50. It appears from the CCBS nighttime groundwave service map (also used by WWL and WHCU), that the three I-A stations mentioned are important in serving areas without other service at long distances from their locations, so that any change in their groundwave service increases or decreases white area. Other presunrise operations may serve some, but not a large amount, of this area in the case of WFAA/WBAP; such operations in the WWL area serve only starting at 6 a.m. central time (7 a.m. Ithaca time), which is after most of WHCU's presunrise operation (the same is true of WJJD-KSL).

51. WHCU, Ithaca, N.Y. The parties supporting the cause of eastern class II presunrise operation advance a wide range of arguments in support of their positions, including some relating to particular situations and others more generally applicable. The latter can best be evaluated in the context of the situation of WHCU, Ithaca, N. Y., on 870 kc./s., since this is in most respects the most meritorious of the cases involved here other than WHLO (which involves special considerations and is discussed below), and also since it was more thoroughly explored, in three sets of comments filed by Cornell University, the licensee of WHCU, and Loyola University, licensee of cochannel I-A station WWL, New Orleans. The question is whether WHCU's presunrise operation of 12 years' standing-which takes place during slightly more than 8 months a year, starting at 6 a.m. local time except in most of October, December, and January, when it begins at 6:15 or 6:30-should be permitted to continue, in light of the particular facts involved and the various arguments of general significance urged on both sides.

52. WHCU-WWL gains and losses. WHCC puts the question in terms of a 307 (b) equitable adjustment of operating hours vis-a-vis WWL, and WAIT frames it as a matter of the larger and more effective use of radio (sec. 303(g) of the Act). If only the conventional criteria normally used in evaluating standard broadcast proposals are used, on the basis of the material submitted herein WHCU must necessarily lose under either of these concepts, in view of the areas and populations served compared to those lost to WWL through interference to its groundwave and skywave service, and the other service available to the gain and loss areas. This is true if the situation is evaluated on the basis of conventional nighttime propagation standards contained in the rules and normally used in considering operations, during nondaytime hours; and it is also true if a diurnal evaluation is made, as WHCU and WWL have presented their material (using the CCBS diurnal curve). As shown in the record, WHCU renders a presunrise a.m. service to a fairly small area and population, and it provides the only such service to a much smaller area and population, since another Ithaca station operates presunrise with the same power. The interference involves a double loss, to both groundwave and skywave service. The former is discussed in paragraph 79, below. The skywave service impact is tremendous if evaluated on the conventional nighttime basis, great even if a diurnal evaluation is made as it has been by WHCU and WWL (using the CCBS curve), and substantial even if weight is attached to WHCU showings based on 5-to-1 and 10-to-1 interference ratios, which WHCU claims are more appropriate than the 20-to-1 standard set forth in the rules (the significance of this matter is discussed below).39

28 WHCU claims primarily to serve Tompkins County (Ithaca), with an area and population of about 500 square miles and 66,000 people; it also cites as indicating wider coverage the use of its school-announcement service by communities up to 20 (and in one case, on an emergency basis, 30) miles from the station. WWL claims that at various times in the presunrise period WHCU is limited by WWL to 7.6 or 10.5 miles from its transmitter: the would include most, but not all, of Tompkins County. As to the service rendered presunrise by WTKO, Ithaca, WHCU in three comments in docket 17562 does not mention this station, even though it was mentioned by the Commission as a pertinent circumstance in our November 1967 consideration of WHCU's request for continued presunrise authority (memorandum opinion and order, F.C.C. 67-1309, par. 5; 10 F.C.C. 2d 926, 924-25, 11 R.R. 2d 959, 961), and by WWL in reply comments. We assume that, operating on a higher frequency and with a high limit during these hours from the numerous fulltime and presunrise operations on its channel, WTKO serves a smaller area than does WHCU, but in the absence of any showing we cannot assume that the difference is great.

