In an attempt to stay somewhat current with our news, this time we begin with a discussion of the recent transmitter construction permit for WCCO, as indicated in AM Switch, Vol. 67, No. 23.

John Sampson <jsampson@uswest.net>: Noted in the latest AM Switch that a CP is on for WCCO to relocate their transmitter. Am interested in where and why it is being relocated; if anyone can help, I'd appreciate it.

Patrick Martin <mwdxer@webtv.net>: You can check Kodis. I just did and they have 2 locations listed, 15 miles and 19 miles from the center of the city. I am not sure which is which though.

John R Tudenham <jotud@juno.com>: That’s interesting as KMOX St Louis is doing the same thing. The real estate they occupy must have great commercial value, I can think of no other reason. With 50kw non DA they wouldn't have a problem with coverage. KMOX like many St Louis stations is on the Illinois side of the river.

Wayne Heinen <Nrclog@aol.com>: That's a big reason for many to move. The land under their site will sell for far more than the expense of moving farther away and still supplying a good signal. KOA-850 is near the corner of Lincoln Ave and Parker Rd in Parker Colorado. The area is growing fast and that land could become much more valuable for development. I hope they move, they're only 7 miles from me!

Mark Durenberger <durenberger@uswest.net>: That may be a CP to operate an aux from their backup site in Ramsey County (an old 1470 tower). I'll check and let you know.

Robert Foxworth <rfoxwor1@tampabay.rr.com>: Imagine the poor DXer, who ten years ago bought 3 acres in a nice quiet meadow away from everything ... bingo, 1000 feet away now there's this brand new steel tower. And about 10 volts of RF on his receiver antenna terminal. Hmmm ... Stamp Collecting, anyone?

Fred Vobbe <fredv@nrcdxas.org>: "The land under their site will sell for far more than the expense of moving farther away and still supplying a good signal." Ditto WLQV-1500 in Detroit. They took down the east three towers of the 12 tower array because K-mart made them a deal they could not refuse for the land.

Mark Durenberger: I verified that the CP is indeed to license their backup site. No plans to move the main.

Pete Taylor <taytac@worldnet.att.net>: WCCO is supposed to have just changed XR sites so many someone out there can give us a "before" and "after" comparison. I have only heard it once here, two months ago, but that was due more to having CKKY overwhelm KIRO's 830 image than anything else.

Neil Kazaross <neilkaz@interaccess.com>: I don't know any details...but I can tell you that, in my opinion they don't have nearly as good a signal as many other low band 50KWers.

Russ Edmunds <wb2bjh@yahoo.com>: Maybe not by you! They were just as strong as any Chicago/Detroit clear here before WEEU moved to 830...

Mark Durenberger: Water table at the existing Coon Rapids site has been falling for many years. And ground conductivity in a couple of directions is not that exciting. Typically, what was once "pasture" is now hemmed in with homes built right up to the edge of the property line. They're also operating a "long" tower (originally designed for 810 kHz).

Bob Smolarek <radiobob@ptd.net>: Same thing here in New Jersey, WCCO never had the signal that the other 50 kw'ers had. I don't know if it was that they were just a little bit farther than the Chicago's or KMOX. They never were in the class of power of KMOX, WSB, WLS, WBT, WTAM, WBZ, even WHO. I can't tell you the many nights I'd put 830 on and hear Brockville, ON or some Latin American.

John R Tudenham: Some nights that’s true here in SW Missouri, but being further north they seem to be affected more by Aurora conditions.

Fred Vobbe: I think they are worse now, than 10-years ago. On most nights they are weak here in Lima and getting beat up pretty bad by 820 and 840, plus some co-channel.

While I generally won’t get into stories of the following type (FCC fines, e.g.), this one is rather significant, and has some bearing on DX loggings of the last few years – specifically, WRHC, Florida, on 1560.

