Re: [IRCA] KABN (Re: Halp!)

[Scott Fybush <scott@xxxxxxxxxx>]

At 02:32 PM 12/9/2005, you wrote:
>Scott,
>
>Has it always been that way? Back when KSWB Seaside applied in 1967, I
>don't remember "FCC Windows" in those days. Of course there wasn't no
>where near the number of stations coming on the air then. Right now
>there are tons of apps for the US and many in the NW. Quite a few in
>little towns all over OR. I can't imagine most ever getting on the air.

No, there weren't windows back in those days. But back then, there 
also were much tighter restrictions on power levels (no 3.3 kW 
daytimers, for instance) and other interference factors, which 
limited the number of potential stations dramatically. (And that's 
not even touching on the whole issue of the breakdown of the clear 
channels, which paved the way for hundreds of new AMs.)

Back then, applications for new stations also involved hearings, 
sometimes in front of the entire Commission. There's no way today's 
FCC could handle that volume of hearings, and in any event, the 
mandate from Congress is now to decide conflicting applications with 
an auction. Organizing hundreds of mutually-exclusive applications 
into auction groups in turn more or less dictates the use of a window 
system. Otherwise, the whole system would grind to a halt.

As for all those little towns in OR, many are likely to end up in 
mutually-exclusive auction groups. You'll see a lot of people paying 
much more for a new signal than it's really worth, and often selling 
the CP at a loss to someone else who can actually afford to build the thing.

It's certainly not how anyone would design a system for allocating 
new AM channels, given a blank slate - but then, the slate's been 
getting cluttered for more than 80 years now!

s 

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