Just a gentle reminder that I’m not a “radio biz” guy – I’ve never had a job in radio, don’t own anything related to radio, don’t derive any income from radio… so I could just be connecting dots that make no sense to connect.
“In small markets, what is the mechanism (if any) that would cause the FCC to even notice that a transmitter is turned off if the station owner goes broke and ceases operation?”
The reason this occurs to me is I’m currently researching the really really small stations – the type that are chronically living on the edge financially – looking for web sites or any information about them.
As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand FCC filing forms. Without getting specific, let’s say some things out in the real world may not quite match the FCC records. Maybe it is I just don’t understand things about radio engineering, maybe something else.
It’s definitely against the FCC rules to operate outside the limits of your license – including running at substantially less power or a shorter antenna than you are authorized to use. If a radio station was there one day and vanished the next or the signal got weaker – what would cause someone to look into why?
- If it was a “rated” market, there are “listening posts” that monitor stations to make sure they are running the commercials people paid for. But if the station is in a rural area and has no national advertisers, who would notice? Syndicators have an interest in having the station on their affiliate list, but it is not in their economic interest to drop stations from the list – and the typical advertiser doesn’t know that the affiliate list is out of date
- People in the town – particularly if they work for the city. Since the radio station is there (in theory) to support the community, a station going dark would be a reason for public concern. But let’s say the station was broadcasting Spanish language, 24 hour automated satellite music, HipHop or religious programs that isn’t of interest ot most people? How long could a station in your town -that you don’t listen to- be off the air before you would notice it, let alone report it?
- Listeners to the station – the typical listener doesn’t know FCC rules, STA procedures, and the like – and would probably accept a sob story that the station is out of money, the transmitter is broken, the dog ate the program director, etc.. and be put off indefinitely until they lose interest and forget about the station
- BMI/ASCAP/SESAC – the people who enforce the rules about composers and lyricists being paid for their work. If they don’t get paid, they might do some checking – but if the station doesn’t play music or plays only music from non-signed artists, they wouldn’t notice.
- DXers – a DXer is a person who gets joy from trying to listen to really far away radio stations using special radio gear and keeping a log of what they hear. A DXer knows the FCC system and rules enough to tap the FCC on the shoulder – but if they are a long distance away, they can’t really know if the station is off the air or they just can’t hear it.
- Banks that are owed money or the station was used to borrow money against – they would notice that the money isn’t being paid – but is it really in their interest to tell the FCC, which would then levy a fine (that would step in front of the bank geting paid back maybe some day)
So what’s the harm if a radio station goes broke, turns off the transmitter and abandons the station and undocumented immigrants steal the copper from their transmitter – but nobody tells the FCC? Other than the public safety aspects of not having a way to warn people of an emergency (the EAS) or that radio frequency (spectrum) is being “wasted” , why should anyone care?
But if nobody can find a way to make the station profitable, does it really matter? If an AM tower falls to the ground and nobody was listening – did it really make a noise in the first place?