Doug Smith <w9wi@bellsouth.net>: The FCC Compliance Bureau has issued another doozy - not quite as good as the station in rural South Texas that decided to move its transmitter to suburban Houston anyway after the Commission specifically denied their request, but it's pretty close.. and it involves a station that has yielded several comments on this list in the past, WRHC-1550: WRHC is licensed to Coral Gables, Florida, a Miami suburb. It's licensed for 10,000/500 U4 on 1550, and holds a permit to move to 1560 with 45,000/4,400 U4. Both frequencies are dual-site operations, with a total of four different sites involved (one of them, the 1560 day site, co-located with WWFE-670). Beginning in October 1996, WQXR-1560 NYC began receiving complaints of interference from a Spanish-language station which turned out to be WRHC. They (somehow) determined that WRHC was operating as 5,000 U1 from an "unauthorized location". After contacting the station, interference stopped, but then resumed around the beginning of 1998 and would only stop briefly after WQXR complained. I'll now quote paragraph 4 of the FCC's order: "4. In responsive pleadings and subsequent correspondence, WBC (licensee of WRHC-ds) admits that it had never operated from its licensed daytime site and that it had been evicted from its nighttime site in February 1996. WBC further acknowledges that it had begun operating WRHC from its construction permit site in the fall of 1996 on 1560 kHz both during the day and at night without Commission authorization, and that it inadvertently operated at night on several occasions without authorization. WBC also concedes that it had been operating Station WRHC since the end of December 1997 or the beginning of January 1998 with a new transmitter set at 5 kW. Additional pleadings from Interstate (licensee of WQXR - ds) reflect that, although WBC temporarily ceased broadcasting after local sunset beginning July 16, 1998, it continued to broadcast for periods of time before local sunrise and after local sunset between August 1998 and February 1999. By letter to the Commission dated March 8, 1999, WBC pledged not to operate at night until such time as it had express authority to do so. However, WBC has made no such pledge with respect to daytime operations, and its July 1999 license application (File No. BL-990707DC) was dismissed as patently defective by the Mass Media Bureau on August 5, 1999. WBC petitioned for reconsideration of that action, resubmitted the application, and contends that it supplied sufficient information to obtain program test authority. However, the Mass Media Bureau, by letter dated March 7, 2000, determined that the resubmitted application contained several serious discrepancies. Accordingly, the Mass Media Bureau informed WBC that further action on the application would be withheld to allow WBC to file a corrective amendment. The Mass Media Bureau further informed WBC that failure to supply the amendment would result in dismissal of its application. Although the Mass Media Bureau has not authorized program tests, as required in this situation, WBC admits that it has operated and continues to operate WRHC during the day."

(my English teachers would have flunked me for writing a paragraph that long<g>) In paragraph 5, the FCC indicates that it believes WRHC has not used its licensed daytime facilities since they were destroyed by Hurricane Andrew, and its licensed nighttime facilities since they were evicted in 1996. They have found evidence that WRHC has operated at night with an unauthorized power. And they continued to do so after being notified - and admitting - that such operation was unauthorized. This will be expensive. For causing interference, the fine is $7,000. For operating on an unauthorized frequency (because even though they held a CP for 1560, they were not allowed to run program tests on that frequency without obtaining advance approval, which didn't happen), $4,000. For operating at an unauthorized location (again, because they didn't have advance approval for program tests with the CP), another $4,000. And, the Commission may adjust fines upwards when extenuating circumstances - such as intentional and repeated violations - exist. This one was adjusted upwards 50%, for a total fine of $22,500. At the time of the release, the violations had not yet ceased. The Commission took the unusual step of threatening the "death penalty" – if WRHC continues to operate without a license, program test authority, or special temporary authority for more than 30 days after the release, it may be necessary to institute proceedings which "...could lead to the issuance of an order revoking the license for Station WRHC." (yikes, that means they can continue to operate illegally for 30 days??) Anyway, if you thought you were hearing WRHC wiping out WQXR over the last couple of years, you weren't hearing things, and it wasn't aurora.....

Lee Freshwater <LFreshwate@aol.com>: This is typical of the FCC and how they run things. How they can miss a station operating on the wrong frequency, that close to an FCC field office (or did they shut down the Miami office?) just boggles the mind. I tried for six months to get a pirate station in Gainesville shut down. I really didn't care about them until they started slapping a "spur" on top of one of our stations. After six months the "Commission" still had not done anything. Except to send two inspectors to find the pirate, and tell them "Don't do it anymore"...We finally had to call the US Justice department. They finally took care of it. If I ran the FCC, all I would need to do would be to join, NRC, IRCA and subscribe to the two monitoring mags. Seems that we all know more about what’s going on than they do !!!

Russ Edmunds: I believe that probably many of us, myself included, were under the erroneous impression that the CP had been granted, and it was on and licensed. I've heard numerous ID's on 1560 over the years and thought nothing of it! It hasn't been heard here on 1550 since at least 1996. And after this long, what's another 30 days, hi?

