HD Radio Station IDs

[Garrett Wollman]

<<On Sat, 7 Jun 2008 11:06:23 -0400, "Jim Hall" <aerie.ma@comcast.net> said:

> Checking around the dial while in the car this morning, I got to wondering
> if there has been a change in the FCC station ID requirements with the
> advent of digital broadcasting.

The answer is yes, but the rules were amended in a very confusing
manner that gives little guidance to stations as to what was
intended.  Hopefully the Commission will revisit this at some point.

> "WXKS-FM Medford/Boston in crystal clear digital sound".	
> ClearChannel is one of the supporters of HD, but they never mention "HD".

The rule does not mention any particular brand of digital radio.

> "WZID-FM...WZID-HD1...Manchester, Nashua, and Concord."		
> Did the analog station change its call letters recently from WZID to
> WZID-FM??

My interpretation: the "WZID-FM" bit is not part of the legal ID.  The
legal ID is the callsign ("WZID"), an optional mention of an HD
subchannel ("HD1"), followed by the community of license
("Manchester").

Another recent change to the rules allows stations to insert a network
affiliation into their legal ID.

-GAWollman