WXXI & The Little Theater Merger

[The Voice of Reason]

Soon it will take a full minute to recite all the station IDs, just like North Country Public Radio. Regional networking seems to be the trend in public broadcasting. I'm not sure of the rules, but is there a practical limit to this kind of consolidation?

Alan Chartock has been adding to WAMC's media empire for years.

http://www.wamc.org/station.html

Check out the number of stations plus translators on their website. Try reciting all of those call letters within a minute without passing out or losing your voice.

[aaronread]

I also wouldn't be surprised if WXXI changes the call letters of WVWA, as it did with the Houghton station to WXXY.

I *have* to think they will.  The only reason I chose WVWA for the 90.3 CP in Auburn was on a lark to get a laugh out of Scott Fybush.    After all, I was as shocked as anyone that we were granted as a singleton (I was pretty sure SOMEONE would MX us) and I had to pick something and quick.

As for what, exactly, they'll change it to...I imagine that'll be determined by what programming goes on it.  And therein lies the rub.  WVWA's CP was designed around the concept of a single panel antenna on the Cayuga County's e911 cellphone tower just north of Auburn's downtown.  It would be aimed right at Geneva, putting 4000 watts that way, and making for somewhat better coverage than WDWN 89.1 has now...so in a car, you'd hear WVWA pretty good from Skaeneateles to Canandaigua.  But it wouldn't go much north of Clyde or much south of Romulus.   Basically, it was designed to complement WITH back when WITH was slated for the cell tower on Danby Rd just down the hill from Ithaca College.

That was before WXXI LMA'd WITH and before WXXI moved WITH up to the WSQG tower, that changed things; that tower is well-suited for "decent" coverage of most of the Finger Lakes, and it's now sort-of questionable whether WITH's format needs to be relayed in the northern Finger Lakes.  Especially after similar-sounding WRUR gets its new CP on the air with 18kW aimed right at Geneva.

So if not WITH, what?  One could make an argument to put WXXI-FM on WVWA.  91.5 comes in "okay" in a lot of that area, but WCNY definitely comes in better at the moment.

One could also make an argument to relay WEOS on WVWA...since currently WEOS does not reach Auburn well at all.  However, if WEOS builds out its CP, it will both boost power to 6kW ERP and remove the 1st-adjacent interference problems with WRVO, which are the main reason for WEOS's poor reception in Auburn.

(on a related note, WVWA coming on-air will displace W212BA, and that's a translator worth keeping; power upgrade/frequency change or not...it's real questionable that WEOS will EVER come in solidly in Geneva because the hill the city (and HWS Campus) sits on is on the "wrong" side from the tower.   Plus proximity of the translator means students and faculty can always hear "their" station even in thick-walled dorms and offices.  Fortunately I know W212BA *can* be moved.)

So yeah, there's a lot of variables in play in choosing new call letters for WVWA.  Personally, I think WGEN-FM for "Auburn/GENeva" would be a good one.  There's a TV station in the southern USA using the call letters that said I could use 'em if I wanted...but I never got the formal letter drawn up before I left HWS.   If a relay of WITH is ultimately chosen, I think WITJ is the closest match to "WITH" that's still available.   WAUB-FM would be nice but even if the FLRG allowed it, the FCC wouldn't...and it'd confuse the listeners, too.  Pity.

Check out the number of stations plus translators on their website. Try reciting all of those call letters within a minute without passing out or losing your voice.

From an engineering perspective, every day it's getting increasingly easier to have local audio insertion at a transmitter site for the purposes of legal ID insertion.

[heydaybegone]

every day it's getting increasingly easier to have local audio insertion at a transmitter site for the purposes of legal ID insertion.

Dang Legal Id's!!!

Actually....some of the best jingle packages ever created contained some awesome legals....but who's using jingles anymore? (tongue in cheek)

[The Voice of Reason]

I would just like to know how the hell can stations like WXXI go on the air and cry poverty during their fundraising drives yet  can afford to (use what ever term you like ) swallow up, purchase, take over, affiliate, with the numerous stations and translators they are now associated with?

