List of AM Expanded Band station assignments issued by the Federal Communications Commission on March 17, 1997 is a review of the initial eighty-eight assignments, made by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), for populating in the United States the "Expanded Band" frequencies of 1610 to 1700 kHz, which had been recently added to the AM broadcasting band.
Background
On June 8, 1988, an International Telecommunication Union-sponsored conference held at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil adopted provisions, effective July 1, 1990, to extend the upper end of Region 2's AM broadcast band, by adding ten frequencies which spanned from 1610 kHz to 1700 kHz. The agreement provided for a standard transmitter power of 1 kilowatt, which could be increased to 10 kilowatts in cases where it did not result in undue interference.Final Acts of the Regional Radio Conference to Establish a Plan for the Broadcasting Service in the Band 1605-1705 in Region 2 (PDF) (Rio de Janeiro, 1988. ITU.int)
The president of WJDM in Elizabeth City, New Jersey, John R. Quinn, was frustrated that this station was limited to daytime-only operation, and required to sign-off at night, because it was located within protected nighttime coverage area of a Class I "clear channel" station, WCKY in Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition, there were no unused fulltime assignments available on the AM and FM bands in the congested New York City region. Quinn saw the pending band extension as an opportunity for WJDM to move to a new frequency allowing fulltime operation, and arranged for congressional representative Matthew J. Rinaldo to introduce legislation that added a carefully worded provision to the Communications Act of 1934 in late 1991, mandating that "It shall be the policy of the Federal Communications Commission, in any case in which the licensee of an existing AM daytime-only station located in a community with a population of more than 100,000 persons that lacks a local full-time aural station licensed to that community and that is located within a Class I station primary service area notifies the Commission that such licensee seeks to provide full-time service"."Additions to Section 331 of the Communications Act of 1934" (Approved December 20, 1991), Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, page 2402."Persistence pays off for Quinn", Broadcasting, April 19, 1993, page 14. This addition successfully advanced WJDM's status, and on December 8, 1995 the station began broadcasting on the additional frequency of 1660 kHz, as the country's first with regular broadcasting on the expanded band."WJDM to be first on extended AM band" by Glen Diskson, Broadcasting, October 9, 1995, page 66. The wording inserted into the Communications Act was broad enough to qualify a second station, KXBT on 1190 kHz in Vallejo, California, for an expediated assignment, which debuted at 1640 kHz on March 19, 1996."Classic Soul KXBT (AM) Jams on Expanded Band" by Alan Peterson, Radio World, April 17, 1996, pages 1, 3.
In the United States, the normal Federal Communications Commission (FCC) practice for station applications on the standard AM band frequencies had been to individually process requests. For the expanded band, the Commission decided to allocate the rest of the band at once on a nationwide basis, after evaluating all of the stations which notified the FCC that they were interested in moving to the new band. In the fall of 1994, the FCC announced that, out of 688 applicants, a specially designed computer program (which took two weeks to run) had chosen 79 stations to make the transfer to the expanded band."AM Pioneers chosen for expansion band" by Chris McConnell, Broadcasting, October 24, 1994, page 15. However, a year later the Commission rescinded these assignments, after it was determined that there had been major flaws in the data used to evaluate the applications."FCC refigures AM moves" by Christopher Stern, Broadcasting, September 11, 1995, pages 13-14. On March 22, 1996, the FCC announced a revised allocation table, consisting of 87 stations,"FCC Public Notice: Mass Media Bureau Announces Revised Expanded AM Broadcast Band Improvement Factors and Allotment Plan" (FCC DA 96-408), March 22, 1996. but this too was eventually withdrawn due to errors.
