Legal IDs and the FCC

[mwaters@wesleyan.edu (Martin J. Waters)]

Previous posts:

<<
True.  And I do think the FCC *used* to enforce this point.  In the '80s,
 WSNE
Taunton-Providence used to do a similar thing, IDing with a jungle of  "93.3,
WSNE <Taunton> Providence!"  The word "Taunton" was spoken quietly  and
quickly
between the sung calls and the sung word "Providence."  They'd  been using it
for
a long time, then suddenly went to the jocks doing live  IDs (with no other
programming/liner/etc. changes).  I was never able to  verify it, but the
consensus was that they got dinged for it.
<<

<I think the case studiy was WGNG.....which was liscenced to PA-TUCK-ET, Rhode
<Island....next door to Providence...Had a great signal for 500(?) watts at
<550AM.

<They were trying to compete with Providence stations....
<And had a sung ID:

         "W-G-N-G! <barely audible:"pawtucket"> RHODE ISLANDDDDD!"

<They were definitely cited for this.

<RE: The WROR ID...Let's face it! ....the FCC doesn't care anymore....While it
<rates high with you and me....It's definitely off their radar screens at the
<moment...

        There are classic case studies all over the place. The earliest one
I remember was WVBF, around 1971, when it first was playing top 40 and
trying to be a major player in the Boston market. It used a stereo ID with
phasing so that "Framingham" was barely audible and "Boston" was shouted.
Well produced, but hilarious. Same thing at WKCI in Connecticut when it
first went to contemporary in the late 1970s-"Hamden" with a hand over the
mouth and "New Haven" shouted. When I heard the new WROR with the same
approach to being saddled with having to say "Framingham," I laughed.
Nostalgia.
        Another trick, which has been used by WKSS, Hartford-Meriden, and a
couple other stations I have heard, is to use a recorded, plain voice, very
quickly spoken legal ID about 10 minutes before the hour. Then the top of
the hour break is a big-production jingle declaring, "Kiss 95.7,
Connecticut" or some such. Never mind the name of a suburb, a lot of these
stations don't want to say the call letters if they can help it, because
it's not their promotional identity. This second way of doing it is clearly
against the rules, which say the ID is supposed to be as close to the hour
as possible given natural breaks in programming.
        Then, of course, there's the all-inclusive ID. My favorite here at
the moment is WRCH, New Britain-Hartford-Springfield-New Haven. They use
that for a spoken ID. The jingle version is just New Britain-Hartford. The
jingle company probably recommends against trying to sing four cities . . .
        And the best part of it is that, IMHO, 98 percent of listeners
don't care whether WROR says "Framingham" once an hour or how many cities
WRCH lists. They don't notice it, don't know anything about it, and just
plain don't care. They have no concept of legal IDs and all that. They
listen to whatever station comes in loud and plays the songs they like,
same as it's always been.

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