Information about Station Identification

Station identification (sometimes called a sounder or stinger) is the practice of any type of radio or television station or network identifying itself, typically with a call sign or brand name. Over-the-air transmitters may be required to identify themselves regularly by a governmental licensing authority; this requirement can apply to any form of transmission over the radio spectrum by any means, not merely mass-media audio or video broadcasters. Non-OTA broadcasters such as cable or pay TV networks may still practice regular identification as a form of branding.

Europe

Amateur and Two-Way Radio

Broadcast radio

Television

Station Idents are normally used in between shows, and by some are considered the most important portion of a network's presentation. Unlike in the US, broadcast stations in Europe do not identify by callsign, although many European networks brand by their usual channel number, such as for example in the lineup of FTA channels in the United Kingdom - there is BBC One (on channel 1), BBC Two (on 2), Channel Four, and Five. In the '60s through to the early '90s, most broadcasters used a single ident, sometimes making special variants for special events and holidays. Nowadays, many networks have complete sets of idents based off a central theme or branding element, and most of the time these idents also build the basis for the rest of the appearance of the channel. Television Idents have evolved, from mainly being mechanical models such as the famous BBC Globe, and the advancements of computer technology allowed television presentation to enter the modern era throughout the '80s and '90s.

In the present day, idents can vary in complexity from a simple static image to a live-action film, or even computer graphics generated on the fly (the idents used by BBC Four from 2002 to 2005 are an example of the latter approach; its idents reacted to the sound of the announcer's voice and background music and therefore, at each playout, no two idents were ever exactly the same).

Always up until January 1st 1988, on the ITV network, if one ITV region produced programming that also ends up airing on another ITV region, the local ident of the station broadcasting it would be followed by the ident of the broadcaster who produced it, but now this is exclusively done through Production Endcaps.

Idents can provide varying amounts of regional identity to local networks. A common practise by ITV franchises up until the 2000s was to brand their stations in such a way as to provide regional identity to the network. But, regional identity began fading away as Granada Television and Carlton Television began consolidating and buying out franchises in different regions, and merging into the new company ITV plc, and implementing a generic presentation package across the network.

As of 2007, the only franchises that have regional identity are SMG plc's Scottish franchises (STV) and the UTV plc Northern Ireland franchise (UTV). But, there was a period from 2002-2003 where for the first time ever, all ITV franchises had the exact same presentation set (abelt with different branding in the Scotland and Northern Ireland areas). This was wrecked however, when UTV introduced their new Panorama idents.

United States

Station identification is a required by law by the Federal Communications Commission for all broadcast television stations and radio stations in the USA.

When identification is required

According to FCC regulations, broadcast stations must identify themselves as near to each full hour as possible. At one time, the FCC gave specific guidelines for how close to the top of the hour stations were expected to be:

• within 3 minutes for normal scheduled programming
• within 5 minutes for unrehearsed programming with logical breaks, such as sporting events and parades
• as close as possible for programming that had no definite break on the hour, such as speeches and classical music performances lasting longer than an hour; broadcasters were not expected to interrupt legitimate programming for a station ID.

The FCC no longer designates exact times, although many stations still adhere to the practice of identifying during the five-minute window around the top of the hour.

Both radio and television stations are also required to identify themselves at the beginning and end of each broadcast period. For example, if a station goes off the air at 11pm, it must identify itself both at that time and when it resumes broadcasting. "Sign off" and "sign on" ID's generally have more information, such as the name of the station's owner, the location of its transmitter, and its operating power.

Some stations (especially college radio stations) also identify themselves every half hour, but according to FCC rules, only once per hour is required.

The advent of automated broadcast equipment has made it much easier for broadcasters to ensure compliance with identification rules. Many television stations and some radio stations have their identifications programmed to play automatically at the appropriate times.

Why identification is required

Station identification is used because of the sheer number of signals available over the air. Not only are there radio and television signals being broadcast, there are also two-way radio signals from police, emergency crews and private companies as well as amateur radio signals. Early radio operators recognized the need for anyone listening to a signal over the air to be able to tune in a specific time and immediately know what station was being heard and where the signal was originating from.

