City of license Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! == Policy and regulatory issues == ===Nominal main studio requirements=== The requirement that a station maintain a main studio within a station's primary coverage area or within a maximum distance of the community of license originated in an era in which stations were legally required to generate local content and the majority of a station's local, non-network programming was expected to originate in one central studio location. In this context, the view of broadcast regulators held that an expedient way to ensure that content broadcast reflected the needs of a local community was to allocate local broadcast stations and studios to each individual city. The nominal main studio requirement has become less relevant with the introduction of [[videotape]] recorders in 1956 (which allowed local content to be easily generated off-site and transported to stations), the growing portability of broadcast-quality production equipment due to [[transistor]]ization and the elimination of requirements (in 1987 for most classes of US broadcast stations) that broadcasters originate any minimum amount of local content.{{synthesis|date=April 2010}} While the main studio concept nominally remains in US broadcast regulations, and certain administrative requirements (such as the local employment of a manager and the equivalent of at least one other full-time staff member, as well as the maintenance of a public inspection file) are still applied, removal of the requirement that stations originate local content greatly weakens the significance of maintaining a local main studio. A facility capable of originating programming and feeding it to a [[transmitter]] must still exist, but under normal conditions there most often is no requirement that these local studio actually be in active use to originate any specific local programming. In many cases, the use of [[centralcasting]] and [[broadcast automation]] has greatly weakened the role and importance of manual control by staff at the nominal local station studio facilities. Exceptions to these rules have been made by regulators, primarily on a case-by-case basis, to deal with "satellite stations": transmitters which are licensed to comply with the technical requirements of [[Full service (radio format)|full service]] broadcast facilities and have their own independent [[call sign]]s and communities of license but are used simply as full-power [[broadcast translator]]s to rebroadcast another station. These are most often non-commercial educational stations or stations serving thinly populated areas which otherwise would be too small to support an independent local full-service broadcaster.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/Databases/documents_collection/let19981016.pdf |title=Re: Modification of Facilities of KGAC(FM), Saint Peter, MN (BPED-970203IC) |last=Blair |first=Linda |date=1998-10-16 |publisher=Federal Communications Commission |location=Washington, D.C. }}{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> ===Political considerations=== The requirement that a full-service station maintain local presence in its community of license has been used by proponents of [[localism (politics)|localism]] and [[community radio|community broadcasting]] as a means to oppose the construction and use of local stations as mere rebroadcasters or satellite-fed translators of distant stations. Without specific requirements for service to the local community of license, stations could be constructed in large number by out-of-region broadcasters who feed transmitters via [[communications satellite|satellite]] and offer no local content.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/this_just_in/documents/04509192.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303184146/http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/this_just_in/documents/04509192.asp |url-status=dead |title=News & Features | ON THE RADIO|archive-date=March 3, 2016|website=bostonphoenix.com}}</ref> There also has been a de facto preference by regulators to encourage the assignment of broadcast licenses to smaller cities which otherwise would have no local voice, instead of allowing all broadcast activity to be concentrated in large metropolitan areas already served by many existing broadcasters. When dealing with multiple competing US radio station applications, current FM allotment priorities are: (1) first full-time aural service; (2) second full-time aural service; (3) first local aural transmission service; and (4) Other public interest matters.<ref>[http://www.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2008/db1010/DA-08-2267A1.txt]{{dead link|date=January 2016}}</ref> Similar criteria were extended to competing applicants for non-commercial stations by US legislation passed in 2000.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.current.org/pbpb/fcc/nce-order2000.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120611051916/http://www.current.org/pbpb/fcc/nce-order2000.html |url-status=dead |title=CFR 47 § 73.7002 Fair distribution of service on reserved band FM channels|archive-date=June 11, 2012}}</ref> ====Suburban community problem==== Any policy favoring applicants for communities not already served by an existing station has had the unintended effect of encouraging applicants to merely list a small suburb of a large city, claiming to be the "first station in the community" even though the larger city is well served by many existing stations. "The Suburban Community Problem" was recognized in FCC policy as early as 1965. "Stations in metropolitan areas often tend to seek out national and regional advertisers and to identify themselves with the entire metropolitan area rather than with the particular needs of their specified communities," according to an FCC policy statement of the era. In order "to discourage applicants for smaller communities who would be merely substandard stations for neighboring, larger communities," the FCC established the so-called "Suburban Community presumption" which required applicants for AM stations in such markets to demonstrate that they had ascertained the unmet programming needs of the specific communities and were prepared to satisfy those needs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.entrepreneur.com/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524181436/http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/162470377.html |url-status=dead |title=Entrepreneur - Start, run and grow your business.