Update: I decided to to a major edit to this post due to an error in the FCC’s LMS showing more stations as Licensed and Silent than there actually are. Here is a screen shot from the LMS showing most of Audacy’s AM licenses as “Licensed and Silent.”
Regarding the Audacy AM licenses, A little more research shows that they filled for MDCL on April 10th.
Someone at the FCC must have confused “Licensed but coverage area reduced,” with “Licensed and Silent.” It is an easy mistake to make or it is some sort of late April Fools joke. They are now properly listed as “Licensed.”
There are 116 AM stations listed as licensed and silent.
As of this writing, there are 103 full power FM stations and 46 Low Power FM stations in the LMS listed as licensed and silent.
Reading various sources about AM and FM licenses being taken silent around the country. Often, after 12 months, these licenses are quietly surrendered to the FCC. I thought it would be interesting to see exactly how many stations are now deleted.
In the last 12 months the FCC has deleted:
- 60 full power AM licenses
- 20 full power FM licenses
- 53 Low Power FM license
- 28 FM translators
60 Full power AM licenses deleted in one year is a record.
Sometimes, I get the feeling that licenses that could be sold are instead surrendered because the current owner does not want new competition. Given the shrinking pool of potential advertizers, this makes a little bit of sence. This is a thing we see in American business culture, sort of the “Walmartization” of various business sectors. In other cases, the facility is in such bad shape that it would be cost prohibative to bring it back.
A few people have suggested that once a license is deleted, the allotment can be resurrected and applied for. That is not a bad idea with some caveats for AM class C, D, and FM low power stations. If there is any loosening of broadcast regulation, particularly in AM antenna design, community coverage contours, city of license requirements, and so on, then this could be a way to get more interest in the AM band.
Paul, is there some disagreement with LMS and the FCC’s AM Station Query site? I just looked up two of Audacy’s AMs in Connecticut and they’re not listed as silent. Also, WINS 1010 in NYC shows licensed in the query site and I caught them this morning, so maybe there’s a disconnect between the staff who update both sites.
Bill, it is just in the LMS and nowhere else. I think it is some FCC screw up.
WCCO is currently on the air and are not going silent.
They will be moving from their current site to their aux site. They’ll also change their power from 50kW day & night, to 50 kW day and 45 kW night. This is from their FCC application modification of 02/12/2025.
(putting aside the apparent errors in the LMS)
I don’t know all the specifics, but when a license is deleted by the holder, a thirty day clock begins. After that 30 days, the license cannot be resurrected – and that’s a Congressional rule, not an FCC rule, so no hope for a waiver. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.
For AM’s, you can’t have a new station applied for except during a filing window, and then it goes to auction.
For commercial FM’s, the allocation always remains (unfortunately) so one has to petition the FCC to hold an auction for the allocation.
For non-comm FM’s, the license is dead and gone, and nothing new can be applied for until the next filing window.
All three situations might require years of waiting inbetween substantial costs on the part of the applicant for lawyers to file the necessary paperwork at each step. Plus the cost of the auction itself. If these signals weren’t economically viable enough for Audacy (or whomever) to keep operating in the first place? It’s highly unlikely some new entrant will find them viable enough in five, ten or even 15-20 years from now.
For AM’s and non-comm FM’s, too, there’s the risk an adjacent channel facility could mod their own facility in a way that preclude the old facility from ever coming back in the next filing window. That’s somewhat less likely for AM’s, as usually such an expansion isn’t possible without a new pattern. And a new pattern, as we all know, usually involves *expensive* changes to towers, phasors, and possibly a new transmitter.
I would vaguely expect that all that will happen after a lot of these signals go dark is that the band will simply get a bit less cluttered. And that, as they say, is a reward unto itself.
MDCL?
Modulation Dependent Carrier Level.
N/M- figured it out.
The list of course doesn’t included the stations that have been off but never notified the commish. In Idaho I know of 4 AM’s that have been off for years but the translators play on.
Townsquare is doing something completely different in Boise Idaho. Spending big $$$ diplexing one of their AM’s on the 6-tower array of another not co-owned AM tho the towers are owned by Vertical Bridge.
I see a couple more AMs “Deleted” this week.
However, Cumulus 1090 KAAY had applied for 3.4 kw DA night with the remaining 2 towers (one fell). Similar pattern but fatter, just covering most of Little Rock with a NIF. They did have a CP for 80 watts non-directional that would have made KAAY a Class D Daytimer. So they’re now downgrading from a Class A to B since the power’s below 10 kw.
Bill, it is interesting to see what owners are spending money on. There are a couple of AMs around here that have had major upgrades done as part of other projects. Then again, a couple of AMs around here have had their licenses surrendered, both by the same company.