HD Callsigns

[Sid Schweiger]

>>What he told me that was surprising is that the HD-2 stream has a 
totally different callsign than either WINS or the FM station.  We 
thought this unusual, neither of us thought that the FCC separately 
licenses the HD-2 and HD-3 streams, nor assigns them callsigns.

Can anyone shine any light on this situation?<<

When the rules for the Digital Radio Service became effective on
September 14th, HD Radio's experimental status ended, AM-HD was
authorized for nighttime use, and the legal ID rule (73.1201) was
amended to add the following text:

"A radio station operating in DAB hybrid mode or extended hybrid mode
shall identify its digital signal, including any free multicast audio
programming streams, in a manner that appropriately alerts its audience
to the fact that it is listening to a digital audio broadcast."

I would gather, from that wording, that leaving the ID as "WINS New
York" on WWFS's HD2 channel is probably not sufficient (that does not ID
the stream as being a digital broadcast), but then, I'm not a
communications lawyer either.  A simultaneous ID of "WINS and WWFS-HD2,
New York" might make more sense for those puzzled over hearing WINS on
the FM band.

IIRC WNEW switched to WWFS this past spring when the "Fresh" format
debuted.



Sid Schweiger
IT Manager, Entercom New England
WAAF - WEEI AM/FM - WKAF
WMKK - WRKO - WVEI AM/FM
20 Guest St / 3d Floor
Boston MA  02135-2040
Phone: 617-779-5369
Fax: 617-779-5379
E-Mail: sid@wrko.com