In initial comments, using full nighttime standards, WWL showed WHCU as destroying all of its skywave service within the 0.5-mv./m. 50-percent contour, containing

53. If consideration is given to the total aural-service picture, including AM as well as FM, the balance is even less favorable to WHCU. With its widecoverage class B facilities, WHCU-FM provides a good predicted FM signal (1 mv./m. or stronger) to a distance of 35 miles or more from Ithaca, including all of WHCU's claimed presunrise area. There is FM service from two other Ithaca commercial stations. FM service is not available in the WWL loss areas to the same extent.40

54. WHCU-WWL: Other considerations. We turn, then, to consideration of whether any or a combination of a number of factors urged by WHCU and other class II parties should change this result. We give these matters more consideration than would normally be true in evaluating a standard broadcast proposal, both because the WHCU operation is one of long standing and because of the vigorous expressions concerning the need for the service, both by the station and by public officials in supporting letters.

55. The amount of time involved. It is urged that the amount of time involved in these presunrise operations is so small-only about 2 percent or less of the I-A station's annual broadcasting hours, and also small in relation to the time it can render skywave service that the marginal adjustment involved in permitting them should be made for this reason. This factor, as such, is of little significance. If the time is small with respect to I-A stations, it is not a great deal larger for the class II stations (3.5 percent in the case of WHCU), and is not enough to affect substantially their ability to render adequate service to the public in their communities and surrounding areas. Compared to the double loss (to I-A groundwave and skywave service) which their operations generally involve, this is not a significant factor as such.

56. The nature of the respective services. It is urged that allowing class II operations such as that of WHCU to continue permits the rendition continuously throughout the year, of a valuable, locally oriented informational service on which audiences have come to rely and which they need in their daily activities (and which in the case of WHCU represents the first AM service since the previous afternoon or evening). This material cannot be presented at an earlier hour because the station cannot broadcast then, and, it is argued, it cannot be presented later and reach listeners who have left for work or school and who need the emergency and other material (school-closing announcements, etc.) in planning their daily activities. Thus, if the service is to be of any value, it is said, it must be available presunrise." By contrast, it is urged, any I-A service which is 30,300,000 people and substantial white area. WWL later showed diurnal conditions at SR-1:00 on January 1 (5:56 c.s.t.), with WHCU destroying WWL's skywave service in all of the United States except Louisiana. Texas, Oklahoma, most of Mississippi, Arkansas, Florida, and New Mexico, about half of Alabama, and portions of five other States. Later WHCU showings portrayed the situation within the WWL 0.5-mv./m. 50-percent skywave contour only, at various presunrise times and on the three signal-ratio bases mentioned. At the presunrise starting time in January, it is shown that (20-to-1) interference to WWL occurs in slightly less than half of the area within that contour, to about 350 miles from New Orleans at its closest point and extending from Florida to central Illinois. southern Iowa, and eastern Kansas. The showing is that there is no interference using a 5-to-1 ratio at one-half hour after the presunrise starting time or later; using a 10-to-1 ratio there is interference at the one-half-hour mark but not at sunrise Ithaca: using the standard 20-to-1 ratio there is interference at sunrise Ithaca in October but not in January. Nearly all of the interference areas shown contain a large portion of white area. The five smallest interference areas shown (two using 5-to-1, two 10-to-1 and one 20-to-1), all contain 30 or more counties, in four or more States, all or large parts of which are white

area.

40 In the area of Louisiana and Mississippi, lying 25 miles on either side of WWL's 0.5-my./m. groundwave contour, containing all or part of 39 counties or parishes, there are 14 communities having FM stations, six with class C and eight with class A. Thus, to the extent FM service is available. it is often not of local origin as is that available around Ithaca in WHCU's presunrise area. The same is true of the white areas within the area of WHCU interference to WWL skywave.

