Pre-power change announcements

["Rick Harrington" <rickh@mvp.net>]

Bill O'Neill wrote

>I heard a story, years ago, perhaps myth, that some stations actually did a
>legal ID at pattern change because a good portion of the signal would be
>non-existent after the switch.

No myth at all, although it wasn't a requirement.  I was at a 1K/.5K
directional AM on 570.  Daytime power & pattern had the major lobe east, and
we were listenable for about 250 miles.  At power change, we dropped to 500
watts straight north, and there were towns where we literally sounded local
during the day, only to just disappear at night.

Therefore, we began a "courtesy" announcement--"WXXX,  COL now pauses to
change to nighttime power and pattern..." <buzz, crackle> then on with the
show...

We also did it in the mornings to give folks the chance to lower their radio
volume before we lit the burner.

The log also had a designation for spots that HAD to run during high power
(i.e. advertisers in towns we didn't cover on nighttime power/pattern).

Rick Harrington
Zimmer Radio Group
Cape Girardeau, MO

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