Re: [neradio] That old Dupe rule

[jwc@travelin.com]

When I was on air at WLKW in Providence (1978 - 1980), I remember the
management was always calculating their percentage of simulcast to make
sure that they complied with all the rules.  I don't recall what the
exact percentage was, but I know we used to have to vary the schedule at
certain times of the year because the AM was a daytimer and we'd run
into problems during the summer when the broadcast day stretched to 8 or
8:15 p.m..

The usual schedule was to simulcast morning drive 6 -9, then board ops
would run the AM from 9-5 with different beautiful music from the FM.
The same announcers would appear in the same time slots, having
pre-recorded the liners.  At 5 p.m., we would go back to simulcasting
until the AM signed off.  Weekends were 100% simulcast.

The hardest part was for the FM jock to remember whether he was on both
stations or only the FM.  Many times I started my shift on both
stations, giving both id's then changed to FM only when the AM signed
off.

A point that has not been mentioned to my knowledge, and a reason many
of the stations wanted to simulcast....home vs car listening.  Even in
the late 70's the majority of cars only had AM radios, so by providing a
simulcast or similar programming, folks could listen in stereo ( a big
deal then) at home on the FM, and listen to the same station in the car
on the AM frequency.  In these instances neither station was a
throwaway, but rather a complement to the other.

Joe Corcoran

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