41 "While it is true that an hour is only an hour, all hours are not the same. The important fact is to render community service. If the hour in question is lost, the information that people would have obtained is lost, as they will have already made their daily plans." (Letter from the Supervisor of the town of Ithaca, Aug. 15, 1967, submitted with WHCU's

comments.)

WHCU emphasizes particularly its information programing-weather and school announcements, of particular significance in this severe winter area, farm information, other emergency messages, etc. Its complete schedule and that of WWL are set forth on the next page.

gained through removal of the interference will be only a service which potential listeners have hitherto been able to live without, a distant service rendered by a I-A station often not concerned with distant (particularly skywave) listeners and obviously unable to present material of particular significance to all of the large skywave area involved. Moreover, it is said, any skywave service thus gained is one available to listeners only during part of the year (generally, the winter months) when the time involved is before sunrise at the I-A location, and thus cannot be relied on by listeners during much of the year and can be of little significance to them. It is argued that to the extent the I-A stations do present any material of significance to skywave audiences during the hours affected in these months, they should be required to reschedule them into other hours when they can render skywave service during this part of the year." WHCU asserts that presunrise interference to I-A skywave service should be permitted where (as in its case) it does not affect unlimited time skywave service." It is also urged (generally and with respect to 820 kc./s.) that the skywave service for which the I-A parties claim protection is at best a 50-percent one, varying and subject to such factors as adjacent-channel skywave interference which make it of less importance compared to the reliable local class II groundwave service involved.

42 WAIT terms the early-morning skywave service rendered during these months (and not at other times when nighttime hours are less) service by inadvertence, or bonus hours. It elaborates this concept as follows: Presunrise operation at Chicago, starting at 6 a.m. standard time, averages 50 minutes per day in 4 months (November through February). During these months the I-A station's skywave service period (sunset to sunrise at its location) averages 13 hours a day compared to 10 hours during the March-October period, an increase of 30 percent, which presunrise impact would reduce to about 25 percent. It is urged that I-A stations can easily reschedule into this remaining 25 percent any material, such as farm information, which becomes unavailable because of presunrise interference during the hours affected. This argument is not entirely correct even on the basis stated, since presunrise operation at Chicago averages an hour per day during the 4 months, and the sunset-sunrise period at Dallas-Fort Worth averages about 13.5 hours during these months compared to 11 hours from March to October, an increase of 23 percent which presunrise operation would reduce to about 15 percent. Operation starting at 6 a.m. local time, which all of these class II stations seek, would increase the presunrise time, and it is also greater in other cases such as WMCU. Also, much of this winter bonus time is evening hours, which can hardly be considered the same as interference-free broadcast time available the next morning.

43 WHCU attempts to distinguish its situation by asserting that its location is not greatly to the east of New Orleans and therefore its presunrise operation occurs relatively close to sunrise at that city and has less impact on WWL's service than does operation by some other eastern class II stations on cochannel I-A service. Actually, WHCU is farther east than any other station on 870 kc./s., and farther to the east of its cochannel I-A station (and therefore with sunrise and presunrise times generally more before sunrise at that station) than all but five of the 26 eastern class II stations involved here. As to permitting operation which does not interfere with unlimited time skywave service (that available all year), if this concept were adopted it would permit presunrise operation by all eastern class II stations except WHLO, since in all other cases sunrise at the I-A location in June is as early or earlier than 6 a.m. (local time) at the class II location. Adoption of this concept is clearly not warranted.

18 F.C.C. 2d

Monday-Friday Programing of WHCU and WWL During the Hours of WHCU's Presunrise Operation Showing the Time Involved Each Month (Most of April, May,
Lines Show Presunrise Operating Time.
June and July, Which Do Not Involve Such Operation, Are Not Included) and the Extent the Time Is Before Sunrise at New Orleans (SR N.O.-1:45, etc.). Vertical

SR N.O.-1:15 to-:15

5:46

6:00

Top-of-the-Morning-music,
time, PSA's.

World and national news.