|archive-date=May 24, 2011|website=Entrepreneur}}</ref> By 1969, the same issues had spread to FM licensing; instead of building transmitters in the community to nominally be served, applicants would often seek to locate the tower site at least halfway to the next major city. In one such precedent case (the Berwick Doctrine), the FCC required a hearing before Berwick, a prospective broadcaster, could locate transmitters midway between [[Pittston, Pennsylvania]] (the city of license), and a larger audience in [[Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania|Wilkes-Barre]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/?noadc=1|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120708020143/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m6836/is_4_50/ai_n25004469/ |url-status=dead |title=FindArticles.com | CBSi|website=findarticles.com|archive-date=July 8, 2012 }}</ref> A related problem was that of 'move-in'. Outlying communities would find their small-town local stations sold to outsiders, who would then attempt to change the community of license to a suburb of the nearest major city, move transmitter locations or remove existing local content from broadcasts in an attempt to move into the larger city. The small town of [[Anniston, Alabama]], due to its location 90 miles west of [[Atlanta]] and 65 miles east of [[Birmingham, Alabama|Birmingham]], has lost local content from both TV and FM stations which were re-targeted at one of the two larger urban centers or moved outright. ([[WNNX|WHMA-FM]] Anniston is now licensed as WNNX [[College Park, Georgia]]—an Atlanta suburb—after a failed attempt to relicense it to [[Sandy Springs, Georgia]]—another [[Metro Atlanta#Surrounding cities|Atlanta suburb]]. Transmitters are now in downtown Atlanta.)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fybush.com/site-020605.html|title=A selection from a decade of visits to tower and studio sites in the Northeast and beyond|website=www.fybush.com}}</ref> The same is true for WJSU, which served East Alabama with local news until the station was merged into a triplex to form [[WBMA|ABC 33/40]] which focuses its coverage on the central part of the state. A 1988 precedent case (Faye and Richard Tuck, 3 FCC Rcd 5374, 1988) created the "Tuck Analysis" as a standard which attempts to address the Suburban Community Problem on a case-by-case basis by examining: # the station's proposed signal coverage over the urbanized area (the "Coverage Factor"); # the relative population size and distance between the suburban community and the urban market (the "Relative Size and Distance Factor"); and # the independence of the suburban community, based on various factors that would indicate self-sufficiency (the "Independence Factor"). Despite the best intentions of regulators, the system remains prone to manipulation. {{blockquote|This has almost become a parlor game. The goal of the game—whether you're applying for a new station or a station currently licensed to a rural area—is to move as close to a big market as possible. The closer you get to a big market, the more potential listeners you can reach and hence the more advertising dollars you can attract. But there's a catch—at least there's supposed to be. The Commission is required by Section 307(b) of the Communications Act "to provide a fair, efficient, and equitable distribution of radio service" to "the several States and communities." The FCC cannot simply permit radio stations to relocate from rural areas to well-served urban markets without violating that mandate. That's when the game gets interesting. Under our FM allotment rules, the Commission will give a preference to any applicant that proposes to serve a community with no current licensees—i.e., not that the community doesn't receive radio service (it could receive service from dozens of stations) but that no station lists that particular community as its "community of license." That's where a good atlas comes in handy. The next step is to scour the maps to find a community near an urban area that doesn't yet have any stations licensed to it. You win the game if you get the FCC to grant you a preference for providing "first service" to a close-in suburban community while being able to cover the larger market.|Commissioners Copps & Adelstein, Federal Communications Commission, 2008<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2008/db1103/FCC-08-205A2.txt|title=Copps/Adelstein, FCC, 2008, re: FM (Evergreen, Alabama and Shalimar, Florida, MB Docket 04-219), (Lincoln and Sherman, Illinois, MM Docket 01-120)}}</ref>}} ===Licensing and on-air identity=== While becoming less meaningful over the decades, stations are still required to post a [[public file]] somewhere within 25 miles of the city, and to cover the entire city with a local [[Signaling (telecommunications)|signal]]. In the United States, a station's [[transmitter]] must be located so that it can provide a strong signal over nearly all of its "principal community" (5 mV/m or stronger at night for AM stations, 70 dbuV for FM, 35 dbu for DTV channels 2–6, 43 dbu for channels 7-13 and 48 dbu for channels 14+), even if it primarily serves another city.