Station identification (ident, network ID, channel ID or bumper) is the practice of radio and television stations and networks identifying themselves on-air, typically by means of a call sign or brand name (sometimes known, particularly in the United States, as a "sounder", "stinger" or "sting", more generally as a station or network ID). This may be to satisfy requirements of licensing authorities, a form of branding, or a combination of both. As such, it is closely related to production logos, used in television and cinema alike.
Station identification used to be done regularly by an announcer at the halfway point during the presentation of a television program, or in between programs.
Asia In Southeast Asia, idents are known as montage in Thailand and the Malay world (except Indonesia, known as station ID, terminology shared with the Philippines), and as an interlude in Cambodia and Vietnam.
Indonesia Television channels owned by Media Nusantara Citra (RCTI since 2016, both MNCTV and GTV since 2012 as well as iNews since 2018 except by its regional branches), by Trans Media (both Trans TV and Trans7 since 2016), and ANTV (since 2015) no longer air station identifications, although several channels such as MDTV, BTV, CNN Indonesia, Trans TV, and Trans7 are still airing idents irregularly.
Philippines Station identifications differ in the Philippines, and as each of the Manila-based stations are de facto national networks, are equivalent to what would usually be considered image campaigns elsewhere. Usually timed to the four seasons, tag-init (summer season), tag-ulan (rainy season), tagtuyo (dry season) and Christmas, the stations create elaborate campaigns revolving around the time of year, the channel's slogan, and unlike most image campaigns, can range from as short as ten seconds to an entire half-hour length program resembling a music video and highlighting various programs, divisions, and network personalities within a common narrative.
Europe Broadcast stations in Europe are not identified by a callsign (with the digital age, most networks share one or two metropolitan transmitting facilities within a certain region, making identification of the actual transmitter superfluous); however, most networks use a brand based on their common channel number. A form of station identification clip is played between programmes, traditionally incorporating the channel's logo, and accompanied by a continuity announcer that introduces the next programme (and promotes other programmes). These identifiers evolved from mainly being mechanical models (such as the BBC globe), to becoming more advanced through the evolution of CGI during the 1980s. From the 1960s to the 1990s, most broadcasters only used a single identifier, sometimes using special variations for holidays and special events. In the present day, most broadcasters use a set of multiple identifiers built around a particular theme or branding element, often based on the channel's current overall look.
Prior to 1988, the two existing channels in the Netherlands, Nederland 1 and Nederland 2, used only the idents of the broadcasters airing on them. With the creation of Nederland 3, all three channels started using their own idents.
A well-known example of idents in Europe are those featuring the masked troubadour played by British actor Joplin Sibtain, which were broadcast on the Swiss TV channel TSI in the 1990s.
North America Mexico The Ley Federal de Telecomunicaciones y Radiodifusión enacted in 2014 does not include a requirement for regular on-air station identification. However, many stations continue to air twice an hour their call letters (in Spanish) along with their city of license, as was required previously under Article 76 of the Ley Federal de Radio y Televisión.
United States The United States' Federal Communications Commission (FCC) enforces specific requirements for identification that must be followed by all terrestrial radio and television stations. Stations must, when they sign on, sign off, and as close to the top of each hour as feasibly possible (such as within a "natural break" in programming, like a commercial break), present a visual (television) or aural (radio) station identification that contains, at minimum, the station's callsign, followed by its designated city of license. As a courtesy, top-of-hour identifications may also contain additional information, such as frequencies and a declaration of the station's ownership. Only the name of the licensee, the station's frequency or channel number as stated on its license, and/or network affiliations, may be inserted between the call letters and station location. An example of declared ownership on KTLA in Los Angeles during the late 1970s were the local announcer invoking then-station owner Golden West Broadcasters ("Golden West Broadcasters-Channel 5, KTLA Los Angeles"). For many years, many television stations demonstrate the station identification for other reasons, including delivering public service announcements, addressing community bulletin boards, or whenever a station experiences technical difficulties.