Doug Smith: It would be a reasonable impression. The CP had, in fact, been granted. Even in this case, that allows tests - with open carrier, tones, and IDs. In most cases, even tests with regular programming may be conducted without further approval. According to the release in this case though, when a frequency change is involved, advance permission must be obtained from Commission staff before program tests may begin. The absence of that permission seems to be what they mean by indicating the station was operating on the wrong frequency. (of course, operating at 5,000 U1 when your CP calls for 45,000/4,400 U4 isn't exactly a good idea either - especially when you don't stop when the FCC catches you!)

Wayne Heinen: We moved WRHC to 1560 in the LOG back in 1997 edition, they were there and we just figured that the FCC hadn't updated there data base!

Ron Gitschier <RGITSCHIER@doyle.navy.mil>: I remember receiving splatter interference from WRHC on the channel I worked on, not very far from the xmtr of ex:WYHI 1570 Fernandina Beach, FL (now WGSR) while we were on the last moments of 5kw day power. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they were indeed using 44 or 50kw on 1560 kHz. It was pretty evident to me at night around Fernandina Beach/Jacksonville, FL. I'm shocked to learn that they finally got off their rocker about WRHC. All this time I thought the scuttlebutt around Jax radio was true, that the Clinton administration asked the FCC to turn a blind eye to the offenses due to a large Democratic Contingency in Metro Dade and that some (all?) of the programming was geared toward an Anti-Castro slant for a potential Cuban audience.

Doug Smith: It was reliably reported some time ago that the local prosecutor in Miami refused to prosecute a (shortwave) anti-Castro pirate. I can see where that would cause the FCC to ignore obvious violations. Don't think I'd blame that on Clinton; the anti-Castro folks down there don't think much of Democrats.

Patrick Martin: The interesting thing is I QSL'd them last year on 1560 kHz. I had no idea they were supposed to be on 1550. I caught them mixing with SSer and WQEW in Oregon using a 1500' beverage. That is one interesting QSL. They must not have known what they were doing.

Doug Smith: They either believed they were legal, or that nobody would bother them. (apparently they forgot that DX exists, and that they really *could* cause interference in NYC!) I'm beginning to wonder... if we should take a collection & sign up the Enforcement Bureau for subscriptions to DX News and DX Monitor?? (maybe with a special flag to delay their copy for a week so DXers get a chance to log the lawbreakers before they get busted<g>)

Wayne Heinen: I've already told a few techs in our local office they should subscribe to DX News. They would prefer that I rat on the pirates to them personally via email. I guess if they bust one they'll get an "atta boy" or something....

Fred Vobbe: You know, all it would take is for some FCC CIB fellow to sign up to the list, and not post a message, nobody would know, and look at all the tips he would receive. Talk about making his work easy!

Paul Swearingen <PlsBCBDXER@aol.com>: It has happened before ... the FCC has actually taken action, based upon what was printed in DX News.

Paul Smith, W4KNX <sunray2@gte.net>: My bet you could sign up Riley Hollingsworth. Just get his ham call and sign him up to: hamcall@arrl.net I'll bet it will get to him.

Robert Foxworth <rfoxwor1@tampabay.rr.com>: I think his call is K4ZDH. But I think he is involved with the Personal Radio side of it. You need someone in the Mass Media bureau. I doubt that Hollingsworth would be the best person to contact. But he could tell you who, I suppose. Back in the 1960's Gordon Nelson told me and others that the FBIS was a recipient of DX News and I believe this arrangement predated Nelson by quite a bit. They were one of several names who were intentionally omitted from the publicly available membership list (of paid subscribers) the club provided. For those who don't know, FBIS (Foreign Broadcast Information Service) is [or, was then at least] a part of the CIA, one of the more publicly visible parts. Their analogue in Britain would be BBCMS with whom they have reciprocal exchange agreements. They (FBIS) used to send gratis the IDXD editor, whomever it was at the time [and in/around 1970 it was me] a set of FBIS logs "Broadcasting Stations of the World" whenever a new set came out. These logs disappeared years ago, but had some usefulness then. Yes I remember Dave Popkin well. I think he was also WA2CCF [FCC backwards] and then went on to become perhaps, W2CC. So, the idea of outside agencies reading club bulletins is not a new idea. Especially _reading_ them and not just receiving_them, hi.

Russ Edmunds: Back in the late 1960's and early 1970's, the FCC's David Popkin (who was also a convention speaker for us once) subscribed, and that was during a period when there were numerous AM pirates on the air, many of whom were subsequently busted as a result...