Additionally, from the FCC's perspective it is critical to be able to positively identify the source of a broadcast that is not complying with federal regulations.

According to United States law, the FCC can fine or reprimand a station for failing to make the appropriate identification.

Identification on other types of signals

In the United States, the policy on radio identification depends on the service. Station identification is usually done in the station's standard mode of operation, though the FCC considers Morse Code identification to be universally acceptable no matter what mode the station is operating in.

• Amateur radio requires the callsign to be stated at the end of a communication and every ten minutes during (some hams use countdown clocks to remind them to identify); modes such as packet radio and fast-scan television often have a provision for automatic identification, either including it as part of a digital data stream or overlaying it over an analog picture. Repeaters are often designed to automatically transmit the repeater's callsign, usually in Morse code. The requirements for the United States are covered in Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations, part 97.119
• Land mobile two-way (including public safety and business mobile) require station identifications by callsign. In the case of the GMRS service, this is to be done by each station in a similar manner to the amateur practice, though the time limit is fifteen minutes.
• Repeater systems used in both the Land Mobile and Amateur Radio services often have provisions for announcing the repeater's call sign, either in voice or Morse code.
• Citizen's Band radio (FCC Part 95) maintains a requirement to use a station identification that is rarely enforced due to the outlaw nature of the band; however, a formula exists for self-assigning a callsign using the letter K, the operator's initials, and the ZIP code of the operator's main residence. Most CB operators prefer to use self-assigned handles reflecting some aspect of their personality; it is generally considered a breach of CB etiquette to use real names, even your own.
• FRS and MURS have no station identification requirement, though groups of individual users have their own procedures, such as using license plates or informal callsigns. (Some groups within the Boy Scouts of America, for example, use the troop number followed by the scout's initials as a callsign.)
• WiFi access points are not required by law to identify (they are unlicensed transmitters) but the WiFi standards include provision for an identifier called an SSID, which is transmitted as a routine part of WiFi network traffic. However, since a number of standard WiFi channels are shared with the Amateur Radio spectrum, Amateur Radio-operated High Speed Multimedia (AKA "hinternet") access points usually use the callsign of the control operator as the SSID, this suffices as proper station identification for the access point being operated as an Amateur Radio transceiver.

Radio identification

Radio stations are required to verbally identify themselves each hour. The station must announce its legal call sign, community of license, and any other call signs it uses. Some stations broadcast on more than one frequency and are required to announce these as well. However, stations do not have to announce all translators each hour. Most stations announce only a few each hour on a rotating basis. Some stations make it a practice to announce all main call signs as well as all translators at a certain time of the day, such as midnight. Some radio stations also announce the signal strength of each translator. Some radio stations will also use a larger nearby city they serve that is not the city of license. (example: "WSNE, Taunton / Providence") This is acceptable as long as the first city mentioned immediately after the call sign is the station's city of license. Although it is not required, some radio stations will also announce their frequency or dial setting during the station identification.

Some stations downplay their actual city of license and favor the major city it's associated with instead. For example, "WKTU Lake Success/New York", where "Lake Success" is said very quickly and with less inflection before the much more prominent "New York". Some stations choose to run their legal ID sandwiched between two commercials in a stop set (commercial break) that is close to the top of the hour.

Proper format

Radio announcers must be careful to announce the station identification exactly as instructed by the FCC. For example, if station doesn't have the "FM" part on its official license and registration with the FCC, the announcer cannot say it. In addition, announcers need to be careful to avoid adding additional words between the call signs and the community names. For example, saying "This is W/K--based in Anytown" is not acceptable because of the words "based in." The community name should immediately follow the call signs, according to FCC regulations. The format is: WXXX/KXXX, City of License. Anything else is not a legal ID.

Many radio stations post a sign in their studios with the official and correct identification announcement printed on it so announcers are always reminded of the correct, legal identification. Most have a prerecorded station identification, which reduces the chance for slip-ups.

Low-power (Part 15 in the US) stations do not always identify, being unlicensed (this would be essentially impossible for small FM transmitters for consumer use, such as those used to broadcast music from an MP3 player to a car radio), but those that run as community-based radio stations (including college stations using carrier current) usually do. Station identification in that case usually consists of the station's name, frequency, and a slogan; unlicensed stations are not allowed to use formal callsigns.

