July 13, 2021 was the last day on-air for 95% of the Franken FMs still around. That’s because 11:59 PM marked the final deadline for low-power TV stations to turn off their analog signals, 12 years and 31 days after full-power stations went all-digital.
These vestigial analog broadcasts were primarily of use to a few dozen stations assigned TV channel 6, which meant their audio could be heard at the far left end of the FM dial, at 87.75 MHz. Once just considered a quirky phenomenon in the days of all-analog TV, this capability spawned a new life for these outlets as radio stations which came to be known as Franken FMs.
Their forced digital transition was forestalled so many times in the last decade that none could claim they didn’t see it coming. One might consider their quest Quixotic, lobbying the FCC to retain their back-door to the radio dial, even though they have no legal claim to be heard on the radio.
While the Commission has not acted on a proposal to let LPTVs on channel 6 retain their analog audio broadcasts alongside their digital video transmissions, two stations have received special temporary authority (STA) from the agency to do just that for six months. I first reported on this experiment in June when KBKF in San Jose, CA got an STA. Chicago’s WRME recently also got the same extension. That station is perhaps the most well-known Franken FM, as the flagship station of MeTV FM. Not coincidentally, both stations are owned by the same company, Venture Technologies Group.
Aside from these two, all other Frankens must now be off the FM radio dial, as the stations either go digital or go dark. It’s tough to say precisely how many are affected. In March I counted 23 LPTV channel 6s that appeared to still operate as radio stations, and it’s likely many of them have ceased operations or figured out a different broadcast option in the meantime. Here are four reolocations I was able to find:
- The Bridge WJMF-LP in Jackson, Mississippi > WZQK-AM & 94.3 FM
- Drake FM WPGF in Memphis, Tennessee > 96.1 FM
- Fiesta! WGHD in Las Vegas > 98.1 FM
- Streetz 877 WMTO in Norfolk, Virginia > 102.1 FM
I also looked up a couple of other Franken FMs I’ve followed over the years to see their status. The website for Kickin’ Country 87.7 in Inyokern, California is offline, and their stream is no longer available on TuneIn. The stream for Sacramento’s Hella Radio 87.7 is still going, though there’s no messaging about the TV signal, the website doesn’t seem to have been updated since April 2020 and their last Twitter post was September 2020.
While the ultimate fate of TV on the radio is forestalled another six months until Venture’s STAs expire, it’s hard to say if many other stations will back to 87.7 FM if the FCC gives some kind of approval to the hybrid digital video and analog analog scheme. Even if that happens, I think we can consider the era of true Franken FMs to be over. Chicago’s MeTV FM is no longer actually broadcasting on TV – the station is now required to have a completely separate digital video signal. Its audio transmission is actually just radio – that happens to be paired with a digital LPTV station.
Just like its namesake monster, it seems Franken FM was never meant to live for long.