And with the recent approval of the CP for WVWI to go to 1690, a little bit on that station.

Ron Gitschier: WVWI "Radio One" 1000 kHz, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands... rec 6PM eastern, 120 mi south of xmtr... NCAA Basketball Playoffs via Westwood One, Wisconsin VS Michigan State. TOH Sweeper/Jingle. Well, I thought this station was still 1kw but I see that it's been upped to 5kw during the day. So, it's not too surprising a catch. What does intrigue me about this station that the COL is the "Island" of St Thomas (WVWI, St. Thomas). The Community _is_ Charlotte Amalie. Or am I wrong? I've visited the Island of St. Thomas and that's the impression I got. I have other IDs stashed away somewhere at home that show stations IDing with Charlotte Amalie as the COL... Sort of inconsistent. The 1999 WRTH shows this station as silent. Of all the times I've sailed past the USVI or visited in the past 8 or more years they've never been silent. They're usually amongst the healthiest-sounding AM station there judged by program content, audio/modulation quality, and programming. Lots of local talk and sports, nice spot load... Anybody know of WVWI going dark in the recent past?? Has anyone logged this station?

Wayne Heinen: Don't know what reference is showing St. Thomas as the COL. The AM Radio Log and the FCC both have Charlotte Amalie. WRTVH has always been rather lax on COL's matching reality. I believe they were silent for a few months, a few years back after one of the hurricanes did in the Island's....

Patrick Griffith, N0NNK <AM-DXer@webtv.net>: Ron, I am a part-time Disaster Communications and Technology Manager with the US Public Health Service Office of Emergency Preparedness. In September of 1998 I was deployed to St Thomas as part of an advance team just before Hurricane Georges struck. WVWI was on the air then and ran the full 5kw day and night during the emergency situation. Their antenna was a 180' self-supporting tower on the west end of St. Thomas Harbor with a base elevation of 5' above sea level. It survived the direct hit from Georges with no problems. I'm certain that the transmitter site is inside the city limits of Charlotte Amalie. I may be wrong but I believe Charlotte Amalie is the only actual city on the island and COL probably means little to the folks out there. At the time I was there WVWI was owned by Knight Quality Stations (www.viaccess.net) and the CE was Ron Hall Sr. Interestingly I listened to a live satellite feed of an Atlanta Braves game on this station. BTW the north side of the island is in the Atlantic Ocean but the south side is in the Caribbean Sea. What a beautiful place!

Steve Francis <Pellisipi@aol.com>: There was an answer on "Jeopardy!" a while back that said Charlotte Amalie was the only town on St. Thomas, so, as Bruce said, the two are probably interchangeable as far as the locals are concerned. Maybe something like "Washington" and "DC" or "Monaco" and "Monte Carlo." They did a DX test on 1-16-95 (and none too soon - it turned out to be WMVP's last season with a Monday silent period). Quite a few DXers heard it, I managed one code period under HJAQ with XEOY nulled. It didn't really sound as if they were running the full 5kw - Ernie Cooper on Cape Cod was the only reporter in DX News who mentioned getting any voice out of them. Anyway, the little QSL sheet that I got has "St. Thomas" as the city in the address.

More on Trans-Atlantic (TA) reception:

Pete Taylor: No, I didn't hear any TAs here, but following up on an E-mail referring to good TA or reverse TA conditions recently, overnight March 18-19 was the best and cleanest I have seen since we moved here 3 1/2 years ago. Starting with CHFA under KNBR (nothing has ever been heard under them before, other than KKGR and KOMW at SR or SS), WGY under KGO, KRDU chomping at CKWX and up through WTTM and WMDR, it was sheer overload. Unfortunately, my wife and I went out to a school function and I didn't get at the dials until a little after 11 PM PST. Around 5AM PST, hets were noted on 621, 639 and 891 but I couldn't pull any audio out. It was really quite refreshing, and I hope someone else out there was able to snag a few exceptional goodies. PS - One TA has been heard here, 2 1/2 years ago, and that was pre-KYIZ, the CW station in the Netherlands on 1620.

Bruce Conti <BACONTI@aol.com>: Mauno Ritola wrote: "If Texan stations like WOAI can be heard in Europe, why not vice versa?" DX doesn't always go both ways. For example, DXers in eastern Australia and New Zealand often log stations such as WCBS New York and WBZ Boston. However, although it has been done, it's nearly impossible to hear Australia or New Zealand in the northeastern US/Canada. Why? Perhaps it's because DXers in Australia/New Zealand have a large salt water path to the US, while DXers in the eastern US have to deal with a 3000-mile land path. Also there aren't as many higher power (50 kW) stations from down under to choose from. By the way, I had Norway-1314 in clear early last night (2300 UTC), but it quickly faded away into the night. TA signals were actually down compared to a few days ago, so I didn't spend much time listening last night.