International shortwave broadcasters usually do not use callsigns, instead giving the name of the service and the location of the home office, and occasionally the frequencies that the current broadcast is being transmitted on. There are a few exceptions, particularly in the United States, the time station WWV being a prime example.

Television identification

Television stations are also required to identify themselves each hour. However, because television is a visual medium, these announcements can be either visual or audio. Again, the station must identify its main callsign along with the community of license and any other call signs it uses. Television stations must also include their channel number, as designated by the FCC. Translators are not required to be announced, though many stations make it a practice to display a list of all translators at a particular time of the day.

Another way a station can transmit its legal identification is to do it continuously by putting readable text in the vertical blanking interval. One station that identifies this way is CKVU in Vancouver, Canada. WKEF is also known to identify itself in this way. Alternatively, a station can encode its callsign within the vertical blanking interval using the Extended Data Services specification. The vast majority of American PBS stations encode their identification using this method, though few commercial television stations do.

Combining identification with promotion

Many television stations have come up with a clever way to use the required station identifications as a promotional tool. By combining a short promotion for an upcoming show the station can fulfill its identification requirements while also building its audience. For example, a station may choose to show the viewers video of a local fire and tell them to tune in to the next newscast. During this short clip, the station will run its call signs and communities somewhere on screen, often in very small type. No audio announcement of call signs is necessary if the information appears on screen, so stations are free to use, in this example, the audio of an anchor or reporter promoting the story. Stations also use similar techniques to promote entertainment shows. As long as the correct and complete information appears somewhere on screen, it is a completely legal identification.

Any combination of this is also acceptable. For example some stations air a short (5 to 10 second) announcement with their station logo and an announcer reading their call signs. However, in this example, the communities the station serves were not announced verbally. Instead, they appeared as text on screen somewhere. Again, this is a perfectly legal station identification. As long as the station call sign, channel number and communities are either announced verbally or appear on screen, the identification is legal.

As an example, in the 1990s, radio station WQLR in Kalamazoo, Michigan would give the weather (provided by Accuweather) at the top of the hour. The weather report would be prefixed with "WQLR Kalamazoo Accuweather", and because the callsign and city are announced back-to-back, it is a perfectly legal station identification.

Digital television concerns

The advent of digital television originally made it necessary for stations simulcasting both their analog and digital on the same channel to include both call signs in all identifications. Both stations have the same base callsigns, with the only difference being the analog ending in "-TV" and digital ending in "-DT" (originally -HD). PSIP also carries the station's ID digitally encoded.

Worldwide

Digital on-screen graphics and teletext

Teletext, an information service provided by many broadcasters, provides station or network identification in many countries worldwide. As almost all modern sets can display this information, it is a simple matter of checking teletext if the identity of the station is not clear. However, some broadcasters do not provide a teletext service, and there is no specific requirement or standard for station identification in it. Furthermore, while teletext is widespread in Europe and is closely associated with the PAL television system worldwide, it is practically nonexistent in North America. However, digital television standards generally include station identification.

A common worldwide practice, which was later popularized in the United States by the Viacom cable television music station VH1, is to use a small overlay graphic known as a "bug" or a "DOG" (Digital Onscreen Graphic) or watermark in the corner of the screen, showing the logo of the channel. While not a legal substitute for a proper station identification, this practice makes it easy to identify the station at a glance for the casual viewer.

Amateur television operators often use a lower third or bug containing their callsign in lieu of voice identification. This is an accepted practice in the United States and United Kingdom.

See also

• History of BBC television idents
• Clock ident
• ITV Idents and Presentation
• NBC logos
• PBS logos
• ABC logos
• MGM logos
• The gallery of Seven Network Idents
• The gallery of Nine Network Idents
• The gallery of Network Ten Idents

References

• Ident accessed 11 June 2006
• ABC at Large accessed 11 June 2006
• Telemusications accessed 11 June 2006

External links

• Tophour - recordings of U.S. radio station identifications
• Ident - television idents and branding
• TV Room
• Site about ITV idents
• Television Graphics through the ages