RE: Rimshot IDs

[Aaron Read <aread@speakeasy.net>]

At 08:16 PM 2/20/2003 -0500, Paul Hopfgarten wrote:
>BTW: Regarding Translators....most stations don't 'blurt' out the translator
>calls any more frequently than the FCC requirement (is it one every 3 hrs?
>6hrs?) ANyway, is there anyone more PROUD of their translator than WOKQ?

FCC 74.1283 (c)(1)
(regarding FM translators)

Three such identifications shall be made during each day: once
between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m., once between 12:55 p.m. and 1:05 p.m. and
once between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Stations which do not begin their
broadcast before 9 a.m. shall make their first identification at the
beginning of their broadcast days.



>"W250AB Manchester-Downtown" every hour starting their ID..
>
>OH, and isn't 250 watts rather high for a translator, and is
>"Manchester-Downtown" the COL?

250 watts is the maximum ERP allowed for translators, accounting for HAAT 
of course.



>NHPR, OTOH, seems to not want you to know that 90.3 Nashua and 104.3 Dover
>are translators.

NHPR would be happy if they didn't have to give call letters at all.  They 
gave us (the production crew at WBUR) flak whenever we referred to them as 
"Wee-Voh" (WEVO - their original transmitter) publicly* instead of as "N-H-P-R"
(* by which I mean to guests and whatnot, we never said "Wee-Voh" on the 
air! :-)


Speaking of carts for legal ID's...we recorded several hosts/anchors 
reading WBUR's legal ID's into the AudioVault while I was there.  Last I 
checked the local breaks (with the exception of the :04 to :06 news break) 
from 10am to 12n are all still pre-recorded...so the legal ID's during that 
time are all off the Vault as well.   If you listen close you can usually 
hear the slight change in the timbre of the voice.

The slight pause at :59:40 to start the legal ID is for the breakaway to do 
the "Cape Cod-only" legal ID for WBUR-AM (WSDH and WCCT I believe both get 
their WBUR feed off VERY tuned antennas to the 90.9 broadcast in 
Needham)   That started back in 1998 or 1999...I forget exactly when but I 
remember it was a major test of the AudioVault's automation capabilities at 
the time (that was before WBUR used the Vault as its primary means of 
time-delaying shows off the bird).   I remember we also thought it was a 
pathetic suck-up to the Cape listeners.

Funny thing is...at one point the Cape-only ID was discontinued (this was 
after I left, but I remember tuning in to WBUR-AM a few summers ago and 
hearing the 90.9 in the legal), but the pause at :59:40 for the structure 
remains.  I don't know if the Cape-only ID has be re-instituted or 
not.   Mr. Faneuf, can you check the WBUR-AM monitor/return feed if you get 
a chance?  :-)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aaron "Bishop" Read             aread@speakeasy.net
FriedBagels Consulting          AOL-IM: readaaron
http://www.friedbagels.com      Boston, MA