM reserved for non-profit stations? If that is the rule, how is The Pulse allowed to be commercial and broadcast there. On the other hand WNYC-FM at 93.9 FM is non-commercial.

Thanks

Bruce
 
Pulse 87.7 is a tv station before anything. It just happens to be that its frequency is available on fm tuners. So, yes, they acknowledge it's Pulse 87, but it's really WNYZ-LP tv. So, as a tv station, they can be a commercial station.

Case in point, WPVI ABC6 in Philly, is a commercial station that fm tuners can receive. The only difference is that Ch. 6 operates like channel 6 and doesn't advertise ABC 87.7 fm
 
As was pointed out already, they are actually *below* the non-commercial part of the dial...88.1 to 91.9, so they are able to operate as a commercial station.

Their TOH ID's have been "WNYZ New York." I have no idea what they show on the video portion of their signal since I see nothing but static despite being not very far from the Citicorp Building (and theoretically within one of their broadcast "lobes").
 
Sam Lit said:
Actually, WPVI does advertise, as a commercial in their newscasts, that you can listen to Action News, in your car, on 87.7 FM. They have been doing this for quite some time.

Now then, how does Pulse 87 ID themselves? Do they say WNYZ LP-TV or FM?
Click to expand...

i was referring to ch 6. being a commercial station that's able to sell commercials. non-comm's from 88-92 cannot sell regular commercial advertising. being that both ch. 6 in ny and philly are commercial tv stations, one being an LP, they're able to operate as a regular tv station that has a benefit of being heard on the fm dial.

also, their TOH isn't WNYZ FM, it's simply WNYZ. Brings me to a question.... Can a station legally use WPVI TV/FM WNYZ TV/FM? If they're both audio and video, what's the ruling to this?
 
myke25 said:
also, their TOH isn't WNYZ FM, it's simply WNYZ. Brings me to a question.... Can a station legally use WPVI TV/FM WNYZ TV/FM? If they're both audio and video, what's the ruling to this?
Click to expand...

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/pubacc/Auth_Files/1228395.pdf

The call letters on the license are WNYZ-LP. That's what they have to run in their ID. Simply "WNYZ" is not legal. (neither is WNYZ-TV or WNYZ-FM) However, since it's a TV station they can ID either in audio *or* video (or both) so if they're showing "WNYZ-LP New York" on the video then it's legal.

(I find it interesting that if you look up their license on the FCC CDBS page, they marked the "digital status" field as "hybrid". Normally only stations that are running IBOC do that. I would be fairly confident it is not legal for a TV station to run IBOC!)
 
At any rate, that "FM" station will go dark in the middle of February 2009, because there won't be any analog TV stations on the air anymore. No analog TV signal means no analog TV audio carrier on 87.75. I don't know if WNYZ-LP is going to "flash-cut" to DTV on 6, or if they are relocating to another channel for their DTV signal. Even if they stay on 6, there will be nothing but DTV hash from 82.0 through 88.0.
 
Philip J. Smith said:
At any rate, that "FM" station will go dark in the middle of February 2009, because there won't be any analog TV stations on the air anymore. No analog TV signal means no analog TV audio carrier on 87.75. I don't know if WNYZ-LP is going to "flash-cut" to DTV on 6, or if they are relocating to another channel for their DTV signal. Even if they stay on 6, there will be nothing but DTV hash from 82.0 through 88.0.
Click to expand...

They're Low Power...the analog-->digital switch does not affect LPTVs (at least Feb 2009)
 
Philip J. Smith said:
At any rate, that "FM" station will go dark in the middle of February 2009, because there won't be any analog TV stations on the air anymore. No analog TV signal means no analog TV audio carrier on 87.75.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. At that point, there will still be one Channel 6 that can be picked up in the U.S. on TV or radio: XETV, the Fox affiliate in San Diego (but licensed to Tijuana, Mexico, where they are not obligated to comply with this analog ruling).
 
Philip J. Smith said:
At any rate, that "FM" station will go dark in the middle of February 2009, because there won't be any analog TV stations on the air anymore. No analog TV signal means no analog TV audio carrier on 87.75. I don't know if WNYZ-LP is going to "flash-cut" to DTV on 6, or if they are relocating to another channel for their DTV signal. Even if they stay on 6, there will be nothing but DTV hash from 82.0 through 88.0.
Click to expand...

As another poster indicated, as a -LP station WNYZ is not subject to the February 2009 deadline. I do believe there will be *a* deadline, and it will be no more than three years into the future, but it hasn't yet been set.

WNYZ has a permit to flash-cut to DTV operation on channel 6.
 
JohnParker said:
What does "flash cut" mean?

Thanks,

jp
Click to expand...

A flash-cut is when a system is changed immediately, with no phase-in period. A flash-cut can also define when multiple components of computer infrastructure is upgraded in multiple ways, all at once, with no phase-in period.

This happens when telephone area codes are split immediately, rather than being phased in with a permissive dialing period. Another example is an immediate switch from an analog TV channel to a digital TV channel. Because these stations was granted an original construction permit after the FCC finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997, the stations did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station. Instead, on or before February 18, 2009, which is the end of the digital TV conversion period for full-service stations, these analog stations will be required to turn off its analog signal and turn on its digital signal (called a "flash-cut").
 
JohnParker said:
What does "flash cut" mean?
Click to expand...

It means that WNYZ will switch directly from analog operation on channel 6 to digital operation on channel 6 without an intermediate digital operation on some other channel.

Contrast to WNBC channel 4, which is operating a digital facility on channel 28 in parallel with their channel 4 analog station. Or WPIX channel 11, which is operating an interim digital facility on channel 33 but will switch back to channel 11 for their permanent digital signal.

(the vast majority of full-power TV stations are operating parallel digital facilities. A very small number of very new stations, none of them in the NYC market, did not receive a second channel for parallel digital operation and will have to flash-cut on their existing channel. Low-power stations were not guaranteed a second channel; quite a few will have to flash-cut.)
 
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