The FCC's third, and final, allocation was announced on March 17, 1997, and provided for 88 assignments."FCC Public Notice: Mass Media Bureau Announces Revised AM Expanded Band Allotment Plan and Filing Window for Eligible Stations" (FCC DA 97-537), March 17, 1997. Call signs and station frequencies listed in this notice are those that the station had as of June 30, 1993. In most cases the expanded band operations, despite being modifications to existing stations, were licensed as new stations, separately from the original standard band station. With only one exception, only stations included in the March 17, 1997 list have been permitted to operate on an expanded band frequency. The sole exception occurred in 2006, when the FCC granted a waiver giving permission for WRCR in Ramapo, New York to move from 1300 to 1700 kHz."In The Matter of Alexander Broadcasting, Inc." (FCC 06-125), Adopted: August 17, 2006, Released: August 22, 2006, pages 9968-9973.
The FCC originally assumed that the expanded band stations would simulcast the programming of the original standard band stations, and be licensed to the same community. However, in most cases the expanded band stations have run separate programming, and a few have moved to other communities as much as 450 kilometers (280 miles) away."Re: WDDD (AM) Application for Consent to Assignment of AM Broadcast Station License" (August 23, 2010 correspondence from Peter H. Doyle, Chief, FCC Audio Division, Media Bureau. Reference Number 1800B3-TSN) One policy the FCC has generally enforced is that paired original and expanded band stations must remain under common ownership."In re: WHLY(AM), South Bend, Indiana" (FCC DA 13-600, released April 3, 2013)FCC Facility Details: DWMHG (Facility ID: 24643) However, a waiver was granted for 1320/1650 in Fort Smith, Arkansas, where the Commission approved separately owned stations."E. Require Surrender of Licenses by Dual Expanded Band/Standard Band Licenses" Federal Communications Commission: First Report and Order, Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making, and Notice of Inquiry, MB Docket No. 13-249, Adopted October 21, 2015, Released October 23, 2015, footnote #197, page 32. (The final pending application, BP-970616AG for 1620 in Toms River, New Jersey, was cancelled on March 11, 2025. Appendix F, pages 67-69, lists 25 cases where co-owned original and expanded band stations were still operating. Two additional assignments are unlisted: 630/1640 in Sandy, Utah, and 1090/1690 in Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands.) (FCC.gov)
In order to allow for an orderly transition period, the FCC initially provided that both the original station and its expanded band counterpart could optionally operate simultaneously for up to five years, after which owners would have to turn in one of the two licenses, depending on whether they preferred the new assignment or elected to remain on the original frequency. However, the FCC has repeatedly extended this deadline, and reported that as of October 2015 there were 25 cases where co-owned standard band and expanded band stations were still active, some of which were approaching 20 years of operation. This report also noted that:
In one case a multi-year deleted expanded band station, WJCC on 1700 kHz in Miami Springs, Florida, was relicensed. WJCC was deleted on February 23, 2006, however, because numerous other joint standard/expanded band station pairs had been permitted to operate beyond the initial five-year deadline, a petition to resume operations was granted, with WJCC's license restored on October 4, 2012."Petition for Reconsideration, License Renewal Application", correspondence from Peter H. Doyle, Chief, Audio Division, Media Bureau, October 4, 2012 (FCC.gov)
Table of March 17, 1997 assignments
Review of the 88 Expanded Band authorizations made by the Federal Communications Commission on March 17, 1997. In the table below:
For the "Existing Standard Band Station Which Received the Authorization" entries, the FCC's March 17, 1997 notification listed station's call signs and frequencies as of June 30, 1993, dating to when the stations initially notified the commission that they were interested in participating. "FCC Appl.: BP#" refers to the identifier assigned by the FCC to the 67 applications that were filed for authorizations to construct the Expanded Band station. These identifiers were assigned on the day the application was received, and were given a prefix of "BP-". An "n/a" entry indicates the 21 cases where, despite being authorized, no application was ever filed to construct the Expanded Band station. "Fac. ID#" is the unique Facility Identifier assigned by the FCC. "CP" refers to an FCC Construction Permit issued where an application to build the Expanded Band station was approved. Cells for stations that are still licensed are highlighted with a beige background.