Re: More speculations on 102.1

[Garrett Wollman <wollman>]

<<On Tue, 3 Jun 1997 17:21:34 -0300, "Paul R Hopfgarten" <hopfgapr@sprynet.com> said:

>> details.  (The practical upshot of this is that the Commission appears
>> likely to eliminate the last requirement for stations to actually have
>> anything at all to do with the communities they nominally serve.)

> Do you think the upshot will be allowing stations to change COL (such as
> WBOS,WEGQ,WROR,WXKS-FM etc), or at least not having to ID them?

No.  I don't consider whispering ``Framingham'' (or, for that matter,
``WRCNRi'rh'dWMJCSmi'town'' as happened on Long Island until last
year) ``hav[ing] anything at all to do with the communities'' in
question.  I wouldn't be surprised if this eventually happened, and
may well mention the possibility in my comments to the Commission on
this subject.  The last remaining requirements that have any actual
meaning for the stations are maintaining the mandated electric field
intensity (which is more an accident of science and geography than
anything else), and maintaining a public inspection file *in the
community of license*.  

The old main studio rule went by the boards some years ago, and it is
now acceptable to locate your main studio anywhere within the
principal community contour, with the result that---just to name one
example---SFX's WTRG Rocky Mount, WRDU Wilson, and WRSN Burlington
(N.C.) all have their main studios in Raleigh, some 50-60 miles away
from all three.  (SFX doesn't actually own any properties licensed to
Raleigh.)

Stations are still nominally required to prepare ``Programs and
Issues'' docuents for their public files, but nobody pays much
attention to them and in any case stations can easily make up
``issues'' which are generic enough to apply to any community of
license anywhere in the country.  And let's be honest here: what kinds
of programs and issues can there be in Somersworth, N.H., which would
not be shared by Dover?  I can think of a few, but none of them are
likely subjects for programming on an AC station...

I actually think it's reasonable, given the unlikelihood of any
significant reform coming in the other arenas, to allow stations to
put their public files in the same facility as their Main Studio Rule
main studios (as distinguished, of course, from their actual main
studios, as in the case of WCYI in Lewiston).  I would like to see an
additional requirement, which of course won't happen, for stations to
make periodic (e.g., weekly or monthly) announcements about the public
file so that the public actually knows that there is such a thing and
where it is located.

- -GAWollman

- --
Garrett A. Wollman   | O Siem / We are all family / O Siem / We're all the same
wollman@lcs.mit.edu  | O Siem / The fires of freedom 
Opinions not those of| Dance in the burning flame
MIT, LCS, CRS, or NSA|                     - Susan Aglukark and Chad Irschick

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