Wikipedia-Add Your Low Power AM Station

Someone added WOQ to Wikipedia.com under Nebraska stations. Thought it was cool.

Mark Shannon
AM 1690 WOQ/Omaha's FUN Station

Someone added WOQ to Wikipedia.com under Nebraska stations. Thought it was cool.

Mark Shannon
AM 1690 WOQ/Omaha's FUN Station

I think it's a very cool way to get the word out. I am just trying to understand why a legal low power am station would want to hide? I already saw the RIAA-BMI stuff. We are not pirates, but some act like thay are. Go figure.

Mark, WDCX (and everyone else) my 2 cts:

I am not a lawyer or expert, but my reading from others far wiser than me on this forum says to be a legal "broadcaster" you have to have compliance in several areas.

1. FCC Part 15 compliance.

While that's a given (or a duh!), I have read here that under part 15 you may not use call letters that are identical or similar to licensed stations or convey the impression that you are a licensed station.

WOQ, while west of the Mississippi, (where the call letters are mostly
K _ _ _) may still "give the impression" to a person who is not familiar with the FCC regs of being licensed. WDCX also may convey the impression that you are licensed, despite all your disclaimers to the contrary. I understand that some folks on this forum interpret the use of call letters alone as maybe enough to no longer comply with Part 15.

2. Royalties

Again, I am no expert, but there appears to be a difference between "personal use" (like yardcasting) and "public performance." Not for profits, educational stations and even your local merchant who plays music in their store technically have to pay royalties through ASCAP, BMI, etc. (Merchants and some Part 15 broadcasters may not be doing that, but that's another matter and I don't want to know about it.) It's not fair, it's not right, but that's just the way it is.

(WCDX: I did not realize that you could buy "CD's for public performance" without paying a royalty.)

3. Who knows what other things.

So if you comply with all of these basic sets of rules, (which are probably very complex) then by all means shout from the rooftops to the world that you are out there.

But, as indicated elsewhere, there are probably a lot of folks on this board that don't fit into that two part model. For example, I am strictly an occaisional yardcaster and sometime experimenter. My neighbors don't hear me and that's fine.

That, WCDX, is why some people may be hiding. By the way, I do not want to dissuade you from what you are doing. You are a great and very prolific contributor to this forum and that is really wonderful. Thank very, very much. I also think your website and the service you are providing to your local community is also great. Keep up the good work! (Just watch your back!) If I can ever get over this royalty thing, I may want to follow in your footsteps sometime.

Best wishes and good luck!

RadioheadC,

In my New ID's I make it clear to my listeners that WOQ is "Non-Licensed, Part 15" at the Top and at the 30 minute mark. I think that makes it clear that WOQ is NOT licensed, well I lie, it's an Implied license. It's like my authority to use CB Radio. The FCC automatically granted it's citizens a paperless license provided they follow the rules, well most don't. Same with Part 15. The FCC granted it's citizens the authorization to use ultra low power on the broadcast band, provided that they follow the rules and don't harm high powered broadcasters. As far as I know, WOQ follows the rules, using a call sign that is not in use by another broadcast station, and can't be under current rules, and airing disclaimers that WOQ has no broadcast license. I do know if I used the call KMIZ, that would be wrong, and would get me in trouble. There is a KMIZ on the air, it's a Television station. This does not hold true for Internet only webcasting as it's not over-the-air.

And no, I'm not "hiding" from anyone. I have no real reason to. People where I work, including my Boss, and his Boss know what I'm doing. I even showed my new FM transmitter to several people there. They didn't ask me if it was legal. They said "Cool" and "Neat" and "That's great". One is even offering to build an antenna for it. The Assistant Chief Engineer is thinking of getting this transmitter for an exciter for the audio once we go Digital, or retransmitting the audio from the Digital signal from different billboards using Part 15 all over town once we loose our 87.7 audio channel. Maybe I should say I work in TV. I work at Channel 6.

In other words, I know what I'm doing. And I'm sure others on this board are as well, but I speak for myself.

Yours Truly,
Mark Shannon
AM 1690 WOQ/Omaha's FUN Station

RadioheadC,

And no, I'm not "hiding" from anyone. I have no real reason to.
Yours Truly,
Mark Shannon
AM 1690 WOQ/Omaha's FUN Station

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the response. No, I did not mean to imply that you were hiding. Clearly you are not. On the contrary, with your website, wikipedia mention, community involvement, etc. you are clearly out there in the open. Good for you! I commend you and thank you for the great work you are doing and your contributions to the hobby and to this forum.

However I was trying to come up with a plausible answer to the following question raised in this thread:

I am just trying to understand why a legal low power am station would want to hide? I already saw the RIAA-BMI stuff. We are not pirates, but some act like thay are. Go figure.

My thoughts, as previously stated, are that some people may be worried about non-compliance with the ever increasing rules and regs that not only include the FCC's power output level or field strength regs, but go beyond to other FCC regs, royalties and even other aspects of regulations that I can't begin to think about now. Chances are if one worries about a lot of this stuff, or is uncomfortable with it, it is easier or safer to hide than not. Not that that is the right approach, but it may be part of human nature. And that was my answer to wdcx.

As far as the use of call letters of a Part 15 (unlicensed or exempt from licensing requirements) giving the appearance of being a licensed station, I am not personally expert in whether or not it is ok for a Part 15 station to use call letters like a licensed station. What I stated was based on my understanding of what I have read in other threads on this forum. (I can't link them now, because I can't get the search feature to work for me.) It was really just meant as another example of a (potential) reg that had nothing to do with being a pirate (like field strength or power output), but a stupid little thing that could ruin one's day when it came to compliance. I didn't mean to criticize you, but I saw the call letters woq and wdcx mentioned different postings in this thread, so I was just using your call letters as an very "local" example.

Again no personal criticism was intended. And again thank you for your contributions to this forum. Best of luck to you.