Russ Edmunds: Another factor is that here in the NE US, we have many more co-and adjacent-channel stations to work thru, and, I suspect, more electrical noise pollution as well. These two are key in my analysis, owing to the relative frequency of such receptions even in the 1950's and 1960's. I recall other hearing (and me spending a lot of futile time looking for) 4QD on (I think) 1550 in the late 60's...

Larry Van Horn (Monitoring Times) <larry@grove-ent.com>: When Gayle and I lived in Jacksonville several years ago, I had several very nice TA openings including one that let me log Saudi Arabia on a low end Panasonic portable. We were several miles inland (Orange Park) and I never did get a chance to do some water path stuff at the beach. Would have been fun.

Mauno Ritola <ritola@pp.inet.fi>: "TA signals were actually down compared to a few days ago, so I didn't spend much time listening last night." Of course you are right, the conditions on Saturday weren't as good as on Thursday and Friday, but it was just my prediction and I tried to encourage people to try for TA's. Anyway the probability of hearing Europeans in the US is higher when US stations are heard in Europe compared to conditions when they are not heard, right? On Saturday the conditions turned to south and here we heard mostly Colombians, while in the US Norway-1314 wasn't very strong and Southern Europeans & North Africans were dominating. I heard that last night was much better than Saturday, so maybe the good opening continues? The good conditions have had a clear 27-day cycle even in this season of sunspot maximum, so we could expect another good TA-opening around April 10th-14th!

We’ll get around to the end of the legal ID discussion sooner or later…

Neil Kazaross: Around the Chicago area, most FMers are known by their slogans and few non DXers actually know the calls unless the stations have been around a long long time. The point is that the radio dial is a very competitive market place and these stations do what they feel is necessary to compete. We as DXers must realize that these stations do not have a requirement to service the needs of us DXers.

John R. Tudenham: Here in Joplin MO we have 3 stations that are IDed by slogan. Kissin 92.5, Kicks 102.5 and oldies 107. You probably couldn't find 10% of their listeners that know their call sign. They are KSYN 92.5, KIXQ 102.5 and KMOQ 107.1. Also we have Big dog 97.9 I don't remember their call. On AM it may be different.

Russ Edmunds: "We as DXers must realize that these stations do not have a requirement to service the needs of us DXers." I don't think it can be said any better than this! We may not like it, but that won't change a thing!

Glenn Hauser <ghauser@HOTMAIL.COM>: I am really surprised at the preponderance of opinion here that legal IDs should not matter any more in the US radio market. Speaking as a citizen as well as a DXer, I think it is NOT too much to require a station occupying the PUBLIC's airwaves to devote 2 seconds an hour at hourtop to giving out its call letters. The rest of the time, they can do whatever they want. But, At the risk of stating the obvious, the whole point of call letters is that they are unique to each station (well, almost). While made-up slogans such as "Y-97" or "KISS" etc., etc. are all over the place and furthermore cannot be looked up in any official master list. This stems from the stupid but widespread idea that stations are only hearable in their local market. While other countries do get along quite well without legal ID requirements and without any call letters assigned, this is one American tradition that goes back to the roots of radio and it should be maintained. If not call letters, let us at least hear the FCC file number at the top of every hour!

Jim Wiskow <jcwiskow@win.bright.net>: Bravo Glenn! You couldn't have said it better, so now I'll shut up.

Ragnar Danneskjold <lwdxer@juno.com>: AMEN GLENN! Brother, I am glad to see that I am not the only one. I figure that I am worth 2 seconds an hour. Who the hell cares what the station calls itself the other 59:58 of the hour. They could call themselves "Hamster brains from hell" for all I am concerned. Just let me know who I am listening to. This non-IDing stuff makes it hard to file a complaint if you have an issue that you might want to being up if you don't know who the station is. "If not call letters, let us at least hear the FCC file number at the top of every hour!" Even this would work. Thanks for a post I can agree with.

Chris Knight <swrad@juno.com>: Most stations that play music have slogans. Since most AMs have talk, slogans like "Newstalk 5-80" are the norm. How does one identify that station?

