WHIO-FM changes their city of license from Piqua to Pleasant Hill. Is this a ploy to make the owners of WPTW keep slogging along since that's now the only license in Piqua? No transmitter move or modifications are involved. Needless to say this is the Village of Pleasant Hill's first and only license (population 1100) and it's only about 10 miles from Piqua (population 20 thou +). In a side note, Cox has also bought the entire Village of Piqua to give to Bob Neil as part of his retirement package. ;D
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WHIO-FM changes city of license
- Thread starter TANKSBACK
- Start date
I've never understood how a station can have a transmitter in one site yet bill it from another city entirely(WGTZ is one that springs to mind as it is in Bellbrook but billed from Eaton, and WDHT is billed from Urbana but the stick is in Springfield). I've always found this kind of silly. The legal ID should have to come from where the tower is located, not wherever the owners want to bill the station from. How this drives me insane...TANKSBACK said:
alans613 said:
Stations would (almost always) rather bill themselves as in the largest city in their coverage area -- WGTZ and WDHT would both rather bill themselves as Dayton stations. (indeed, WGTZ at least at one time had a rather famous ID trying, with considerable success, to bury the "Eaton" part of the announcement)
Anyway, WDHT doesn't ID as Urbana because it wants to. If it were their choice, they'd announce "WDHT, Dayton". The FCC requires them to announce as Urbana.
Eaton is the "principal community", as far as the FCC is concerned. (probably better known as "city of license", but "principal community" is the terminology in the rules) The FCC regards WGTZ as obligated to serve Eaton; any coverage they have in Springfield, Bellbrook, Dayton, Beavercreek, Kettering, or anywhere else is incidential. At one time, a station was required to provide programming specifically addressing the needs and issues of this principal community. It was required to maintain a main studio in that community. It was required to maintain a public file in that community.
The 92.9 frequency was reserved for use in Eaton; the FCC -- and the people (or at least, the advertising local businesses...) of Eaton expected the frequency to be used to serve the needs of Eaton. Not Dayton, or any other community.
Often, it made sense to locate the transmitter outside the city limits of this principal community. AM transmitters usually require at least an acre of land, often quite a bit more if directional antennas are required. AM towers are a LOT more efficient on land with high conductivity -- which is often found in/near swamps -- which cities often are not interested in annexing, i.e. they often lie just outside the city limits... FM towers also require a fair amount of land, and neighbors will often fight them as "ugly". There are fewer neighbors outside the city limits. To alleviate interference, FM towers must also be at least some minimum distance from the towers of other stations on the same or nearby frequencies. This might require an Eaton station's tower to be located outside the city limits.
Point being, it was often VERY helpful if not absolutely obligatory for a station's tower to be located outside the principal community it was required by the FCC to serve -- and to announce in its ID.
Many of the rules have long since been repealed. The one requiring a station to identify with the principal community on its license is still on the books. So is a policy prohibiting the deletion of a community's only frequency. WDHT, for example, could not change its principal community to Springfield, because that would cost Urbana its only frequency assignment. (among other reasons)
Lengthy point being, there is a reason WGTZ IDs as Eaton, not Bellbrook.
Actually the WGTZ tower is in Brookville, which is north of Dayton, not Bellbrook, which is south of Dayton. That is so the station provides a city grade signal over their city of license which is Eaton. Found out that the WHIO-FM city of license move to Pleasant Hill places it just a few miles closer to the facilities in Dayton and now they will not have to maintain a sepeerate live studio in Pleasant Hill. Both P-Hill and Piqua are in Miami County, the tower is actually in Shelby County just north of the Miami-Shelby county line.
TANKSBACK said:
It's all about the FCC "Main Studio Rule" which is as follows:
§ 73.1125 Station main studio location.
(a) Except for those stations described in paragraph (b) of this section, each AM, FM, and TV broadcast station shall maintain a main studio at one of the following locations:
(1) Within the station's community of license;
(2) At any location within the principal community contour of any AM, FM, or TV broadcast station licensed to the station's community of license; or
(3) Within twenty-five miles from the reference coordinates of the center of its community of license as described in §73.208(a)(1).
And there you have it. The location of the new Media Center on Main street is within 25 miles of Pleasant Hill. It is not within 25 miles of Piqua.
With the city of license in Piqua, Cox has been forced to maintain a main studio in Piqua, including a staff presence and public file. That has been both burdensome and expensive. And all of that burden and expense goes away with this change.
That would make for some entertaining ID's...I can hear it now...KXYZ Dufus Flats/Boise.alans613 said:
w9wi: One of the most interesting station license situations I ever ran into came when I worked at WCGQ in Columbus, Georgia in the early '70's. The studios were in the city of license, Columbus. The tower was in another STATE, across the river in Phenix City, Alabama. Why? Because it was on top of a mountain that was the highest point of land in the vicinity. The tower was actually so short it did not require lights! The Chief Engineer warned new staff members not to go out to the tower because there were some hill rats who lived up there that would shoot at any vehicle that came up the mountain except his. I never challenged his statement and I'm still alive because of that! 
TANKSBACK said:w9wi: The Chief Engineer warned new staff members not to go out to the tower because there were some hill rats who lived up there that would shoot at any vehicle that came up the mountain except his. I never challenged his statement and I'm still alive because of that!
I had one of those too in KY...seems like the locals liked to grow some happy weed, and they didn't like visitors...AT ALL!!!!
...makes me wonder if Richard Hunt is rolling over his grave because of this move. Makes me wish Cox held on to WPTW-AM but I guess that's not an option. If Cox wants to move 85.7 to P-Hill they may as well move the stick there as well...but from their perspective that's not an option either.