Stations which broadcast on additional full- or low-powered signals must also identify them all every hour. However, stations licensed as translators must be identified in their own right only three times per day: once between 7 and 9 a.m., 12:55 and 1:05 p.m., and 4 and 6 p.m. FCC rules specify that additional communities a station serves may also be listed in a legal ID, but the official city of license must always be listed first. The advent of broadcast automation has made it much easier for broadcasters to ensure compliance with identification rules. Many television stations and radio stations may have their identifications prerecorded or programmed to play automatically at the appropriate times. It may also be monetized into an advertisement, with the station placing the required text into a quick ad spot where an advertiser such as a law firm sponsors a program with their slogan said.
Radio On radio, the top-of-hour ID must contain the full, legal call sign (including any relevant suffixes, particularly "FM") as assigned by the FCC, followed immediately by the station's community of license. The call letters must be spoken individually; even if the call letters are pronounced as a word for branding purposes (such as WHAM in Rochester, New York, which is spoken as "Wham"), the legal ID must still spell out the individual letters. An example of a proper spoken radio station identification in the United States would be "WMAS-FM Enfield Springfield" or "WLAN-FM Lancaster". Often, these identifications may be artificially pitch shifted to be faster, to fit in more advertising or promotion within the sequence.
The FCC also allows 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".
Television
On television, station identification may occur in either a visual format or aural. As no audio announcement of the call sign is necessary if the information appears on screen, often the identification is fulfilled by incorporating it into a short promo for a program the station airs (such as a syndicated or network program, or a preview of an upcoming newscast), the title sequence of the station's newscasts, or automatically cued as a digital on-screen graphic briefly displayed at the required time. The identification can even be monetized as part of a regular commercial, with the text appearing in small type on the bottom of the screen (for instance, a law firm can sponsor a court show and directly lead into the beginning of a program with proper station identification, along with their ad). Translators are required to be identified and listed daily at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. local time.
FCC rules developed for analog television required that translators identify themselves individually. The transition to digital television made this a more challenging rule to implement technically and economically.
In a 2004 order the FCC suspended identification requirements for LPTV and translator stations: Although we recognize the value of the ITU provisions for station identification, we conclude that we cannot at this time establish identification requirements for digital LPTV and TV translator stations, nor do we believe it would be appropriate to attempt to "bootstrap" our current analog identification requirements for digital station operations. The record in this proceeding lacks sufficient technical and cost information from which to develop standards for this purpose. We do not wish to impose requirements that could now be cost prohibitive for licensees of translator and LPTV stations, thereby discouraging their conversion to digital operation.
As of July 2022, the FCC is proposing to reinstate identification requirements for LPTV and translator stations.
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"). Low-power stations identify with the designator "-LD". After the June 2009 digital transition, stations had a one time opportunity offered by the FCC to either retain the -DT designation on their digital signal, or move over the analog calls with either the "-TV" suffix or no suffix if so identified. Additionally, a station could add the "-TV" suffix to their calls for standardization purposes among broadcast groups, even if those calls were not shared by an AM or FM radio station. PSIP also continuously carries the station's ID digitally encoded.
Digital subchannels Digital subchannels usually identify themselves in one of two ways, with a limit of seven characters in the PSIP tag: By first providing the call letters, followed by the main channel number, and then the subchannel broken up by either a dot or a dash. For example, "WXXX 2.3" or "WXXX 2–3". The station may identify the channel as a certain stream by placing the subchannel number after the "-DT" designation within the callsign, as in "WXXX-DT3" for that station's third subchannel.
In addition, subchannels which carry weather information – such as those carrying a still of their weather radar, AccuWeather, or a weather feed created by the station itself – may identify that channel via their PSIP flag with the non-standard "WX" suffix, as in "WXXX-WX", though they must be identified by their subchannel number in on-air identifications. Some subchannels may also display only the name of the network it is affiliated with in the PSIP flag rather than the station's calls.
The former two standards are voluntary and interchangeable, and the station can choose to identify all the channels by only the base callsign, although they are encouraged to differentiate each channel from the primary channel (or for LP/Class A analog-only stations digitally airing as a subchannel on a sister or LMA partner station). The primary channel usually does not use a .1/-1 or -DT1 suffix to identify itself beyond some PBS member stations such as the stations of Milwaukee PBS, and minor broadcasters which sell subchannel space to other broadcasters for their own brokered programming. More robust electronic program guide data provided by a smart TV manufacturer or system (such as Roku's backend TV firmware) via a broadband connection can be provided outside the PSIP stream to identify the station, but is not considered a legal station identification on its own.
Identification on other types of signals