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WRFD Repeats Last Year Stay on Past Sunset Stunt

D

del_griffith

Guest
Listened to WRFD the past two evenings. I learned two things.

One, Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen are a problem for the evangelical movement according to one program according to the Bible Answer Man.

Two, it must be ok to stay on the air past March legal sunset. DST March sunset in Columbus, OH is 7:45. WRFD is not signing off until 8:15, which is April legal sunset in DST. They did the same thing last year when DST advanced early.
 
"One, Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen are a problem for the evangelical movement according to one program according to the Bible Answer Man."

I love this in-fighting between the Fundamentalists. It's about as funny as two radio people bickering about how to program.

Off topic, sorry.
 
Could it be because Daylight Savings Time is has been earlier than usual the past two years?
 
I listen to WBZI a lot and I had thought it was just that their web stream that stayed on but now I do remember that I heard their on air sign off announcement at 5:15pm here in California. Maybe a confusion in their computer clocks?

I used to have my computers running an automatic program to synchronize daily with the NIST clock in Colorado. When they moved the start dates for daylight saving time I have to make the adjustment manually until the standard time resumes. Otherwise they will be off less an hour until the old official date and then an hour early until the original stop date. Funny thing is that XP handles the change ok but not Windows 2000 (expected I guess because it is older) but the surprise is that Vista acts the same as 2K. Wonder how Window 7 will do it.

Here the puzzling fact is that your current local sunset shows as 19:50 (7:50pm) so they are not an hour off but less than half an hour. Has anyone noticed other Ohio daytimers and their sign off now?

I did notice that WBZI/WEDI/WKFI went off correctly before DST began but I can’t say about WRFD. I can not image that they are doing this intentionally, though in some areas the high school football stunt has been observed on Fridays.
 
It really doesn't matter whether it's intentional or not. They aren't playing by the rules they agreed to abide by.

There was a time when it was important to not only play by the rules, but have the necessary people and systems in place to do so. It was a badge of honor.
 
In both WRFD and WBZI's case (I haven't check simulcast partners WEDI and WKFI) the program that does the change has fast forwarded to the April sign off time (7:15 EST/8:15 EDT). Not sure why that would be.
 
del_griffith said:
It really doesn't matter whether it's intentional or not. They aren't playing by the rules they agreed to abide by.

There was a time when it was important to not only play by the rules, but have the necessary people and systems in place to do so. It was a badge of honor.
Click to expand...

The honorable thing for you to do would be to contact the station and let them know. I suspect by your tone you are less concerned about the rules as much as you have a bee in your bonnet about WRFD. We don't have any daytime only stations where I am in Los Angeles but the ones I listen to that have different daytime and nighttime parameters are changing at the requisite times. I suspect the issue is a computer clock glitch though so letting them know would be the neighborly way to handle the situation.

In the WBZI case Greg Gabbard who does their pre-signoff show has been doing promos saying that his show, which must be voice tracked, is airing at times consistent with their authorization. Because of that I believe that they think that that they are in fact going off the air correctly. I’ll be listening to check it as they also off the online stream at the same time.
 
WBZI has some post-sunset authority but I'm not sure what it is, and it sounds like they don't actually use it. They got a letter in the Feb 28, 2007 slew of updates that gives them a whopping 7 watts from sunset until 9:45 PM during the DST part of March. However, that doesn't mean anything because all the Feb 07 PSRA/PSSA changes were rescinded by the FCC due to mistakes in the calculations. Some stations that had flea power at night were showing less PSSA power than their night power.

I think all 3 stations of theirs have some amount of pre-sunrise authority, which they do use. WBZI signs on sometime before 7:00 AM, even in January.

Sounds like a programming error. I wonder if some of the older transmitter controls were programmed in such a way that they puke on the earlier DST switch?
 
nmoore6676 said:
del_griffith said:
It really doesn't matter whether it's intentional or not. They aren't playing by the rules they agreed to abide by.

There was a time when it was important to not only play by the rules, but have the necessary people and systems in place to do so. It was a badge of honor.
Click to expand...

The honorable thing for you to do would be to contact the station and let them know. I suspect by your tone you are less concerned about the rules as much as you have a bee in your bonnet about WRFD. We don't have any daytime only stations where I am in Los Angeles but the ones I listen to that have different daytime and nighttime parameters are changing at the requisite times. I suspect the issue is a computer clock glitch though so letting them know would be the neighborly way to handle the situation.

In the WBZI case Greg Gabbard who does their pre-signoff show has been doing promos saying that his show, which must be voice tracked, is airing at times consistent with their authorization. Because of that I believe that they think that that they are in fact going off the air correctly. I’ll be listening to check it as they also off the online stream at the same time.
Click to expand...

The only bee in my bonnet is they should care enough to make sure they follow the rules. Nothing more. Nothing less.

I know the new business model is to robomate stations as much as possible. WRFD has done the same. But someone should be responsibe whether it be the gm, program director, operations manager, receptionist or someone to keep an ear on the station and what it's doing, including power up/power down or sign on or sign off.

Although it probably has happened, I have never heard WBNS, WMNI or WTVN ever miss a power up or power down or directional change. How do these guys make it happen on a regular basis, yet this is the second year WRFD has had the same problem at the same time?
 
I forgot to mention, I did call. Last year AND this year.

I also tried to call when I heard it happen, but alas no one was there to answer.
 
del_griffith said:
I forgot to mention, I did call. Last year AND this year.

I also tried to call when I heard it happen, but alas no one was there to answer.
Click to expand...

WBZI signed off at 5:17pm PDT which may have been due to internet delay so probably at 8:15pm there. I am not sure why they are signing off at approximately twilight and not sunset. It isn't an hour off which could be attributed to the DST snafu with some computer clocks.

I did not check WRFD and it may not shut down their stream anyway. However if you have not reached them by phone, not likely when it is automated then you might try a letter. Then if they don't respond I suppose that it would be appropriate to notify the FCC. They do still issue citations for improper operation for power up and down as well as directional operation of AM stations. It would depend on them sending a field engineer to make official observations so there might be budget issues.
 
gr8oldies said:
By the way WBZI was still on past 7:45 as well as its 1090 simulcast partner, though 1130 was off
Click to expand...

WEDI (1130) was off the air last Saturday to replace the transmitter. They were supposed to be back on the air Sunday thoughand the sign off was at 8:15 (on the internet) as I noted above. I listen every weekend to Chubby Howard and usually I just leave the computer on until they sign off.
 
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