Cumulus/KC takes advantage of the only redeeming quality of HD

[local oscillator]

I just read in today's Radio Ink newsletter that Cumulus is starting up a comedy-formatted FM in Kansas City called Funny 102.5.  I thought, "Hmmm . . . a comedy station on a large market FM, probably a Class C signal, really?  That's gutsy."  So, I checked it out.  Turns out 102.5 is a translator -- and a good one -- centrally located, 250w, omni, over 1000' HAAT -- with a signal that is close to Class A coverage.  So, Cumulus put the comedy on an HD sub-channel of one of their KC FMs, probably KCMO-FM, and voilà! -- a new KC FM!  This has, of course, been done in several other markets already -- Atlanta and Cincinnati are great examples.  Nonetheless, kudos to Cumulus/KC for taking advantage of the ONLY redeeming quality of HD -- justification for independently programming on a translator.  And please, HD loverz, don't even think otherwise; check out http://www.funny1025.com/.  This is not about HD; it's about FM and online.

[Savage]

It's also about evading FCC ownership caps.  Nice trick.

[SirRoxalot]

Wow. Another 19 people added to the Cumulus audience. And most of them engineering people. They need a laugh if they're trying to keep HD going along with all their other duties.

[radioskeptic]

Thanks, local oscillator, for telling us just how powerful that translator is.  If the “HD” signal were dependable, there’d be absolutely no excuse for any translator, much less one that’s more powerful than many marginal, less-than-maximum-powered Class A’s.

I had no idea that this was such an egregious example when I sent out an email blast on Tuesday (2/15) saying:

The proliferation of these things, I think, confirms my suspicion that the only reason some commercial broadcasters cling to "HD" when the market penetration of "HD" receivers is minuscule is that the FCC is now allowing them to simulcast the HD-2's on analog translators.   It's just a clever way to circumvent per-market ownership caps.
 
Obviously, syndicators like it, too, since it gets them into markets they otherwise couldn't penetrate, if only in a small way.

In this case, the syndicator is Bill Bungeroth's 24/7 Comedy service

I might have added that NPR and other pubradio program vendors like "HD" for exactly the same reason.

But this ruse is nothing new.  See “Neat trick: Cumulus is using an HD-2 channel to feed an FM translator.”  Go to http://www.radio-info.com/newsletter/pdf/TRI08272008.pdf (bottom of page 2 of the PDF).

Yes, that was Tom Taylor's TRI for August 27, 2008!

[spunker88]

Saga Communications has done this in Ithaca, NY with a few stations. They have a translator for WQNY Country 103.7 and use it to give WHCU 870 an FM signal, they can do this because WHCU is carried on WQNY-HD3.

They have also launched 2 brand new stations using WYXL 97.3's HD signal, and these are 2 translators for WYXL. And the analog translator frequency is in large print in the two station's logos.
97.3 HD-2 http://www.hits1033.com/
97.3 HD-3 http://www.987thevine.com/

Without this HD loophole, Im pretty sure Saga would be over limit for the number of stations in Ithaca.

[Savage]

There's been ongoing litigation over the dominance of Saga's radio ownership in Ithaca since they own ALL FOUR AM signals in the market and the two dominant FMs (both Bs.)

That was BEFORE they chose to try to squash Alan Bishop's new A move-in from Odessa, NY, using those damn HD translators.

[JohnnyElectron]

Cumulus Toledo did the same thing; put a signal on a HD-2 and use that to feed the translator!