Top Menu

87.7 FM dial - the final five

A Few More Franken FMs Stay on the Radio

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 even as their video signals switched to digital (digital TV audio signals cannot be heard on FM radios) under Special Temporary Authority (STA) from the FCC.

Now that number has increased to five, as Radio Insight reports Streetz 87.7 WMTO-LP in Norfolk, Virginia, La Invasora 87.7 KXDP-LP Denver, Colorado and “La Que Buena 101.9/87.7” in Cleveland, Georgia have all received STAs as well. This permits the stations to retain their analog radio signal for six months, but they must also broadcast a fully independent digital TV signal and the station may not be sold in that period. That still leaves about two dozen Franken FMs (depending on who does the counting – there is no official list) that are no longer heard at 87.7 FM.

Living in Portland, Oregon, without any Franken FMs nearby, I’ve only heard a couple of them ever. The first was the one that set me on the journey of discovering these stations, back in June 2009, just after the DTV transition. Chicago’s WLFM-LP was then airing a smooth jazz format, later flipping to alternative rock, and finally to MeTV FM under the new call letters WRME-LP. I’ve heard the station on the FM dial both with the smooth jazz and MeTV formats.

In October, 2019 I tuned in NY Radio Korea while visiting Northern New Jersey. Radio Insight says that station has applied for an STA to stay on FM – we’ll see if it’s granted.

If I happened to live near a Franken FM that was set to leave the radio dial, I definitely would have tuned in last Tuesday to hear what those final moments sound like. Though I wasn’t able to do it personally, lucky for me The Antenna Man on YouTube compiled some recordings of analog LPTV stations signing off. He even traveled to Syracuse, New York just to observe and record the last transmissions of WVOA-LP. This is a particularly fascinating Franken FM because its video signal was just an 8-bit motion graphic synchronized to the audio program, which Antenna Man compares to the Atari Music Video System from the 1970s.

WVOA-LP animations, courtesy of The Antenna Man

This station actually aired a notice about its imminent sign-off, which he also captured in his video.

In the video’s description he’s posted links to other YouTubers’ unedited captures of other analog LPTV end-transmissions, several of which are quite unceremonious and abrupt. As minor a chapter it seems, it’s still real broadcast history.

Support from readers like you make content like this possible. Please take a moment to support Radio Survivor on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!
Share

, , , , , ,

Powered by WordPress. Designed by WooThemes