"George S. Thurman" wrote in message
...
I am curious if station sign-on and sign-off announcements are required by
the FCC ?
I ask this, because I have noticed several daytime only stations recently
that do not make any type of announcement at sign-off
They just kill the carrier afer the last commercial. And they begin the
next broadcast day with programming, sometimes not even a legal ID.

Just curious about this.

The rules, as I understood them when I cared (73.1202) was that the station ID was
to be aired at the beginning and end of transmission, as well as "as close to the
hour as possible in a natural break in programming." I think this is by
international treaty, not that it's observed by many North American stations. The
station address, contact information and national anthem, therefore, are entirely
optional, abeit customary, for most stations that actually sign off. And your
experience is typical.

This rule, or a variant thereof, also applies for auxiliary (Part 74) operations,
such as studio-transmitter links. There, the hourly ID for the main programming
serves to ID the auxiliary STL, but once programming ceases on the main programming,
the STL needs to be ID'ed every hour with its own calls if it remains on. And the
form for those, by the way, are quite explicit in their delivery. STL WAP-470 in
Thistown is, like the requirement for the main channel's calls, to be ID'ed
double-you-ay-pea-four-seven-zero thistown, not "WAP-four-seventy" or other cute
variants. Keep in mind, too, that the location is the political entity of the
station's STL transmitter, so that a station licensed to Thattownoverthere with
studios in Thistown would ID the STL as I've described. For Remote Pickup links, the
facility is to be ID'ed in exactly the same manner.
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