<ref>FCC Rules §73.24, §73.315 and §73.625</ref> For example, American television station [[WTTV]] primarily serves [[Indianapolis]]; however, the transmitter is located farther south than the other stations in that city because it is licensed to [[Bloomington, Indiana|Bloomington]], 50 miles south of Indianapolis (it maintains a satellite station, WTTK, licensed to [[Kokomo, Indiana]], but in the digital age, WTTK is for all intents and purposes the station's main signal, transmitting from the traditional Indianapolis transmitter site). In some cases, such as [[Jeannette, Pennsylvania]]-licensed [[WPKD-TV]] 19, the FCC has waived this requirement; the station claimed that retaining an existing transmitter site 25.6 miles southeast of its new community of license of Jeannette would be in compliance with the commission's minimum distance separation requirements (avoiding interference to [[co-channel interference|co-channel]] [[WOIO]] 19 [[Shaker Heights, Ohio|Shaker Heights]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/Orders/1997/da971503.txt|title=MM Docket No. 97-96 Table of Allotments, RM-8756 TV Broadcast Stations (Johnstown and Jeannette, Pennsylvania)}}</ref> Another extreme example of a station's transmitter located far from the city of license is the FM station [[KPNT]], formerly licensed to [[Ste. Genevieve, Missouri]], and transmitting from [[Hillsboro, Missouri|Hillsboro]], but serving the [[St. Louis]] and [[Metro East]] market to the north. In 2015, the station was allowed by the FCC to move their city of license to [[Collinsville, Illinois]], and have a transmitter in St. Louis proper with a power decrease. FCC regulations also require stations at least once an hour to state the station's call letters, followed by the city of license. However, the FCC has no restrictions on additional names after the city of license, so many stations afterwards add the nearest large city. For example, CBS affiliate [[WOIO]] is licensed to [[Shaker Heights, Ohio|Shaker Heights]], a suburb of [[Cleveland]], and thus identifies as "WOIO Shaker Heights-Cleveland." Similarly, northern [[New York (state)|New York]]'s [[WWNY-TV]] (also a CBS affiliate) identifies as "WWNY-TV [[North American broadcast television frequencies|7]] [[Carthage, New York|Carthage]]-[[Watertown, New York|Watertown]]" as a historical artifact; the original broadcasts originated from [[Champion, New York|Champion Hill]] in 1954 so the license still reflects this tiny location.{{efn|It is possible for two stations to have the same studio location and transmit from the same mast at the same site, but be licensed to different communities; [[WWNY-TV]] and [[WNYF-CD]] (Carthage and Watertown NY, respectively) are one example.}} If the station is licensed in the primary city served, on occasion the station will list a second city or region next to it. For example, the [[Tampa Bay]] region's Fox owned-and-operated station [[WTVT]] is licensed to [[Tampa, Florida]], its primary city, but identifies on-air as "WTVT Tampa/[[St. Petersburg, Florida|St. Petersburg]]", as St. Petersburg is another major city in the market. To encompass [[Appleton, Wisconsin|Appleton]] and the smaller cities clustered around the [[Fox River (Green Bay tributary)|Fox River]] southwest of [[Green Bay, Wisconsin]], stations in the Green Bay–Appleton area identify as "Green Bay/[[Fox Cities]]" (e.g. "[[WBAY-TV]], Green Bay/Fox Cities"); Green Bay-licensed stations thus still carry an official identification, while providing the ability for stations licensed to other places in the region to officially prefix their name before the mention of "Green Bay/Fox Cities". There is no longer a requirement to carry [[program (management)|program]]s relevant to the particular community, {{efn|There are a few rare exceptions, even in the US. US low-power FM stations were originally introduced with far more stringent broadcast localism requirements than any other station class. Broadcast regulators may also add extra restrictions to one specific licence: [[WNET|13 Newark]] was only allowed to move its facilities to [[New York City]] on condition that the licence, station ID and 2.5 hours/week of community programming remain with [[New Jersey]]. That local programming remains today. Non-US stations are subject to their own nation's rules — a full-power rebroadcaster is easier to licence in Canada or México, but an originating station in Canada must gather local news.}} or even necessarily to operate or transmit from that community. Accordingly, stations licensed to smaller communities in major [[metropolitan area|metropolitan markets]] often target programming toward the entire market rather than the official home community, and often move their studio facilities to the larger urban centre as well. For instance, the Canadian radio station [[CFNY-FM]] is officially licensed to [[Brampton|Brampton, Ontario]], although its studio and transmitter facilities are located in downtown [[Toronto]]. This may, at times, lead to confusion — while media directories normally list broadcast stations by their legal community of license, audiences often disregard (or may even be entirely unaware of) the distinction. For instance, for a short time while resolving a license conflict and ownership transaction in 1989, the current day [[KCAL-TV]] in [[Los Angeles]] was licensed to the little-known southeast suburb of [[Norwalk, California]], with the station's identifications at the time only vocally mentioning the temporary city of license in a rushed form, with Norwalk barely receiving any visual mention on the station; at no time were any station assets actually based in Norwalk, nor was public affairs or news programming adjusted to become Norwalk-centric over that of Los Angeles and [[Southern California]]. The station returned to its Los Angeles city of license after the transaction was complete. Often, a station will keep a tiny outlying community in its licensing and on-air identity long after the original rationale for choosing that location is no longer truly applicable. [[Sneedville, Tennessee]], as city of license for PBS member station [[WETP-TV]] originally made sense as a compromise location to serve both [[Knoxville, Tennessee|Knoxville]] and the [[Tri-Cities, Tennessee|Tri-Cities of Tennessee and Virginia]] on VHF channel 2. It met the minimum distance requirements to two other channel 2 stations in the region, [[WKRN]] in [[Nashville]] and [[WSB-TV]] in [[Atlanta]]. This became less important after full-power UHF satellite [[WKOP-TV]] signed on in Knoxville, and irrelevant once the [[Digital television transition in the United States|2003-09 DTV transition]] and [[2016 United States wireless spectrum auction#Repacking|2016-21 repack]] moved WETP's main signal to physical channel UHF 24. Nonetheless, broadcasters and regulatory authorities are more likely to retain the original city of license, rather than bring unwanted scrutiny for taking away a small community's only station, which may be a mark of [[Boosterism|civic pride]], only to move it to some larger center which already has multiple stations. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page