Bill Virgin's Radio Beat - January 18, 2007

Includes archive of Bill Virgin's columns fromJ une 2006 - March 2009

Postby radiofan » Wed Jan 17, 2007 8:51 pm

Thursday, January 18, 2007

On Radio: Clearing up the 'city of license' issue

By BILL VIRGIN
P-I REPORTER


Entercom's KMTT-FM's official city of license is Tacoma, although the studios are in downtown Seattle. Sandusky Radio's KRWM-FM is licensed to Bremerton, although the programming originates from Factoria.

And Clear Channel's KNBQ-FM is licensed to Centralia, although the company says the studios are in Tacoma and it's really a Seattle station.

So just what does "city of license" mean anyway?

Outside of official filings with the Federal Communications Commission, the only time listeners are likely to come across a city of license is in the station's legal identifier. Most of the time, though, stations use the name of a major city to designate what market they're serving.

The city-of-license issue has come up in the FCC's series of hearings on media ownership and localism, with critics of the industry contending radio is hurting itself in its competition with satellite and other entertainment channels by not paying more attention to the communities they supposedly serve.

Mark Allen, president of the Washington State Association of Broadcasters, says the city of license does serve some official purposes; when someone proposes adding a new station in the region, for example, the FCC uses those designations to see what service already exists for those communities.

The FCC requires every radio and television station to have a main studio, Allen says, but it doesn't require that the studio be in the city of license; instead the FCC requires that the station's signal covers the city of license and that the studio be within the principal contour of that signal (there are also provisions for studios for a group of commonly owned stations in one region).

While the FCC does require stations to carry programming related to issues of public interest, that doesn't mean it has to be related to a specific community, Allen adds; the war in Iraq, for example, is an issue of interest common to lots of communities.

Insisting on programming specific to a city of license also might conflict with other FCC goals, such as encouraging diversity in programming, Allen says. The example he cites is stations such as those in this region that broadcast Spanish- or Korean-language programs. There may be only a small number of people in the city of license served by those stations, but there are many more in the broader region.

The city-of-license issue also figured in the long-running saga of KMCQ-FM, the Oregon station that plans to move to the Seattle market.

The move was controversial because it would have effectively bumped the student-operated station at Mercer Island High School off the air. A tentative settlement of the dispute would allow the Oregon station to relocate, with a falling-domino sequence of moves by other stations on the dial.

The owners of KMCQ made the argument to the FCC that Covington, the intended city of license for the relocation, was large and distinct enough as a community to merit its own radio station. Critics contended KMCQ had no intention of providing any service specific to southeast King County generally or Covington in particular, but instead wanted to wedge its way into the Seattle radio-advertising market.

KMCQ's construction permit calls for a transmitter to be situated in Enumclaw. But there's an interesting provision in the recent agreement to sell the station (from Mid Columbia Broadcasting to Texas-based First Broadcasting) that indicates the market in which it's particularly interested. The tentative sales price for the station is $5.1 million ($5.3 million if the closing occurs after March 31).

But the sales contract also says the seller can receive 20 percent of the amount over $15 million, either through sale or appraisal, once KMCQ begins operating on or within two miles of Cougar Mountain -- one of the favored spots for Seattle radio stations to concentrate their transmitters.

In other radio notes:

KVI-AM (570) said morning talk host Kirby Wilbur has been signed to a new three-year contract.

Don Riggs' guests on "Introspect Northwest" at 7 a.m. Saturday on KPTK-AM (1090) and 7 a.m. Sunday on KMPS-FM (94.1) include Alfie Kohn, author of "The Homework Myth."

The Metropolitan Opera performs Donizetti's "Lucia Di Lamermoor" at 10:30 a.m. Saturday on KING-FM (98.1).

King County Sheriff Sue Rahr is the guest on "Cop Talk Radio" at 6 p.m. Saturday on KVI-AM.

Tom Hamel, founder and president of Redeemer Pacific College in Langley, B.C., is the guest on "Conversations With Father Bob" at 8 a.m. Saturday on KKNW-AM (1150) and 5 p.m. Tuesday on KBLE-AM (1050).

Lizz Sommars' guests on "Conversations" at 6 a.m. Sunday on KBSG-FM (97.3), KISW-FM (99.9) and KKWF-FM (100.7) include Elizabeth Swire Falker, author of "The Ultimate Insider's Guide to Adoption."

The Sunday edition of Jim French's "Imagination Theatre," heard at 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday on KIXI-AM (880), includes a new adventure of Raffles the Gentleman Thief.

French's production company, meanwhile, is taking over distribution of the show from the syndication service that had been handling it for the past 10 years. The only difference in programming, French says, is that listeners to the national broadcasts will now hear the theme music that has been used on the KIXI broadcasts. "Imagination Theatre" is heard on about 85 stations.

P-I reporter Bill Virgin can be reached at 206-448-8319 or billvirgin@seattlepi.com

Bill Virgin's Radio Beat ... Thursday's in the Seattle P-I
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.
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