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FCC Call Letters

Topics of general interest that just don't fit anywhere else.
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WOHO
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FCC Call Letters

Post by WOHO » Fri Jun 25, 2021 1:34 pm

Hello, Anyone have a good link to where I can see the latest requested and granted CALL LETTERS for AM & FM broadcast stations?
Lost my link.
73



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Robert Faygo
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Re: FCC Call Letters

Post by Robert Faygo » Fri Jun 25, 2021 1:39 pm



Wellllll... la de frickin da

paul8539
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Re: FCC Call Letters

Post by paul8539 » Tue Aug 24, 2021 7:41 pm

Somebody in Flint asked in May to change their call sign to WXON.



Kennelly Heaviside
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Re: FCC Call Letters

Post by Kennelly Heaviside » Thu Aug 26, 2021 7:35 pm

WXON-LD TV Millington, MI. Antenna just East Of Mt. Morris.

tvbobn recycles and parks classic call letters. He had WLLZ-LP TV 12 Traverse City until 106.7 wanted it.

https://www.fccdata.org/?lang=en&facid=15456m


Kennelly Heaviside. The best Technical Consultant no money can buy.

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WOHO
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Re: FCC Call Letters

Post by WOHO » Thu Aug 26, 2021 9:06 pm

Do full power AM and FM get first dibbs on call-letters over LPTV and LPFM?



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Calvert DeForest
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Re: FCC Call Letters

Post by Calvert DeForest » Fri Sep 03, 2021 10:58 am

My understanding is that it's first-come first-serve. The licensee who had the calls first holds the rights to them. If another applicant wants calls that are in use for a different medium (i.e. applicant wants FM calls that are in use by an AM station), they need permission from the licensee who currently holds those calls in order to apply for them. Once the FCC assigns call letters to a licensee, they can't be rescinded unless the license expires or is cancelled.

Say you own an FM station and apply for WOOF. There's an AM station owned by someone else three states away that's already assigned those calls. You would need permission from the owner of the AM station to share their calls. Granted the other owner signed off on it, you could apply for WOOF-FM (you need the -FM suffix because the calls are in use by an AM). Assuming there are no other FM's using those calls, the FCC should grant them.


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WOHO
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Re: FCC Call Letters

Post by WOHO » Fri Sep 03, 2021 2:51 pm

My example is my AM held the call letters, but gave them up, and now are used by LP TV (CD).
With permission from the TV station, then could I apply for the AM call letters to be transferred to a newly purchased AM station?



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Robert Faygo
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Re: FCC Call Letters

Post by Robert Faygo » Fri Sep 03, 2021 3:33 pm

The LPTV holds the cards. They can grant the AM permission to share the calls but would not be forced to give them up.

Each call change is its own "transaction" - there is no pure transfer process.

With enough money, you could probably convince an LPTV to change its call sign entirely, thus handing the exclusivity of the calls over to the AM.

It used to be that call letters were exclusive to their owners in a market. In Detroit, for example, when ownership of Channel 7 and AM 1270 was separated, it was mandatory that one of them change their calls - thus we got WXYT on 1270. That rule has since been relaxed.


Wellllll... la de frickin da

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