[heydaybegone]

Insert Quote
I would just like to know how the hell can stations like WXXI go on the air and cry poverty during their fundraising drives yet  can afford to (use what ever term you like ) swallow up, purchase, take over, affiliate, with the numerous stations and translators they are now associated with?

That's easy VOR...ask Mr. Obama...he's in charge of the FCC...(or at least in charge of the people in charge of the FCC)

[umtrr-author]

Alan Chartock has been adding to WAMC's media empire for years.

http://www.wamc.org/station.html

Check out the number of stations plus translators on their website. Try reciting all of those call letters within a minute without passing out or losing your voice.

There is at least one person here who has the WAMC list memorized, and much to my amazement, recited it to me one day without missing a beat or catching his breath...

and you know who you are...

[TheBigA]

I would just like to know how the hell can stations like WXXI go on the air and cry poverty during their fundraising drives yet  can afford to (use what ever term you like ) swallow up, purchase, take over, affiliate, with the numerous stations and translators they are now associated with?

What do you care?  You don't give them a dime.

All of their financials are posted on their web site, and we've discussed this to death.  You know exactly what their financial condition is, so there's no need to invent stuff like they "cry poverty."  All they're trying to do is motivate the freeloaders to donating.  These days, lots of rich people "cry poverty" and refuse to donate to non-profits. 

[Play Freebird]

Alan Chartock has been adding to WAMC's media empire for years.

http://www.wamc.org/station.html

Check out the number of stations plus translators on their website. Try reciting all of those call letters within a minute without passing out or losing your voice.

There is at least one person here who has the WAMC list memorized, and much to my amazement, recited it to me one day without missing a beat or catching his breath...

and you know who you are...

When I tune to the Northeast Public Radio stations while traveling to New England, it often strikes me that the hourly legal ID recitation is primarily a waste of time from a public interest perspective, as most listeners simply think of the network as WAMC.  Why can't the FCC get with the times, eliminate this confusing administrative overhead, and allow the repeater stations to use RDS for local IDs, much like translators are permitted to use FSK?   

Another area where FCC ID rules make little sense:  Amateur stations (many of which are mobile or portable) don't need to report their locations in the ID, even though this information would be very useful to DXers.   But broadcast stations (which stay fixed in the same spot for decades) must recite the name of the principal community every hour, as if the location has changed.
 

[heydaybegone]

But broadcast stations (which stay fixed in the same spot for decades) must recite the name of the principal community every hour, as if the location has changed

Freebird....haven't we former programmers been saying that for "years"/"decades"   
Heck...it only made for creative jingle segues (well back in the heyday)  Now it's just rhetoric.
Git yer butt down to Washington and change this lunacy!!   
HDBG

[SirRoxalot]

When I tune to the Northeast Public Radio stations while traveling to New England, it often strikes me that the hourly legal ID recitation is primarily a waste of time from a public interest perspective, as most listeners simply think of the network as WAMC.  Why can't the FCC get with the times, eliminate this confusing administrative overhead, and allow the repeater stations to use RDS for local IDs, much like translators are permitted to use FSK?   

Another area where FCC ID rules make little sense:  Amateur stations (many of which are mobile or portable) don't need to report their locations in the ID, even though this information would be very useful to DXers.   But broadcast stations (which stay fixed in the same spot for decades) must recite the name of the principal community every hour, as if the location has changed.

As AaronReed said,

From an engineering perspective, every day it's getting increasingly easier to have local audio insertion at a transmitter site for the purposes of legal ID insertion.

I think that people should know exactly what facility they're listening to, and should be able to refer to the correct source if they wish to report problems with audio, noise, signal, etc.   All of the transmitter sites should have an alternate source of audio in case of emergency, or failure of the link to the program source.