|
Post by CAwasinNJ on Apr 7, 2024 21:46:41 GMT -6
First off, we're talking about boosters not translators. Those are two different things.
Radio and TV stations are under the jurisdiction of Federal law, not state or local. That hasn't stopped local authorities from trying, such as the infamous Radio Free Brattleboro, but it hasn't worked. There are various state/local laws against piracy which are complementary to the Federal laws so they are unlikely to be challenged, but their actual legality seems dubious.
Advertising some product or service that isn't available in some jurisdictions happens already. You might hear a disclaimer in an ad "offer not available in all areas" or "offer not available in <some state>." I see that more often on TV.
|
|
|
Post by CAwasinNJ on Apr 6, 2024 1:24:39 GMT -6
I'm trying to think of ways this could be abused and I'm not coming up with anything. I'm usually pretty good at coming up with crazy ideas on how things could be done. What am I not thinking of?
OFH, ZoneCasting wasn't even approved until this week and has nothing at all to do with what happens on a station's online stream. They are two completely separate and unrelated things.
|
|
|
Post by CAwasinNJ on Apr 4, 2024 23:00:58 GMT -6
In case you hadn't heard, the FCC approved the "ZoneCasting" proposal. What that means is that FM boosters will be allowed to originate up to 3 minutes of programming per hour. The way the Salt Lake market is laid out it makes the most sense to try ZoneCasting using the Humpy stations' boosters. The idea would be that each booster could run separate commercials targeting their own local area so a business in Ogden wouldn't be advertising to listeners in Provo. The Ogden booster could run a commercial for an Ogden business while the Provo booster runs a commercial for a Provo business. I don't know how feasible it would be for stations on/near Farnsworth to add boosters to try this along the Wasatch Front, though they might try it for their Park City boosters. All of this sounds good in theory. What I'm worried about is cross-transmitter interference. As they're set up now, it doesn't matter if there are areas where a receiver is picking up more than one booster or the main at a time. The main and boosters are in perfect sync so picking up multiple signals is fine since they will match perfectly. That goes out the window in ZoneCasting where the multiple signals don't match at all. Fortunately this is up to the individual stations to either do it or not. There was an interesting note in the FCC notice about the approval. Apparently there were tests done here in Salt Lake on KDUT several years ago. This is the first I've heard of it. Did anyone hear these tests? I'm a bit pessimistic about how well this will work out, though since it will likely only affect commercials I'm not sure many people will miss hearing them clearly. So what do you think? Who do you think might try this, if any?
|
|
|
Post by CAwasinNJ on Apr 4, 2024 22:09:05 GMT -6
It's true that being an indoor antenna doesn't help reception. Are you sure you have an antenna rated for VHF? I was sure my main antenna was both VHF and UHF but when I checked it I found out I was wrong. Mine is rated for UHF only. It does pick up the signal but not enough to properly decode it. I suppose I could upgrade but there isn't anything on K03JD that I want to see anyway.
|
|
|
Post by CAwasinNJ on Apr 1, 2024 23:14:05 GMT -6
The Nosey network is now available on channels 20.3, 10.3 and 50.3. They show reruns of trash talk shows like Maury, Steve Wilkos and so on, so I'm not going to be watching. What makes this interesting to me is that it's airing on a station (KTMW) that used to be family and religious oriented. Nosey programming could hardly be more opposite from that.
|
|
|
Post by CAwasinNJ on Mar 29, 2024 6:51:35 GMT -6
The new application has been approved. I have no idea how to check for building permits but returning the station to the air permanently might be in sight.
|
|
|
Post by CAwasinNJ on Mar 26, 2024 21:45:35 GMT -6
You're welcome. That's what I'm here for.
I don't think it's intentional and I don't think Kool is coming back. The website is still redirecting to Bob and if it were really coming back it wouldn't be running the automation and not playing sound. The inside story about what really happened would be interesting.
|
|
|
Post by CAwasinNJ on Mar 25, 2024 20:05:38 GMT -6
I don't know if "should have been playing" is the right way to phrase it, but it looks like the same kind of playlist that Kool was running. Here are the songs that were listed from in the 7PM hour:
19:23 Sweet City Woman / Stampeders 19:26 Proud Mary / Creedence Clearwater Revival 19:29 Boogie Fever / Sylvers 19:33 For What It's Worth / Buffalo Springfield 19:35 In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida / Iron Butterfly 19:38 To Love Somebody / Bee Gees 19:41 Endless Love / Lionel Richie 19:45 These Eyes / Guess Who 19:49 How Sweet It Is / James Taylor 19:52 The Lion Sleeps Tonight / The Tokens
|
|
|
Post by CAwasinNJ on Mar 25, 2024 9:37:22 GMT -6
This is odd. The artist/title data on 105.1 HD2 is back and it's changing. It had been listing the generic "KUDD HD2" (or something like that) since it was shut down last month. There's still no audio but obviously some automation has been activated (accidentally?) somewhere.
|
|
|
Post by CAwasinNJ on Mar 23, 2024 19:20:36 GMT -6
Yeah ZHT has been down for several months now, though the real news was probably 2 months ago in "Holiday."
