Re: WJLT at night (Was RE: WCBS off time...)

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

>Mr. Wollman wrote:
>I took the liberty of forwarding your note to WSM's CE, who is
>probably the only person whose complaints the Funny Cookie Commission
>is likely to listen to these days.  They still probably won't do
>anything.

    With the clear channel stations, that is always someone who might care.
The WTIC (AM) / KRLD combination DX test and silent period for maintenance
a couple months ago was partly, on the part of the WTIC CE, to try to
figure out where interfering signals are coming from. It's actually an
issue for them in their primary coverage area, with people complaining they
can't get the station well enough.

    A few years ago I had the opposite experience during my one-person
campaign to get the now-gone-to-FM station on 1110 kHz in Ontario (just
over the Michigan border; COL escapes me now) to stop leaving its day power
on all night, wiping out WBT over much of eastern North America. I wrote to
the FCC, with copies to the WBT CE, and never heard from him.

    Making a very long story very short: Because that station was a
Canadian, the complaint went to the international office of the FCC instead
of the regular "enforcement" division. They contacted the Canadian
regulators. Although many Canadian stations do the thing with ignoring
night pattern/power, the Canadian enforcement actually still takes itself
seriously, at least when a formal case is presented. The station quit its
violations. I was quite happy with the outcome, but I still wonder whether
a similar complaint against a U.S. station would have gotten such a good
result.