WWVB-FM !?!

[boiseengineer]

CALL LETTER ACTION:
01/11/2008 WWVB-FM FM THE FREE LANCE-STAR PUBLISHING CO. OF FREDERICKSBURG, VA SPOTSYLVANIA VA (was) WYSK-FM

How'd they get that call?

 

[nmoore6676]

CALL LETTER ACTION:
01/11/2008 WWVB-FM FM THE FREE LANCE-STAR PUBLISHING CO. OF FREDERICKSBURG, VA SPOTSYLVANIA VA (was) WYSK-FM

How'd they get that call?

In the old days the calls with an -FM or -TV attached usually designated it as a companion to an existing AM station. I looks as if in these days the -FM or whatever makes it an entirely separate designation. I'm not sure when this changed but you see it a lot now.

 

[Tom Wells]

And they probably don't even do time checks.
Maybe they're going to have an HD-2 with live feed from National Institute of Standards and Technology, hmm?

 

[slim101]

I thought Clear Channel bought those stations years ago.

http://www.lownoiserecords.com/audio/wwv/WWV%20-%20The%20Tick.mp3

 

[nd2023]

I don't think they will want to flip 99.3 The Vibe into a clock station.

 

[jd]

How'd they get that call?

I don't know; maybe because they asked for it? Seriously, with an "-FM" suffix maybe the FCC decided it was okay since it differentiates the station in Virginia from the "standard" station in Colorado. That's assuming that the FCC considers the WWV group of stations "AM's," even if they're not in the standard (AM) broadcast band. And when you think about it, I guess you could call WWVB longwave AM station with a "standards" format [insert collective groan here].

 

[phatdaddy]

The right time, every time! The ticks just keep on coming. WWVB, on a VLF radio near you! :

 

[fybush]

The real answer, I suspect, is that the "real" WWVB in Colorado isn't licensed by the FCC at all - as a government agency, it's licensed through NTIA, most likely, and NTIA doesn't coordinate with the FCC on callsign matters routinely.

 

[jd]

Scott "Sleuth" Fybush...I suspect you may be onto something!

 

[littlejohn]

It's the newest format, the TIME format: m "All of the time, all of the time!"
(With apologies to Glen Clark, from whom I stole it twenty odd years ago)

 

[Tom Wells]

The old WWV/WWVH, in the days of "taped" announcers, boy, that was some good listening.
I could listen for hours and not get bored or overstimulated, except of course for the days when they decided
to throw in a leap second. WOW! Did you HEAR THAT? A 61-second minute!

CHU was never quite so entertaining, except you got hear some french.
I liked to listen for WWVH in the middle of the night. Some nights only WWVH would come in.
There was some story behind the "wahini" who got the job to do the voice for WWVH, but I can't remember now.....long time ago.
She definitely was Hawaiian.

I haven't ever gotten quite as fond of the new digitally reproduced announcers.
Why do you 'spose they changed from National Bureau of Standards to National Inst. of Standards and Technology?

Semantics, just getting rid of Bureaus as part of Reaganism?

 

[nmoore6676]

The real answer, I suspect, is that the "real" WWVB in Colorado isn't licensed by the FCC at all - as a government agency, it's licensed through NTIA, most likely, and NTIA doesn't coordinate with the FCC on callsign matters routinely.

You are correct up to a point. But the FCC does co-ordinate call signs for all types of stations operating from within the United States and it's territories. However WWV predated the FCC as well as the FRC and was assigned the call in 1920 by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor. The FRC was subsequently established in 1927 when broadcasting was becoming very popular and it was decided that a separate agency was needed to handle all of the licensing and establish standards, assign channels and regulate operation.

No one can get three letter calls now but WWV has a companion station WWVH in Hawaii and there is a companion station in Colorado operating at 60 kHz (WWVB). I believe that the original station was part of the Navy department and was meant to transmit time to ships at sea. I am not sure when it transfered to the National Bureau of Standards which is now NIST. I remember tuning to it as a ham operator for time checks and now I have a little program from NIST that syncs my computer's clock.

By the way the comments about the ticks keep happening and all of the time all of the time are very droll ;D

 

[dave388]

i wonder what kind of rating share wwv would pull in ( lol )

 

[nmoore6676]

i wonder what kind of rating share wwv would pull in ( lol )

Not so bad now that AT&T has retired The Time Lady.

 

[qtpieislit]

610 846-1212, The time lady. All time, all the time. Give us 22 minutes; we’ll give you the time. Less music, more time.

 

[boiseengineer]

Since WWVB isn't licensed (by the FCC), why did they need the "-FM" tag?
I'd like to see the paperwork on this one.

