On Tuesday 22 October 2013 10:03:06 pm Nate Hartmann wrote: > Thanks for that input Cowboy, I was operating under the mistaken impression > that the 2-minute window was FCC-mandated. The best reference I could find > on the topic was "The Public and Broadcasting" (last updated July 2008 > http://www.fcc.gov/guides/public-and-broadcasting-july-2008 ) which says > "Stations must air identification announcements ... every hour, as close to > the start of the hour as possible, at a natural programming break."
FCC enforcement precedent. There is no absolute defined window, but don't get stupid. It's one of few areas where the lawyers lost, and the common law doctrine of a "reasonable man acting reasonably" won. Some stations try to push the obvious limits. Some liked to claim that interrupting their "417 in a row" isn't the natural break. The end of the "417 in a row" is. The Commission has decided ( and rightly so ) that the end of the song nearest the top of the hour *is* the natural break, especially when that "in a row" has interspersed promotional announcements. In the eyes of the Commission, those are spots ! The precedent and clarification came from a Classical Music station, I forget which one, in response to a complaint by one of the "in a row" rockers. ( Boston, I think, but I could be wrong ) The Commission decided that the classical piece that started 18 minutes before the top of the hour, and finished 17 minutes after, that the 17 minute point *was* "as close to the start of the hour as possible, at a natural programming break." The end of the piece nearest the top of the hour. The most extreme case I know about, was a classical piece that ran something like an hour and a half, with no break, and the Commission decided that was OK, as long as there was an ID both before and after, so it's possible to have an entire hour with no ID at all, but if there's a 2 second pause anywhere in there, you better sneak in an ID. Note that in another case, they decided that something like "w<mumble mumble> warn<mumble mumble>" under a fade, at the top of the hour, and 5 minutes later announcing "WE ARE CLEVELAND'S OWN, THE SNAKE!" won't fly, either. The legal ID is the call sign and city of license, not the station slogan and major market audience target. Again, just don't get stupid, and don't worry about it. -- Cowboy http://cowboy.cwf1.com No man is an island, but some of us are long peninsulas. _______________________________________________ Rivendell-dev mailing list [email protected] http://caspian.paravelsystems.com/mailman/listinfo/rivendell-dev
