Isn't this illegal?
 

Not exactly a "tv" question, more related to actual broadcasting. Aren't tv stations required to show their ID every hour? And shouldn't it be their actual ID, not their stupid made-up slogan?

One of the tv stations out here in Phoenix used to be called "WB 61", now they are "CW" (I could not possibly care less), but they are now exclusively calling themselves "6", which is appearantly their designation on whatever cable company they have out here.

They are still UHF 61 to those of us getting signals OTA. I know that many stations call themselves "Channel 43/5" or whatever the cable company assigned them, but this is the first time I've noticed them dropping the whole UHF number.

Either way, the whole line-up is just a bunch of garbage, unpopular 3rd-string sit-coms and judge shows...except at 4AM when they show Little House on the Prarie. Channel 45 (used to be UPN, now its "MY") no longer shows Streets of San Francisco at 5AM, but rather some crap infomercial about clogged colons (pun intended).

They do have two independant stations which never give a channel ID, just AZtv and "i". This also pisses me off, but since they show a fine line-up of Andy Griffith, Green Acres, Hogans Heros and Bewitched, I don't complain.

Yes, I do like to get up early :D

The legal station ID is just call letters and city of license, aired as near to the top of the hour as possible...the frequency or channel is not mandatory.
I don't think legally there is a problem with that as there are radio stations at 97.9 which use the slogan "Lite Rock 98" etc. although the TV station is more extreme.
Back when I worked in radio/TV I would hear most people who mentioned it in conversation call the station by the cable channel number not the UHF channel.

TV station ID practices
 

The stations must know what they are doing as far as their ID procedures go, otherwise they would have gotten into trouble with the FCC long ago. The stations in Cleveland have been identifying for some time simply with a video representation of their call signs and cities of license; the sound track is usually a promo for an upcoming show. The "MyTV" affiliate in Cleveland simply shows a stylized "My43" on the screen; I don't know about the audio as I haven't listened to TV commercials or station breaks in years, since I've had TVs with remotes. The "CW" affiliate in Cleveland shows the network's logo and the station's call sign (atop "The CW" network logo in large, slanting letters) in the lower right corner of the TV screen during programs and, of course, at the top of each hour, but again I don't know exactly how their audio ID goes. The PBS channel in Cleveland shows its callsign all the time in the lower right corner of the screen. Another PBS station on our cable service shows simply a large letter "W" superimposed over the numbers 45 and 49--again, the two channels this PBS station operates on (channel 45 is a translator).

Many people do refer to TV stations by their cable channels these days, but I have a friend in the Cleveland area who still calls the CBS television station in Cleveland by its call sign (years after it left channel 8 to go to 19), despite the fact that he and I have the same cable service (Time Warner) and the stations are on the same numbers in his and my area; that is, NBC is on channel 3, CBS is channel 4 (downconverted from 19), ABC is channel 5, MyTV is channel 6 (downconverted from 43), The CW is channel 9 (downconverted from 55) and so on.

In ham radio "CW" refers to a Morse code transmission mode where the carrier is switched on or off to create the Morse code symbols. Well, the "CW" network didn't have any Morse code on it.... :D :D http://www.geocities.com/wa2ise/radios/cqkey.gif

I don't know what either CW or MY stand for, but all I can say is that I was really excited (happy) when I heard that both UPN and WB were going down the toilet.

Yay! I thought.... Finally an end to truly retarded sitcoms and tenniebopper fluff dramas. Maybe the great independant UHF stations of my childhood would come back? Nope... One set of stupid networks exchanged for the others.

Gotta say, I don't see why the fate of CW/MY will be any different than WB/UPN... Same crap, different logos...?

CW is a mix of the "C" in CBS and the "W" is from "WB". The CW is a network made up of the old UPN which was owned by CBS/Paramount and Warner Brothers' WB.

http://www.laweekly.com/general/dead...viewers/13276/

Many of the old regulations requiring top of the hour ID's, public affairs programming, news broadcasts, etc. went the way of the dodo when President Reagan deregulated broadcasting in the 80's.

Tom

Typically we put the actually legal ID in very small letters at the bottom of the screen and use the rest to promote the TV station. I've checked to see what we can get away with and can find no specs for how large the legal identification needs to be or even how long it must be displayed.

Ed

IIRC, TV stations are still requirte dto ID themselves. It's more like the FCC really doesn't care anymore.,

The big betworks in NYC sure as heck do IDs, but then, saying you're WNBC, New York (always just 'new york') sure is more impressive sounding than KWTF in Podunk, Nebraska.

I agree.

Ed, do you work at an OTA station?

I just checked your profile... that was a stupid question... :D

I work at KCNC in Denver, the CBS O & O. I've never heard of anyone getting in trouble for not running an ID, but I've never heard of anyone not running one either. For whatever reason, we all take it pretty seriously.

Take care,

Ed

My local CBS outlet broadcasts over the air on channel 67, but ALL their ID's say "CBS3" because they appear on all the local cable systems' channel 3! Nowhere do they ever mention channel 67. I'd love to know how they keep getting away with it.
Tom

An ID is different then the "Legal ID". AN ID can be anything. The Legal ID is as close to the top of the hour as possible. It is call letters and city of license the ID can have anything before and after. Just my two cents....

I'd be surprised if that were the case. Look very closely at the 4 or 5 second spot at the top of the hour in a local break. They'll say CBS3 in the audio, but supered very small at the bottom of the screen it will have the call letters, the station allocation(s) and city of liscence. Or at least it should!

Take care,

Ed

As I remember from my SBE training, a legal ID is truly legal if:

- The call letters and city of license are represented in either audio or video form (doesn't have to be both but it's a plus if it is). Channel number is optional
- No slogan or other extraneous language, except for network affiliation, is added between the calls and city of license in the audio portion of the ID
- The video portion is displayed for at least 5 seconds (the stations I worked at adhered to this rule, at least)