Repack Work Won't Drive Most Affected Radio Stations Off-Air
Most radio stations affected by the post-incentive auction repacking will be able to broadcast at reduced power from their own or auxiliary facilities rather than going off-air, and likely will have to do so only intermittently, said tower industry executives, broadcasters and their engineers in interviews. Even short periods off-air or not being able to be received throughout its full contour can have disastrous effects for a radio station, broadcasters said. Losing a small portion of a station’s revenue due to unaired ads can severely affect profit, said Henson Media CEO Ed Henson. “Radio is a fixed cost business.” Legislators expressed support for legislation that would compensate affected stations for repacking-related costs (see 1709070058).
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The radio stations that will face the biggest impacts from the TV repacking are FMs that occupy space on a tower at the same height and relatively close to an affected TV antenna, said Electronics Research Chief Operating Officer Kenny Brown. This most commonly occurs on “candelabra” towers, which are a relatively small portion of U.S. TV towers, Brown said. Since working on a TV antenna on a candelabra tower near a powered-up FM station would expose tower crews to constant RF radiation, a station in such a situation likely would have to shut down during the work hours, said broadcast engineer Bob du Treil, president of du Treil, Lundin. Some candelabras could have multiple TV stations affected, so in a difficult situation, shutdowns could last several weeks, he said.
Most stations won’t face that dire a situation, broadcasters and engineers said. On many towers, TV antennas are located at the top of the tower, while radio antennas are lower. In these situations, the radio station likely would have to reduce power only while workers setting up the rigging to do the TV job climbed past the radio antenna, du Treil and Brown said. Such power-downs likely would be intermittent and last a few hours at most, Brown said. This sort of arrangement likely would apply to most radio stations affected by the repack, Brown and du Treil said. “Every station is different,” du Treil cautioned. The National Association of Tower Erectors and T-Mobile didn't comment.
Radio stations have to power down in proximity to workers because of Occupational Safety and Health Administration rules on RF radiation, Brown said. An unprotected worker in close proximity to a fully powered FM antenna for a too long will develop burns on exposed skin, Brown said. Though crews sometimes work in protective suits, they're cumbersome and wouldn't be ideal for the complicated work at extreme heights the repacking is likely to require, Brown said.
TV tower work isn't a phenomenon exclusive to the repack, and radio stations have to accommodate it frequently, Brown said. When such work occurs as part of normal tower and station maintenance, it’s usually possible for stations to coordinate so the work and related reduction in FM station power occurs in the station’s off-peak listening hours, said Cromwell Group President Bayard Walters. The repacking work is likely to differ because the larger scope, tight timescale and competition for tower crews could make such accommodation difficult to arrange, du Treil said.
The FCC said some radio stations may be compensated for repacking costs without congressional action, through arrangements some may have with collocated TV stations requiring reimbursement for costs associated with tower work. Such deals are extremely rare, said Walters. An American Tower official said his company has no such deals (see 1709070058), and they're seen as rare on privately held towers, numerous broadcast officials said. The FCC declined comment.
“There is no 'one-size-fits-all' solution to the repack,” an NAB spokesman said. “Some stations may have to power down only for a few hours, while others might have to go off the air for days or weeks." Stations shutting down “isn’t a workable solution,” the spokesman said. Stations forced to go off-air can buy or rent off-site auxiliary antennas, tower industry officials said. Auxiliary antennas usually offer the same coverage and power as a main antenna, Walters said. Auxiliary antennas can cost into the hundreds of thousands, broadcasters said.
Going off-air for even a day is a significant issue for a radio station, Walters and Henson said. “You cannot charge someone for an advertisement that does not air,” Walters said. If listeners can’t find a station, they may stop looking, he said. Though operating at reduced power is preferable to going off-air, to listeners at the edges of a station’s contour, the effect is similar, broadcasters said.