https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101433009&formid=911&fac_num=87178
The area from 1610-1700 kHz on the AM band is called the AM Expanded Band. Old AM radios end at 1610, but no stations were assigned to 1610. One of the ideas from the 1996 reform act was to open up the AM Expanded band for new AM licenses.
The Objective was to move some existing AM stations up to the new area to “free up” and “unclutter” the AM band. Like many government actions, it has great intentions and horrible follow through.
The first problem was that in 1997 when the FCC started the process, (almost) nobody owned a radio that could hear the new stations. Most of the most important radio listening from a business perspective occurs in automobiles. It takes about 10 years for the majority of car radios to be replaced as cars wear out – so the first order of business was to require all new radios to be able to tune up to 1700 kHz. It is worth knowing that this is a North America only thing – so this requirement made American radios different than radios in the rest of the world.
Now with 10 years to spend planning to do it right, the process of handing out the new licenses began in 1997. The objective being to move existing stations, applications were accepted for stations to move – but moving in the beginning would be the kiss of death for a station, since nobody had a radio that could receive it and few people even know the band existed.
So the FCC dealt with this by creating a 5 year transition process. The station would get a second license and could transmit on both frequencies for 5 years. At the end of the five years, the station would have to decide if things were working out well enough – and return either the original license or the new expanded band license.
In addition to the issue of compatibility, the higher up in frequency you go, the poorer AM radio works. Congress can’t change the laws of physics.
So in the early 2000s (2002?), the FCC handed out the new expanded band “paired station” licenses. The plan was working great! Clear Channel owned a station called WDDD-AM in downstate illinois and received a license for WRLL-AM.
Enter station WVON-AM in Chicago. WVON was created in the 1960s specifically to target its programming at the descendants of slavery living in the south side of Chicago (mostly in the high rise public housing projects). WVON (in the pre-PC days) called itself the “Voice of the Negro“.
In 2006 – seeing the handwriting on the wall of the 5 year clock, Clear Channel made a deal with WVON (then on 1450 kHz). WVON could move to 1690 in the expanded band (Clear Channel’s expanded band station WRLL was just playing automated oldies since nobody yet knew it existed).
In a horrible lapse of judgement (maybe motivated by Chicago politics), the FCC agreed to allow WRLL to move to Chicago, meaning the two “Paired” radio stations were now located in different cities. WDDD is down near Saint Louis out in the middle of farm land – WRLL is in Chicago – there is no overlap of the signals of the “paired” stations.
The original WVON signal was very small – it was designed to not be heard out in the suburbs and distress non-slave people who might stumble on the signal. As the former slaves were moving into the middle class over the last 40 years, many have moved to the suburbs beyond where they could hear “their station”.
So WVON moved to 1690, and WRLL’s call sign was moved to 1450. The WVON station is still owned by Clear Channel, but it issued an “Option to Buy” the station in 5 years (2011).
But Clear Channel had to turn in the license for WVON around 2007! Either that or surrender the license of their original station
Most of the stations issued the 5 year temporary license deal refused to turn in the license. Instead they turned to lawyers to try to break their agreement with the FCC. One “ploy” being dangled is “Well, how about if we sell one of the pair to a “minority” owner? Who could object to that plan?
So Clear Channel filed paperwork to sell WDDD to Withers broadcasting, a company that owns a lot of stations in Southern Illinois – thereby legally splitting the ownership of the two stations making it impossible for the FCC to take one license back. That’s especially true if one of the stations has a very high profile in the Democratic Party’s slave community.
The FCC turned down Clear Channel’s request, but it is still in legal limbo as the FCC can’t figure out how to get out of this mess. The WVON 5 year option agreement is up and it’s decision time. The FCC granted on Friday a special waiver to allow both of the stations to continue to operate temporarily pending the overall settlement of the lawsuits. In many of the other cases, the “extra” station has been LMAed to some non-commercial entity which will operate the station until all the court cases are done and/or Congress or the FCC makes an actual decision.
The the best of my knowledge, no AM station has actually moved to the expanded band permanently. A lot of the stations that were licensed were never built. Some stations turned in the expanded band licenses. No process was ever created to license brand new AM stations in the 1610-1700 band. The “Objective” of the expanded band of uncluttering the existing band is a 100% failure.
So which Expanded band stations still exist?
