Last Tuesday, July 13, was the last day for analog low-power TV in the US, also marking the last broadcasts of most Franken FMs – legacy channel 6 stations’ whose audio is heard at the low end of the FM dial at 87.7 FM. As I noted then, two stations have retained their FM signals […]
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 […]
It’s the final countdown for Franken FMs. On July 13 the FCC’s Media Bureau issued a public notice to remind low-power TV operators that July 13, 2021 is the date when they must terminate analog broadcasts and go digital, “regardless of whether their digital facilities are operational.” Among those LPTV stations still transmitting analog signals are approximately 31 […]
The Federal Communications Commission is all about radio at the end of 2019, and we catch you up on what you need to know. We all have questions about the possibility of AM stations going all-digital, including the FCC. The regulatory body released the things it wants to know about how digital stations would work, […]
Long-time Radio Survivor readers know that I’ve been tracking one of the stranger vestiges of analog television in the US: channel 6 low-power TV stations that can be heard at the far left end of the FM dial. I’ve called them “back door” stations, while others in the radio industry call them “FrankenFMs.” Since low-power […]
Chicago may be the home of the highest rated channel 6 TV station dressed in a radio station’s clothes. I wrote about MeTV FM in February when it hit the airwaves. The station broadcasts on the audio channel of WRME-LP channel 6, which is receivable at 87.7 FM. I call these “back door” radio stations […]
[polldaddy poll=8719402] We received lots of responses to our call for feedback on the general accessibility of 87.7 FM. The frequency is mostly deployed by Low Power TV stations with access to channel six. Please do give our poll a quick response. Thanks!
Respond to our poll on 87.7 FM! Here at Radio Survivor we’ve been following the Great Debate over whether Low Power TV stations should be able to stream the 87.7 portion of their channel 6 frequency as an FM signal. A week ago Paul Riismandel noted that in Chicago Weigel Broadcasting is poised to run […]
Channel surfing on cable or over-the-air TV you may have come across Bewitched, Columbo or other “classic” re-runs on a station that calls itself MeTV. This successful Chicago-based upstart network that airs its nostalgic programming on digital television subchannels across the country is dipping its toes into the radio pool. Today MeTV parent company Weigel […]
Some of our perennially most popular posts are about smooth jazz radio in Chicago (and there’s a lot of different kinds of jazz on Chicago radio). After being bumped around the dial for the last five years, the format has emerged on a new station once again, this time broadcasting from a new translator station […]