Whatever happened to "serving the public interest,conveinience and neccessity"?..Cox and all the others using lip service to the C.O.L. and serving their own interests conveinience and neccessity...per usual.
Not a happy camper.
Whatever happened to "serving the public interest,conveinience and neccessity"?..Cox and all the others using lip service to the C.O.L. and serving their own interests conveinience and neccessity...per usual.
Not a happy camper.
Limp73 said:
Hey, Limp:
Excuse me, but I have to throw the "foul" sign here. WHIO-FM carries news and information for Miami County, and more so especially now that we have the FM signal up north. We produce a half hour Miami County LOCAL public affairs show that airs every Sunday. That's more coverage than ANY area station provides. Show me another radio station in the area that produces more local county news coverage than us...I dare you.
Are you aware...that the tower is not in Miami County? It's in southern Shelby county. And it's not moving, by the way.
There's a lot more that goes into "serving the public interest, convenience and necessity" than where the "city of license" is. In fact, I think only the radio geeks on this board care about this. Ask someone in Miami County who listens to the station if anything has changed, other than the name of the COL mentioned one time per hour per FCC rules. Most listeners do not care about this...as long as the station is on the air, the signal is coming in fine, and giving them what they want to hear.
B
Bob in Dayton
Guest
Jason Roberts posted:
Hey, Limp:
Excuse me, but I have to throw the "foul" sign here. WHIO-FM carries news and information for Miami County, and more so especially now that we have the FM signal up north. We produce a half hour Miami County LOCAL public affairs show that airs every Sunday. That's more coverage than ANY area station provides. Show me another radio station in the area that produces more local county news coverage than us...I dare you.
Are you aware...that the tower is not in Miami County? It's in southern Shelby county. And it's not moving, by the way.
There's a lot more that goes into "serving the public interest, convenience and necessity" than where the "city of license" is. In fact, I think only the radio geeks on this board care about this. Ask someone in Miami County who listens to the station if anything has changed, other than the name of the COL mentioned one time per hour per FCC rules. Most listeners do not care about this...as long as the station is on the air, the signal is coming in fine, and giving them what they want to hear.
Hi Jason -
Good job defending your employer! Everything you say is true! But, just like a savvy politician, you sidestepped the question: WHY EXACTLY DID WHIO-FM CHANGE ITS CITY OF LICENSE? Answer: For its own convenience - so as to not have to maintain a presence or capability in Piqua.
Hey, Limp:
Excuse me, but I have to throw the "foul" sign here. WHIO-FM carries news and information for Miami County, and more so especially now that we have the FM signal up north. We produce a half hour Miami County LOCAL public affairs show that airs every Sunday. That's more coverage than ANY area station provides. Show me another radio station in the area that produces more local county news coverage than us...I dare you.
Are you aware...that the tower is not in Miami County? It's in southern Shelby county. And it's not moving, by the way.
There's a lot more that goes into "serving the public interest, convenience and necessity" than where the "city of license" is. In fact, I think only the radio geeks on this board care about this. Ask someone in Miami County who listens to the station if anything has changed, other than the name of the COL mentioned one time per hour per FCC rules. Most listeners do not care about this...as long as the station is on the air, the signal is coming in fine, and giving them what they want to hear.
Hi Jason -
Good job defending your employer! Everything you say is true! But, just like a savvy politician, you sidestepped the question: WHY EXACTLY DID WHIO-FM CHANGE ITS CITY OF LICENSE? Answer: For its own convenience - so as to not have to maintain a presence or capability in Piqua.
Bob in Dayton said:
I believe Greg Haun, one of our company engineers already addressed this...
Furthermore Bob...is it better to cover on air the news of what's going in Piqua and Miami County as we do, also doing a 30 minute public affairs show on issues relating to Miami County that is not on the air at 3 am, vs. having an employee sitting in an office twiddling their thumbs waiting for an FCC inspector to maybe, some day...show up? Put your business hat on and think about it...
How is the public "interest, convenience and necessity" served by that?
I have no problem speaking out and giving my personal opinion here when we are attacked for doing something already done in this market by other companies. This argument is silly, pointless and, as I've said, only of interest to radio geeks and those who yearn for the "good old days" of Mom and Pop radio, grieving that it won't come back...
Jason. It is Steve. You know internet radio guy. I went by Zack Burns at Oldies 94.5 some many moons ago.
We had that conversation about radio being a business and all, well most people don't get that aspect. If you ask them what a radio station is for they will say to play music, entertain etc. That is the result of the money making operation. Being good at that makes you MORE money.
If any business owner was asked about the financial sense of keeping someone employed to sit somewhere on a whim that a government agency may show up or eliminate the need for it, I wonder what the business owner would say??
A lot of these posts, are for entertainment purposes only as far as I am concerned. This is an example of one.
The people should understand radio is a money making business the same as any other.
That is all now back to the music, news and fun lol!
We had that conversation about radio being a business and all, well most people don't get that aspect. If you ask them what a radio station is for they will say to play music, entertain etc. That is the result of the money making operation. Being good at that makes you MORE money.
If any business owner was asked about the financial sense of keeping someone employed to sit somewhere on a whim that a government agency may show up or eliminate the need for it, I wonder what the business owner would say??
A lot of these posts, are for entertainment purposes only as far as I am concerned. This is an example of one.
The people should understand radio is a money making business the same as any other.
That is all now back to the music, news and fun lol!
Gotta love ole Mr. Roberts defending his employer. Again, Mr. Roberts didn't answer your question. I think the people of Piqua need to know they lost their station thanks in part to Cox. Corporate radios days are almost coming to an end, Mr. Roberts. Smell the coffee son
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