+------------+-----------+------------------+-------+------------------------------------------------+ | streamname | Frequency | CityName | State | Licensee | +------------+-----------+------------------+-------+------------------------------------------------+ | WEUP AM | 1700 | HUNTSVILLE | AL | HUNDLEY BATTS, SR. & VIRGINIA CAPLES | | KYHN AM | 1650 | FORT SMITH | AR | MMTC BROADCASTING LLC | | KDIA AM | 1640 | VALLEJO | CA | BAYBRIDGE COMMUNICATIONS, L.L.C. | | KGED AM | 1680 | FRESNO | CA | COMPASS BROADCASTING, INC. | | KSMH AM | 1620 | WEST SACRAMENTO | CA | IHR EDUCATIONAL BROADCASTING | | KNRO AM | 1670 | REDDING | CA | MAPLETON LICENSE OF REDDING, LLC | | KFSG AM | 1690 | ROSEVILLE | CA | WAY BROADCASTING LICENSEE, LLC | | KFOX AM | 1650 | TORRANCE | CA | HK MEDIA, INC. | | KTIQ AM | 1660 | MERCED | CA | MAPLETON LICENSE OF MERCED, LLC | | KHPY AM | 1670 | MORENO VALLEY | CA | EL SEMBRADOR MINISTRIES | | KDDZ AM/HD | 1690 | ARVADA | CO | RADIO DISNEY GROUP, LLC | | KBJD AM | 1650 | DENVER | CO | SALEM MEDIA OF COLORADO, INC. | | WOKB AM | 1680 | WINTER GARDEN | FL | RAMA COMMUNICATIONS, INC. | | WNRP AM | 1620 | GULF BREEZE | FL | ADX COMMUNICATIONS OF ESCAMBIA | | WCNZ AM | 1660 | MARCO ISLAND | FL | J&B WCNZ/WVOI, LLC | | WRDW AM/HD | 1630 | AUGUSTA | GA | WCHZ LICENSE, LLC | | WMLB AM | 1690 | AVONDALE ESTATES | GA | JW BROADCASTING, INC. | | WPLA AM | 1670 | DRY BRANCH | GA | AMFM RADIO LICENSES, L.L.C. | | KBGG AM | 1700 | DES MOINES | IA | RADIO LICENSE HOLDING CBC, LLC | | KCNZ AM | 1650 | CEDAR FALLS | IA | FIFE COMMUNICATION CO., LLC | | KCJJ AM | 1630 | IOWA CITY | IA | RIVER CITY RADIO, INC. | | WVON AM/HD | 1690 | BERWYN | IL | CC LICENSES, LLC | | WDND AM | 1620 | SOUTH BEND | IN | ARTISTIC MEDIA PARTNERS, INC. | | KUDL AM | 1660 | KANSAS CITY | KS | ENTERCOM KANSAS CITY LICENSE, LLC | | KRJO AM | 1680 | MONROE | LA | HOLLADAY BROADCASTING OF LOUISIANA, LLC | | WPTX AM | 1690 | LEXINGTON PARK | MD | SOMAR COMMUNICATIONS, INC. | | WQLR AM | 1660 | KALAMAZOO | MI | MIDWEST COMMUNICATIONS, INC. | | WPRR AM | 1680 | ADA | MI | GOODRICH RADIO, LLC | | WTNI AM | 1640 | BILOXI | MS | MONTEREY LICENSES, LLC | | WBCN AM/HD | 1660 | CHARLOTTE | NC | CBS RADIO HOLDINGS INC. | | KQWB AM | 1660 | WEST FARGO | ND | MONTEREY LICENSES, LLC | | KOZN AM | 1620 | BELLEVUE | NE | NRG LICENSE SUB, LLC | | WWRU AM | 1660 | JERSEY CITY | NJ | MULTICULTURAL RADIO BROADCASTING LICENSEE, LLC | | WTTM AM | 1680 | LINDENWOLD | NJ | MULTICULTURAL RADIO BROADCASTING LICENSEE, LLC | | KFXY AM | 1640 | ENID | OK | CHISHOLM TRAIL BROADCASTING CO. | | KDZR AM/HD | 1640 | LAKE OSWEGO | OR | RADIO DISNEY GROUP, LLC | | WGIT AM | 1660 | CANOVANAS | PR | INTERNATIONAL BROADCASTING CORPORATION | | KSVE AM | 1650 | EL PASO | TX | ENTRAVISION HOLDINGS, LLC | | WTAW AM/HD | 1620 | COLLEGE STATION | TX | BRYAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION | | KRZI AM | 1660 | WACO | TX | M&M BROADCASTERS, LTD. | | KVNS AM | 1700 | BROWNSVILLE | TX | CLEAR CHANNEL BROADCASTING LICENSES, INC. | | KKLF AM/HD | 1700 | RICHARDSON | TX | SUSQUEHANNA RADIO CORP. | | KKGM AM | 1630 | FORT WORTH | TX | MORTENSON BROADCASTING CO. OF TEXAS, INC. | | KXOL AM | 1660 | BRIGHAM CITY | UT | INCA COMMUNICATIONS, INC. | | KBJA AM | 1640 | SANDY | UT | UNITED BROADCASTING COMPANY, INC | | WHKT AM | 1650 | PORTSMOUTH | VA | CHESAPEAKE-PORTSMOUTH BROADCASTING CORPORATION | | WDHP AM | 1620 | FREDERIKSTED | VI | REEF BROADCASTING, INC. | | KYIZ AM | 1620 | RENTON | WA | KRIZ BROADCASTING, INC. | | KNTS AM | 1680 | SEATTLE | WA | INSPIRATION MEDIA, INC. | | WKSH AM/HD | 1640 | SUSSEX | WI | RADIO DISNEY GROUP, LLC | | WTDY AM | 1670 | MADISON | WI | MID-WEST MANAGEMENT, INC. | | KRND AM | 1630 | FOX FARM | WY | LA FAMILIA BROADCASTING, LLC | +------------+-----------+------------------+-------+------------------------------------------------+
A small correction – Clear Channel applied for the extension on Friday – the FCC hasn’t yet responded.
Here is a way out, at least for WVON:
– Allow the company running WVON to purchase the station
– have the owners of WVON turn in the old license for 1450 (the original WVON)
– Allow Clear Channel to sell WDDD to Withers
Variations might include…. allowing WDDD to be sold, but the proceeds go to the MMTC, the Minority Media organization that is acquiring old AM stations from Clear Channel that are tax writeoffs
Clear Channel points out in their filing that WDDD has an important public safety role in downstate Illinois. Turning in that license probably isn’t a good idea.
Then create a big nationwide auction to create brand new stations in the 10 available channels, so it starts to have critical mass. The NAB would likely violently oppose that – as more station licenses would dilute the value of their existing licenses. Screw them. Each licensee owns their spectrum in their market. The NAB does not “own” the entire radio spectrum.