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Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says

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Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says

#191

Post by brookst »

flaminHotSpeedo wrote: post #159
sh79 wrote: post #145

The image of another tower used in the article is pretty confusing. This https://apnews.com/article/radio-station-tower-stolen-am-fm-... > one apparently includes the real one, which I think makes the theft appear more within the realms of possibility.

The caption is infuriating: > "A different radio tower, which has presumably not been stolen"

Why is that infuriating? It’s accurate, acknowledges the suboptimal photo choice (or availability), and has some humor. As an editor, given this as your only photo choice, what caption would you write?

Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says

#192

Post by brookst »

HPsquared wrote: post #165
Stratoscope wrote: post #148

> The FCC also notified WJLX on Thursday morning that the station would have to go off the air because of the theft. While WJLX still has its FM transmitter and tower, it is not allowed to operate its FM transmitter while the AM station is off the air. W.T.F.? I've been following this story, and as a ham operator I am usually a big fan of the FCC. But I don't understand why the loss of the station's AM tower should r…

I wonder how much "economic" activity goes towards satisfying arbitrary requirements such as these.

Lots of economic activity goes into supporting Chesterfield fences.

Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says

#194

Post by [deleted] »

flaminHotSpeedo wrote: post #159
sh79 wrote: post #145

The image of another tower used in the article is pretty confusing. This https://apnews.com/article/radio-station-tower-stolen-am-fm-... > one apparently includes the real one, which I think makes the theft appear more within the realms of possibility.

The caption is infuriating: > "A different radio tower, which has presumably not been stolen"

[deleted]

Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says

#195

Post by op00to »

Kwpolska wrote: post #170
loeg wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would someone design a radio system this way (instead of independent signal to the FM) and what is the risk of running an FM station without rebroadcasting that lead to these rules?

And isn't AM sound quality worse?

AM sound quality can be much better than FM. There are AM pirates that show up once in a while that have absolutely beautiful signals.

Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says

#196

Post by denotational »

blackfawn wrote: post #151
Stratoscope wrote: post #148

> The FCC also notified WJLX on Thursday morning that the station would have to go off the air because of the theft. While WJLX still has its FM transmitter and tower, it is not allowed to operate its FM transmitter while the AM station is off the air. W.T.F.? I've been following this story, and as a ham operator I am usually a big fan of the FCC. But I don't understand why the loss of the station's AM tower should r…

Their FM station is a "translator" which listens to their AM station and rebroadcasts it. Translators are a secondary service that must only rebroadcast their primary service.

> Translators are a secondary service that must only rebroadcast their primary service.

I must be missing something, because this seems an arbitrary rule that has no purpose except to increase the FCC’s licensing revenues by allowing them to charge more for “real” spectrum allocation that for a “translator” allocation.

Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says

#197

Post by wly_cdgr »

brookst wrote: post #191
flaminHotSpeedo wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The caption is infuriating: > "A different radio tower, which has presumably not been stolen"

Why is that infuriating? It’s accurate, acknowledges the suboptimal photo choice (or availability), and has some humor. As an editor, given this as your only photo choice, what caption would you write?

Question is moot because I would just do my job to the minimum acceptable standard of competence by sourcing a picture of the actual tower

Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says

#198

Post by MichaelZuo »

denotational wrote: post #196
blackfawn wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their FM station is a "translator" which listens to their AM station and rebroadcasts it. Translators are a secondary service that must only rebroadcast their primary service.

> Translators are a secondary service that must only rebroadcast their primary service. I must be missing something, because this seems an arbitrary rule that has no purpose except to increase the FCC’s licensing revenues by allowing them to charge more for “real” spectrum allocation that for a “translator” allocation.

The US Code of federal regulations, Congressional records, and media reports from around the time of enactment are on the public record, why not take a look yourself to check if you are ‘missing something’?

Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says

#199

Post by seadan83 »

graemep wrote: post #154
sh79 wrote: post #145

The image of another tower used in the article is pretty confusing. This https://apnews.com/article/radio-station-tower-stolen-am-fm-... > one apparently includes the real one, which I think makes the theft appear more within the realms of possibility.

One of my earliest memories of something in the newspapers was, as a teenager, finding out a picture in The Guardian was of any entirely different conflict, more than a decade earlier, albeit in the same country. The media did not really care much about accuracy then, and its even worse now.

A single example of one inaccuracy many years ago is not evidence for (at least as far as the Guardian is concerned): "The media did not really care much about accuracy then, and its even worse now."

To say that, you would also need to know the actual accuracy rate of media over time. I don't think anyone really knows that without perhaps having done a PhD thesis on the topic.

What's more, good media publishes citations & corrections: https://www.theguardian.com/info/complaints-and-corrections

They will correct things like that when pointed out. On the other hand, honest mistakes of the wrong photo is not that uncommon. In this case, I think the resource was looking for just a stock photo. I did not read the article and immediately think, "Oh yeah, random tower in the middle of nowhere USA, this is for sure a picture of that tower". Perhaps just me..

Regardless, on wrong image, I've certainly noted that a few times - for example reading protest signs that are clearly for a different time/issue than what is being documented (EG: protests in Russia in like 2010s and the news was running images from things that happened 15 & 20 years earlier).

Re: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says

#200

Post by geerlingguy »

chasil wrote: post #190
ryzvonusef wrote: post #171

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZSxb8QIIa4 jeff geerling made a video on this, has some details on FM/AM translators, and how difficult it is to dismantle a tower.

Wouldn't it be easier to destroy the supports, causing it to fall? As long as the power is off, this seems faster.

Presumably the power was on—else the FM translator would've been in violation if it was transmitting. Also the owner never mentioned any monitoring of the AM signal, but most radio stations have at least one if not two or three different means to monitor their signals (and the FM is supposed to be integrated into that since it's not its own station).

If the tower disappeared overnight... it would not be able to be done without a trace, and if any listeners were listening, for almost any station I've heard of, at least one listener would call into the station.

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