 

[nmoore6676]

Since WWVB isn't licensed (by the FCC), why did they need the "-FM" tag?
I'd like to see the paperwork on this one.

The FCC coordinates the call letters within the United States and it's territories, even for agencies of the government that it does not license. There is by treaty an international agreement covering call assignments so that no two stations would have the same calls.

I think that in the early days of television it was kind of relaxed as I remember for instance WHIO, channel seven in Dayton being just WHIO but their FM was WHIO-FM. Also there were WBNS and WTVN, Columbus as well as WCPO and WKRC, also in Cincinnati. The Crosley stations (WLW) used WLW-T, Cincinnati; WLW-D, Dayton; WLW-C, Columbus. I remember that WSM, Nashville also used the same calls for radio and Television. Other people can say what was done in their cities. Maybe they thought TV was so different from radio that it wouldn't create confusion but then that would have been true for FM as well which was also radio but using a different modulation technology.

Today there appears to be a different kind of relaxation in that stations miles apart are using the same calls with an FM and in some of those cases they are not even co-owned. Here in LA and also New York the ABC radio stations appear to be keeping the original calls that are also being used by what were their companions on TV. Maybe someone at the FCC will read all of this and elucidate.

 

[pqgeorge]

i wonder what kind of rating share wwv would pull in ( lol )

Not so bad now that AT&T has retired The Time Lady.

The current voice of WWVH (Kauai, Hawaii) is that of the late, Jane Barbe (who was not Hawaiian but was a native of Atlanta, GA). She was a wonderful and pleasant lady (with a pleasant voice to match) who also was famous for the "time of day" service she voiced in many cities up until a few years ago. She also was the voice of the telephone "intercept" service that would tell you that "the number you have reached" has been disconnected and such. She passed away about 4 years ago but her voice will continue for many years into the future on WWVH. You can hear her on 2.5, 5, 10 and 15 MHz (shortwave) or via phone at 808.335.4363 (not-a-toll-free-number, but it only costs you a couple of cents per minute).

Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts

 

[Tom Wells]

i wonder what kind of rating share wwv would pull in ( lol )

Not so bad now that AT&T has retired The Time Lady.

The current voice of WWVH (Kauai, Hawaii) is that of the late, Jane Barbe (who was not Hawaiian but was a native of Atlanta, GA). She was a wonderful and pleasant lady (with a pleasant voice to match) who also was famous for the "time of day" service she voiced in many cities up until a few years ago. She also was the voice of the telephone "intercept" service that would tell you that "the number you have reached" has been disconnected and such. She passed away about 4 years ago but her voice will continue for many years into the future on WWVH. You can hear her on 2.5, 5, 10 and 15 MHz (shortwave) or via phone at 808.335.4363 (not-a-toll-free-number, but it only costs you a couple of cents per minute).

Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts

Was she the voice on announces in the "old days" before the digitized announcements?

Does anyone remember when the change to digital announces happened? Seems like '92 to me.

 

[pqgeorge]

i wonder what kind of rating share wwv would pull in ( lol )

Not so bad now that AT&T has retired The Time Lady.

The current voice of WWVH (Kauai, Hawaii) is that of the late, Jane Barbe (who was not Hawaiian but was a native of Atlanta, GA). She was a wonderful and pleasant lady (with a pleasant voice to match) who also was famous for the "time of day" service she voiced in many cities up until a few years ago. She also was the voice of the telephone "intercept" service that would tell you that "the number you have reached" has been disconnected and such. She passed away about 4 years ago but her voice will continue for many years into the future on WWVH. You can hear her on 2.5, 5, 10 and 15 MHz (shortwave) or via phone at 808.335.4363 (not-a-toll-free-number, but it only costs you a couple of cents per minute).

Peter Q. George (K1XRB)
Whitman, Massachusetts

Was she the voice on announces in the "old days" before the digitized announcements?

Does anyone remember when the change to digital announces happened? Seems like '92 to me.

Jane's is the voice of WWVH since 1971 when they switched to an "every-minute" format (as compared to the old every "five-minute" format). The voice prior to 1971 was the same as WWV, that of Don Elliott (Heald) a well known Atlanta radio/TV personality (now retired). Jane's voice was temporarily on hiatus for a short time in 1992, when WWVH switched to a new digitized voice that was barely readable through the static of shortwave. That voice got so many bad reviews and complaints by listeners that it was quickly shelved (thank God!). They had Jane do some new voice-overs for WWVH, including the twice hourly station ID (at :29 and and :59 minutes past the hour) that is still in use today. Eventhough Jane is no longer with us, her voice is still there, giving the time every hour, every day.