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Graham Brock, Inc. |
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Broadcast Technical Consultants |
| Vol. XIV, No. 1 |
R. Stuart Graham, Jr. |
| January 2007 |
Jefferson G. Brock |
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City of
License Changes Coming |
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In just a few short days, commercial AM and FM stations
may begin submitting minor change applications proposing
to change their communities of license. On January 19,
the FCC will begin accepting applications for city of
license changes from commercial stations and Petitions
for Rule Making for new FM commercial stations. The
updated FCC Form 301 applications can be viewed at the
FCC’s website. Non-commercial stations will have to wait
until early March, since the revised FCC Form 340 has
not been approved by the Office of Management and
Budget. We note that the Petition for Reconsideration
deadline has not arrived; therefore, there is the
possibility that some parties may challenge some of the
procedural changes implemented in the proceeding. |
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The Commission has extended the deadline for filing
comments and reply comments to the final DTV table.
The Association of Federal Communications Consulting
Engineers requested additional time to complete
reviews of the proposed final table of TV channels
which will be in place for all existing TV stations
post-transition (February 2009). The new comment
date is January 25, 2007, with reply comments due on
February 26th. |
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HD Radio Across the Border |
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The Canadian government has indicated they will
adopt the IBOC system for HD radio in Canada,
dropping the use of the Eureka L-Band standard,
which was initially selected. The same system is
being implemented in the US and may make radios
more readily available, which may reduce the
cost. The Eureka system was intended to replace
the existing AM and FM band in Canada. However,
as a result of the change to IBOC, these
stations will now remain. As such, there is no
relief to US stations hoping to make future
changes predicated on the removal of a Canadian
station from service. |
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An AM station in Texas was recently fined for
failing to keep the Emergency Alert System (EAS)
operational, failing to log the outage, and
failing to take steps to return the system to
operation. The station was being programmed by
another party, pursuant to a Time Brokerage
Agreement. During the inspection of the station,
the Time Broker indicated the system had been
broken for at least three months. The licensee
stated the system worked prior to the
commencement of the Time Brokerage Agreement and
perhaps the broker’s staff had removed
equipment, unbeknownst to the licensee. The
licensee claimed that the Time Broker failed to
notify the licensee the system was damaged. In
its order the FCC noted that the licensee was
responsible for the matter and failed to comply
with the rules governing EAS systems and imposed
a fine of $8,000.00. |
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As more and more AM and FM stations add HD
signals to their analog carriers, a change of
equipment will usually be required to deliver
digital programming to the transmitter sites. If
an STL (studio transmitter link) or ICR
(inter-city relay) is used, it is possible the
licenses for these systems might not have been
updated. Older discrete analog or composite
systems operate with a smaller bandwidth than do
digital systems. This change is considered a
major change for an STL/ICR system, requiring a
modification of the microwave station’s license.
This, in turn, requires a frequency review,
notification to all nearby microwave licensees,
followed by an application submitted to the FCC.
Check your authorization to see what equipment
and emission type is noted on your license and
make sure it correctly reflects the actual
equipment in use. |
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