47 C.F.R. § 73.1201 Station identification.
Title 47 - Telecommunication
(a) When regularly required. Broadcast station identification announcements shall be made: (1) At the beginning and ending of each time of operation, and (2) Hourly, as close to the hour as feasible, at a natural break in program offerings. Television and Class A television broadcast stations may make these announcements visually or aurally. (b) Content. (1) Official station identification shall consist of the station's call letters immediately followed by the community or communities specified in its license as the station's location; Provided, That the name of the licensee, the station's frequency, the station's channel number, as stated on the station's license, and/or the station's network affiliation may be inserted between the call letters and station location. DTV stations choosing to include the station's channel number in the station identification must use the station's major channel number and may distinguish multicast program streams. For example, a station with major channel number 26 may use 26.1 to identify an HDTV program service and 26.2 to identify an SDTV program service. No other insertion between the station's call letters and the community or communities specified in its license is permissible. (2) A station may include in its official station identification the name of any additional community or communities, but the community to which the station is licensed must be named first. (c) Channel—(1) General. Except as otherwise provided in this paragraph, in making the identification announcement the call letters shall be given only on the channel, or channels in the case of a broadcaster that is multicasting more than a single channel, identified thereby. (2) Simultaneous AM (535–1605 kHz) and AM (1605–1705 kHz broadcasts. If the same licensee operates an AM broadcast station in the 535–1605 kHz band and an AM broadcast station in the 1605–1705 kHz band with both stations licensed to the same community and simultaneously broadcasts the same programs over the facilities of both such stations, station identification announcements may be made jointly for both stations for periods of such simultaneous operations. (3) Satellite operation. When programming of a broadcast station is rebroadcast simultaneously over the facilities of a satellite station, the originating station may make identification announcements for the satellite station for periods of such simultaneous operation. (i) In the case of a television broadcast station, such announcements, in addition to the information required by paragraph (b)(1) of this section, shall include the number of the channel on which each station is operating. (ii) In the case of aural broadcast stations, such announcements, in addition to the information required by paragraph (b)(1) of this section, shall include the frequency on which each station is operating. (d) Subscription television stations (STV). The requirements for official station identification applicable to TV stations will apply to Subscription TV stations except, during STV-encoded programming such station identification is not required. However, a station identification announcement will be made immediately prior to and following the encoded Subscription TV program period. [34 FR 19762, Dec. 17, 1969, as amended at 37 FR 23726, Nov. 8, 1972; 39 FR 6707, Feb. 22, 1974; 39 FR 9442, Mar. 11, 1974; 41 FR 29394, July 16, 1976; 47 FR 3791, Jan. 27, 1982; 48 FR 51308, Nov. 8, 1983; 56 FR 64872, Dec. 12, 1991; 65 FR 30003, May 10, 2000; 69 FR 59535, Oct. 4, 2004]
Title 47: Telecommunication
PART 73—RADIO BROADCAST SERVICES
Subpart H—Rules Applicable to All Broadcast Stations
§ 73.1201 Station identification.