What you're saying henry might very well be true. I don't know one way or the other. But going back and looking at the ratings from 2018-2020 (which I have), the combined ratings of both KBYU-HD2 and KUMT are pretty much the same as they are now which is lousy. If there is something wrong with the encoders it would be easy to check. I remember reading about a service they offer (I think it's free) to check the encoder by calling up a special phone number and playing the station over the phone. Anyone could do that.
|
|
|
Post by CAwasinNJ on Mar 22, 2024 15:41:48 GMT -6
The latest ratings report had something that almost never happens. The name of the report month is almost perfectly aligned with the calendar month. It was only the leap day that kept it from being perfect. But on to the important stuff.
At the top of the heap by a wide margin was FM 100.3 and Bonneville took the top 3 spots. The constant upward trend of Mix 105.1 continues. After a very big jump last month, B98.7 gave some of it back but is still doing better than their average. My 99.5 has a huge drop last month but recovered some of it this month. Hank is still going nowhere, but there was a bit of a perk-up at sister The Beat. Interestingly the majority of the listeners of BYU Radio are listening on 89.1 HD2 and few are listening to analog 107.9. Maybe that says something about the demographics of BYUR listeners.
|
|
|
Post by CAwasinNJ on Mar 19, 2024 19:50:32 GMT -6
Both must carry and retransmission consent are alive and well and not going anywhere. Must carry means that the cable/satellite/etc companies have to include those channels in their lineup but don't have to pay for them. Retransmission consent means that the cable/sat/etc companies and the station owner negotiate whatever terms are acceptable to both parties. Without an agreement the station can't be carried. The agreement doesn't necessarily have to be money changing hands. In the early days of RC the cable companies refused to pay the stations money but instead agreed to add sister cable networks to the lineup in exchange for the right to carry the broadcast station. That was how America's Talking (remember that?), fX, ESPN2 and TV Food Network initially got onto some cable systems. Today it's all about the Benjamins.
Just to make sure it's clear, DirecTV is not dropping local channels. It's an option if the subscriber wants it and it would save $12/month. For those who can pick up the stations over the air anyway this makes a lot of sense. Why pay $12 a month for something you can get free?
|
|
|
Post by CAwasinNJ on Mar 19, 2024 19:33:09 GMT -6
I'm almost positive it used to be the case back in the CONELRAD days that stations who didn't move to one of the designated frequencies (640/1240) would sign off. When EBS became EAS in 1994 participation in national alerts and tests became mandatory. Everything you never wanted to know about EAS is available at www.ecfr.gov/current/title-47/chapter-I/subchapter-A/part-11 for those who want more info. Local station definitely test as they are required to. I do see them from time to time, but I suspect they try to schedule them as much as possible for when they would bother the fewest people. There are specific requirements on when the tests are run. There was and is a question about how well the EAS system would function if the President were to ever actually use it, which was the reason the National Tests started being done back in 2011. Those national tests are now required to be done at least every three years and all stations are required to submit reports to the FCC saying whether they were able to receive and retransmit the test. As far as whether the population would see actual alerts or not, that was part of why EAS was extended with the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system that sends similar messages to cell phones. I'm not sure about whether the cell companies are required to participate in WEA, but all the major ones do AFAIK.
|
|
|
Post by CAwasinNJ on Mar 19, 2024 9:04:36 GMT -6
This is pure speculation, but I wonder if KUUB is planning on applying to increase their power toward Provo. I think the limiting factor in that direction is only KPGR. I'm bringing it up because there was an application filed by 88.3 K202CC to move to 88.1 with almost the same coverage area. I can't think of too many reasons why they would do that. KUUB wouldn't have to worry about the effect a new application would have on K202CC since K202CC is a secondary service, but maybe K202CC got wind of a deal between KUUB and KPGR that would allow KUUB to expand southeastward. Or maybe none of this has anything to do with anything. Just throwing it out there.
|
|
|
Post by CAwasinNJ on Mar 19, 2024 8:01:53 GMT -6
All radio and television broadcasters, cable systems, satellite radio and television providers, and wireline video providers are required to participate in EAS. (The "voluntary cooperation" line in the test boilerplate is now, and has always been, complete BS. You can opt-out of EAS....by turning in your license.) That said, the only required parts of EAS are the weekly/monthly/national tests and the Presidential Alerts, which have never been used. According to the DirecTV website (https://www.directv.com/legal/directv-emergency-alert-system-disclosure/) they don't pass through any state or local alerts, but do pass alerts generated by local stations (like they'd have a choice there even if they wanted to suppress it.) They COULD pass state and local alerts if they wanted to. DirecTV knows the ZIP codes where the subscribers live and they could have the box automatically switch to the alert channel on demand whenever there's an alert aimed at the subscriber's county. With IPAWS I don't think it would even be that difficult for them to receive a copy of every EAS alert in the country to disseminate to whoever it was aimed at. So anyway, as I understand it DirecTV doesn't mess with the local channels and only generates their own alerts on channels they operate. There are a number of YouTube videos of EAS tests generated by DirecTV if you're interested. (eg www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRCXajmylbQ) If anyone cares, the SAME code that was sent at the beginning of that video is: ZCZC-PEP-NPT-000000-011001+0030-2191820-DIRECTV (Side note: there's no doubt in my mind that dropping the local OTA channels will save money.)
|
|