57. While these factors are substantially more significant than the matter of the number of annual hours involved (already mentioned), we cannot find in them reason to reach a different conclusion from that which would be reached on the basis of the normal criteria mentioned above. Doubtless it is more important for a certain number of persons to continue to receive significant local informational material at a particular time, when it cannot be presented earlier and loses much of its significance if broadcast later, than it is for a group of substantially similar size to have a service available during the same period which they have not previously enjoyed, assuming that other services are available to the two groups to about the same degree. But these are not the facts in the WHCUWWL situation. Here, the presunrise service is provided only at the double interference cost mentioned-as CCBS points out, interference to groundwave service increasing white area, and at the same time interference to skywave service which impairs the ability to serve white area. The groundwave service areas and populations affected at the beginning of presunrise operation are larger than those served by WHCU, and involve much more white area; this, of course, is a service available all year in the absence of interference and therefore the arguments concerning the partial nature of the service do not apply. The interference to WWL's skywave service affects vast areas and populations if evaluated on the basis of regular nighttime standards or at the beginning of the presunrise period if the 20-to-1 ratio provided in the rules is used for the evaluation. As shown in footnote 39, above, even examined on a diurnal basis and using lower interference ratios, the white area losses are large. We are aware of the limitations on skywave service as providing adequate AM reception, in view of its inherently varying intensity and for other technical reasons; but the fact remains that this is the only type of AM service available to extremely large white areas in the United States, during nondaytime hours, even with the existence of numerous presunrise operations in some areas. The continuation of interference impact on such areas is not to be taken lightly."

58. Nor do we believe that the arguments concerning the importance of the particular time involved, or the possibility of rescheduling material lost through interference, can be accorded decisional weight. If WHCU's broadcasts must reach WHCU's audience at a given hour to be meaningful, it is certainly of at least some importance that significant informational material-news, weather, farm information, etc.-be available to WWL's potential groundwave and skywave audience, more numerous and lacking service to a much greater extent, at a certain time, e.g., 5 to 6 a.m. central time (6 to 7 a.m. eastern time), which is when most of the WHCU operation and interference occur. If persons at Ithaca should not be expected to remain home from work, go to school later, etc., in order to receive WHCU, it is likewise true that a much larger number of potential groundwave and skywave listeners to WWL, rural audiences and others, should not be compelled to arise an hour earlier to receive the material which that station could make available to them, an hour later, in the absence of interference. Nor in our view, is the fact that the skywave service involved is available only part of the year a consideration of high importance. This argument amounts to a contention (actually made by WAIT, as discussed below) that skywave service should not be protected after a given hour in winter and adjacent months, because it cannot be rendered after that time during summer and adjacent months since the time is after sunrise. We do not find anything, in this record or elsewhere, warranting such a Procustean approach to class I skywave service, the only service available to white areas. This is particularly true,

45

44 WHCU shows only the impact on WWL's skywave service within its 0.5-mv./m. 50percent skywave contour, whereas, as WWL shows, the impact on whatever service is rendered outside of that contour is also considerable. As a I-A station, WWL is permitted to render skywave service, without interference limitation, wherever in the conterminous 48 States it can be heard, inside or outside of that contour. While we recognized in the Clear Channel decision that skywave service beyond that contour is of a low order, providing only minor, fringe reception, and base our decision as to WHCU primarily on the interference within it, nonetheless this further impact should not be overlooked.

45 WAIT, argues, in support of this concept, that farm programing emphasized by CCBS is of little significance in winter, a time of little agricultural activity. WRFD, a western class II station emphasizing this type of programing, urges that, on the contrary, farm information is important at this time of year, in areas such as livestock and dairy production and marketing.

In the decision concerning WRFD we noted the availability of other times, such as noon, for presenting farm programing. However, this decision was based on the showing, in WRFD's material, that large portions of the farm audience actually prefer the noon hour. as well as the availability during early morning hours of the service of WRFD-FM and of other AM stations serving the area.