Corporate Radio Is Running Scared...Or Amok!

by William C. Walker
WILW Radio


December 5, 2009



Background


Some links for your perusal.


http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20091125/COMMUNITIES/911250360/KENC-no-longer-on-air

http://staytondailyphoto.com/?p=2187

http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?t=226218


My Analysis


Yet again another suspect allegation against a Part 15 AM station using an FCC Type Accepted transmitter. While nobody is really talking about who filed the complaint with the FCC it seems evident that a licensed radio station is behind the allegation.


Granted there are only a handful of these allegations across the country but in every case it will be found that the complainant was affiliated with a licensed corporate owned radio station. In every case such as the case with KENC AM in Stayton, Oregon the Part 15 station was offering real local and/or live programming to serve the community. Stayton only has one licensed radio station and as you can see in the link provided, it is not even located in its city of license. And it is my understanding that they don’t offer any programming to serve the city of license. Ken Cartright saw a need for local programming in Stayton and decided to launch KENC AM last year and it soon after its sign on, it became a popular station. Three Hamilton Rangemaster transmitters amply covered the entire Stayton area and allowed most of the residents and business owners of the town to hear the station.


Now fast forward a full year later, with some success under its belt and suddenly someone files a complaint alleging the station was a pirate. The FCC did find one legitimate violation where a ground lead was too long to meet Part 15 rule 15.219. But aside from that there does not appear to be any other violation at this station. The FCC agent from the Seattle office is misapplying Part 15 rule 15.209 which specifies a field strength limit of the broadcast signal at a certain distance from the transmitter. Rule 15.209 applies ONLY to carrier current AM operations and NOT intentional radiators such as the Hamilton Rangemaster, Talking House transmitter or Ultra Sensors Inc. Trans AM 100 transmitters. These transmitters were certified by the FCC under 15.219 and only need to meet the antenna and ground lead lengths to be legal.


Clearly what we have here is a case of a little rat at a corporate radio station (unknown to the author at the time this column was written) that decided all by himself that KENC AM was a threat to his station and now wants it off the air. KENC should be allowed to fix the ground lead problem and return to the air. In fact this has always been how issues such as this have been handled until this case arose. It’s no different for licensed stations either, most of which have violated FCC regulations on more than one occasion. They are given a notice to fix the problem, fix it and the issue is done. But apparently KENC AM is not being given this option and this leads one to believe that a greater problem exists in this case.


It is evident to me that we have a case of a private business that is utilizing an arm of the government to muscle out a tiny competitor simply because the owner or employee of the licensed station has a political agenda and fears the Part 15 AM station is hurting his ratings or bottom line. Well, this is called fascism. When the government and business start working hand in hand in a supposedly free market you now have a dictatorial fascist state on the rise. Fortunately to date, there is less than a half dozen documented cases like this and it seems as though some ill informed FCC Field Agents are applying the wrong rules to these situations and also trying to shut down stations simply because a local media outlet does not want it on the air. This kind of corruption is a disgrace to the main stream media and only serves to erode its image with the general public of the United States. Newspaper readership is declining, cable TV viewership is declining, radio audiences are dwindling in markets where corporate radio won’t provide live and/or local programming and advertising revenue is shrinking fast as people flee the main stream media stranglehold in this country.

If we have any corporate broadcasters that are reading this column I now have a personal message especially written just for you. A real free market is the key to your success and if you continue to stifle it by using the FCC to shut down Part 15 AM stations then ultimately your own listening audience and sales revenue will continue to decline. I don’t think you fully grasp the situation that currently exists on the AM radio band today. People are turning away from the corporate stations, even those on the FM band for other sources of entertainment and information. Part 15 AM stations like KENC AM will bring people back to the AM dial to listen to live and local radio which is something you corporate broadcasters seem unwilling to do. You don’t want to spend the money to staff a station at least during daytime hours and instead offer satellite programming for the better part of the broadcast day. People are fed up with that. Got it?

And how about the revenue aspect? Stations like KENC AM offer small businesses that cannot afford to advertise on YOUR stations, an opportunity to grow their businesses on a station with affordable rates. KENC AM and stations just like it will not likely take away ANY of your revenue or advertisers. Instead they are going after a segment of the small business market that previously could not afford radio ad rates. If Part 15 AM stations like KENC AM are successful at helping a small business to grow bigger then it is very possible that the small business will then have sufficient revenue to advertise on a larger licensed radio station.

This situation is no different then that which currently exists within the newspaper industry. Companies that can afford to buy ad space in a large daily newspaper will do just that in order to reach their target market. Small businesses with a smaller clientele will buy space in a weekly newspaper because either they don’t have the money to buy space in the larger paper or they would not effectively reach their target market with the larger daily while they would with the smaller weekly newspaper.

Commercial AM and FM broadcasters are slitting their own throats every time they try to put a Part 15 AM off the air. That ultimately means less listeners for the AM dial and as previously pointed out, less small businesses that can take advantage of affordable advertising rates to grow into bigger businesses which could eventually advertise on YOUR stations. Essentially with every station that you put off the air you are only serving to escalate the demise of the AM radio band.

Get with the program.