In a few dozen markets around the country there is a rare species of FM station that is only heard on the far left end of the dial. Because of the unusual spot on the dial, and sometimes unusual programming, some listeners may think they’ve tuned in a pirate. But these stations are legal, if not quite something the FCC intends to exist.
When I first found these stations more than ten years ago, I called them “Back Door FMs.” Later some commentators would call them “FrankenFMs.” The first instance of this moniker I can find is from Radio World in November 2014. The term became more popular when writer Ernie Smith covered the phenomenon for Tedium in 2016.
I think FrankenFMs are one of the most important radio trends of the last decade because only a handful of them were around when the decade started, and their number has nearly tripled in the intervening years. Yet, the 2010s might be remembered as their heyday, since they’re scheduled to go away in June of 2020, unless the Federal Communications Commission decides to intervene.
How Digital TV Inadvertently Turned a Curiosity into a Service
When I was a kid growing up at the Jersey Shore, I was fascinated by the fact that I could hear channel 6 WPVI-TV, Philadelphia’s ABC affiliate, on the left end of my radio. And disappointed that I couldn’t listen to other TV stations.
The existence of that phenomenon is owed to the fact that the first six channels of analog TV are just below the FM dial, with channel 6’s audio portion – which is also frequency modulated – situated at 87.76 MHz, receivable on most radios. For the roughly 44 years that analog television and FM radio were neighbors this was mostly a curiosity, since only some television shows make sense without the picture.
This changed on June 12, 2009, when all full-power television stations turned off their analog signals, becoming fully digital. The ones on channel 6 disappeared from the FM dial. But not every channel 6 station went away.
Because they were designed to serve local communities at a lower cost – similar to low-power FM – low power television stations were given a longer lease to hold onto their analog signals. That also meant that channel 6 LPTVs could still be heard on the radio.
As television viewers made their adjustment to digital receivers, the value of these low-powered analog signals began to fall. Those on channel 6 found a new lease on life: embrace their existence on the radio dial.
A Decade of FrankenFMs
I discovered my first such station on the Chicago radio dial just days after the analog TV shutoff, in June 2009. Back then WLFM briefly returned smooth jazz to the area’s airwaves – the station is now MeTV FM, which will I’ll return to in a bit. I soon learned there were a number of these stations around the country, from Anchorage, Alaska to New York City.
When the digital TV transition happened there were 77 analog channel 6s remaining on the air in the U.S. Two years later the FCC decided they would all be required to transition to digital by September 1, 2015. Then they received a reprieve in 2014, getting to stay analog while the Commission conducted what is known as the “incentive auction and repack.” This process allowed digital TV stations to trade in spectrum to be auctioned off for advanced digital services. Stations in affected markets then “repacked” in bunched up spectrum. It concluded in June of this year, and analog LPTVs were given an addition twelve months past this point to make the digital transition.
Today there are just 41 analog channel 6 stations left, just a bit more than half as there were a decade earlier. But now most – 31 – appear to operate as radio stations, with a majority broadcasting either a Spanish-language or religious format, usually syndicated and non-local. The last time I counted them was in 2014, when I came up with about 18. This increase certainly indicates that there’s little value left in analog television broadcasting as a visual service. The audio signal is clearly what’s most valuable.
A Stay of Execution?
Once more an analog sunset is upon us in just over six months when the post-repack grace period is finished. This time around the FCC isn’t asking the question if analog LPTVs should stick around – their digital transition appears imminent. Instead the Commission is directly addressing the existence of channel 6 FrankenFMs.
The Media Bureau is asking for the public to weigh in (MB Docket No. 03–185) on whether or not these stations should get an exception to continue broadcasting an analog audio signal as a “supplementary service” even while their video signals go digital. Moreover, should the FCC only consider stations that are actually operating as radio, or should all be considered?
If this supplemental audio service were to be allowed, should only existing channel 6s be eligible, or would someone be able to apply for a new station and also get permission to broadcast an analog radio signal? The FCC also asks if a channel 6 license is sold or transferred, should that right to the analog audio transmission also be transferred.
It’s significant that the FCC is in effect proposing to officially recognize channel 6 LPTV stations as radio stations, rather than just sort of tolerate the loophole. Of course that’s because the loophole is about to go away.
Should FrankenFMs Be Saved?
As I noted above, the majority of the FrankenFMs seem to broadcast syndicated programming. Only a handful broadcast anything I’d call interesting or unique, which is unfortunate to me.
On the one hand I have to tip my hat to clever broadcasters exploiting a loophole to get onto the radio legally, especially in tight markets with few or no opportunities to squeeze another station onto the dial. But I really want these stations to be run by passionate folks, eager to do something innovative or different, not just rebroadcast some satellite or internet signal, or another iteration of a tired format already heard everywhere.
Even though it’s formally an oldies station, I think the aforementioned MeTV FM is the clearest example of a unique Franken-FM. Deviating from the usual canon of 60s, 70s and 80s music, the station mixes in a healthy dose of what I’d call “forgotten oldies.” These are one-hit-wonders or even hit songs by established artists that were popular in their day, but somehow never endured heavy rotation in the years after.
MeTV FM’s eclectic oldies format stands out so much that it now has an audience big enough audience to show up in the Nielsen ratings beginning four years ago, even beating out the nine-decade-old news/talk station WLS-AM.
Previously only available to terrestrial listeners in the Chicago area, MeTV FM now streams online, so you can check out its distinctive oldies format for yourself no matter where you are. It even has picked up four FM affiliates: KXXP 104.5 FM serving the Portland, Oregon metro out of White Salmon, Washington; WXZO 96.7 FM serving the Burlington, Vermont and Plattsburgh, New York area; KQEG 102.7 FMserving the LaCrosse, Wisconsin metro from La Crescent, Minnesota; and WJMK 1250 AM in Saginaw, Michigan, which has a translator at 99.3 FM. HD Radio listeners in Milwaukee, Wisconsin can tune it in on WMYK-HD2.
As far as I can tell, MeTV FM may be the only FrankenFM that serves as the flagship station for burgeoning network of true FM stations.
A couple of other interesting and notable FrankenFMs include indie/alternative Hella 87.7 FM in Redding, California, and Kickin’ Country 87.7 FM in Ridgecrest, California.
Though channel 6 TV stations have been tucked into the bottom of the FM dial for more than four decades, it’s only in the last one that this has been systematically exploited, turning into a small shadow service. Yet every broadcaster taking this advantage has known the lease would eventually expire, and now they’re definitely making a last-minute Hail Mary. I’d be more inclined to rise up in their defense if the majority were idiosyncratic, eclectic or at least locally programmed.
Instead, I’d rather see that little bit of spectrum freed up for actual FM broadcasters, and non-commercial ones at that, since the space from 87.7 to 88.1 is in the non-commercial band. Because there are many more markets without a TV channel 6 than there are with FrankenFMs, such a change could open up the possibility for dozens, if not hundreds, of new local radio stations. I’d even go so far as to reserve the space just for LPFMs, which would allow for even more stations, and more diversity. This is the sort of innovation that engineering firm REC Networks has been advocating since at least 2008.
At the same time, I empathize with the broadcasters who have built compelling and creative services on channel 6s, but who now see their stations on the chopping block. I think it would be a true loss to their local radio dials if MeTV FM or Hella 87.7 were to go away. But it’s also true that radio stations and formats go away all the time, often for more mysterious or wrongheaded reasons. In this case the broadcasters can’t say they weren’t warned – in fact, they’ve had an effective five year extension.
It will be fascinating to see how the FCC decides to resolve this issue, and how the rest of the broadcast industry reacts.