Russ Edmunds: As much as is possible to keep current nationally on such an ever-changing item, the combination of the NRC Log which lists some, and the DDXD columns, one can do a decent job of it. On FM, the FM Atlas tries to keep current on slogans, and updates them in the companion FMedia! These are both imperfect, to be sure, but short of an online database with religious updates from members, it's about as good as it can be!

Chris Knight: "I have never seen an area like AZ with so many in violation all the time though." Not to mention KFNN-1510. They make local KDKO unlistenable sometimes (not that I'd want to listen to them...hi). I've noticed KFNN at near KOMA-1520 levels as late as 10:30PM MST as recent as last month.

Mark Durenberger: What I found, zipping thru Phoenix at Christmas, was that KFNN occupied 1460 to 1560 with its sidebands. Kinda "piggy", don't you think? But hey: that's 'unregulated'

Chris Knight: If there were no legal IDs, it sure would be easier to operate pirate stations. Who would notice?

David Braun <dcbraun@delanet.com>: ""no one will keep listening to our station if they don't know exactly who and where we are." You cannot get any idea who or where a station is by some dumb slogan like y97 or q102." That depends on which "where a station is" you're trying to push. I don't think stations (or listeners, for the most part) care if a station is in a major city or one of the suburbs. If it's received clearly, and programs what I want to listen to, the "where" would refer more "where on the dial", so listeners know where to tune in. And I would bet that for most listeners "Q102" tells them just as much or more about a station that "WIOQ".

Jim Wiskow: Bruce, what this amounts to is the dumbing down of our society in yet another area. I still say that call letters are there for a reason and that reason is that they should be used and used often. not necessarily in the form of a legal id but still as an identifier for the station as opposed to some goofy slogan. let's agree to disagree on this one Bruce. I'm for callsigns as station identifiers because that's what they were intended for. As I've stated before, if I'm new to an area, and I hear Kiss 108 or jam whatever, it means nothing to me. The reason others have latched on to these cuty liners is because they are what stations use instead of their callsigns. It would be the same as dropping the monicker DX Audio Service for "the tape!! I want to hear callsigns and hear them often.

Russ Edmunds: "While made-up slogans such as "Y-97" or "KISS" etc., etc. are all over the place and furthermore cannot be looked up in any official master list." Here, again - it is only we DX'ers who have a need for an official list. The FCC can do it by their file numbers, assuming they have any real reason to do so - given their current political and economic constraints... "While other countries do get along quite well without legal ID requirements and without any call letters assigned, this is one American tradition that goes back to the roots of radio and it should be maintained." It should also be pointed out that in many other countries where either calls are not assigned and/or not required to be used, there are similar duplications of slogans based on the same notion that signals somehow stay within their market...

Jim Wiskow: I am not talking about the "needs" of us DXers here. I am talking about stations having some class and common courtesy. Cute slogans and filtered liners do not equate to class.

Ragnar Danneskjold: "You cannot get any idea who or where a station is by some dumb slogan like y97 or q102." Far be it for me to keep my mouth shut on any subject. [clink...clink...] Ok my 2¢ are in the pot and I can get on the soapbox. Jim, you are right. There are a bazillion stations that call themselves "The Mix", "Z-Rock", "Smooth Jazz", "Oldies 95" and all sorts of crap that tells you nothing about who the station is or where they are. What ever happened to a station being proud of who they are? I suppose the mega-corporations could give a crap about being proud of who they are and as long as the money rolls in, they are happy. It takes about 3-5 seconds to ID. The station doesn't care about its listeners enough to spend 3-5 seconds an hour to tell the listener who they are doesn't deserve my time to even turn the radio on for background noise. What is worse than no IDs is that the stations play all kinds of music, especially on FM that NEVER announce the artist and name of the song. That stinks as far as I am concerned. I don't think that IDing from :02 to :04 is a great imposition. The station could even do it on computer and play a wave file at the same time each hour. It's not that big a deal. "Let's cut the cuty slogans and stupid filtered liners and go back to basics." AMEN, and hallelujah! I wish that they would go back to TOH and BOH IDs. Still, if they would just ID at the top of the hour that would be enough for me. But then if we did that the corporate honchos would never meet their goal of no IDs on any station so they could do everything from the AMFM studios in Dallas and not have to worry about anything. For them it homogeneity means increased profits. That way they could fire 90% of the employees that are left and keep their already low salaries for themselves. Well, that’s about all 2¢ will buy today. Time to get off the soapbox.

See you in …one month!!