by Sean McManus
Staff Writer
Even if you’re not completely comfortable with the stigma that goes with being a huge fan of public radio, you’ve probably heard a little announcement recently on FM-89.9, alerting listeners to the fact that for the next six weeks the service from Jacksonville’s home to “Morning Edition” and “Car Talk” is going to be rather spotty.
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has mandated that by May 2003 public broadcasting stations across the country switch from sending their signal out via analog lines to digital. It’s a move, according to Michael Boylan, president and CEO of WJCT, Inc., which runs FM-89.9 as well as Ch. 7, that will enable the federal government to take back some of its analog lines and sell them commercially for a profit. The law has already gone into effect for other, private stations.
Starting next Monday, as construction continues on a new digital tower about 40 feet away from the original analog one near Metropolitan Park, from about 9 a.m.-4 p.m. service will range from fuzzy to not at all.
According to Rick Johnson, the station’s senior vice president of television and radio, the extent to which service will be interrupted will depend on where the tower workers are on any given day.
“There are times when we will have to reduce power and there are times when we will have to turn the power off,” said Johnson. “Radio waves can be dangerous and this is a safety precaution to make sure nobody gets hurt.”
Because the signal for Ch. 7 is sent through fiber optic cable in conjunction with AT&T, interruptions to the television station for cable viewers will be minimal.
Converting from analog to digital will cost the station about $7 million. Boylan said they have already raised about $3 million privately and the State will contribute another $1.3 million soon.
“Basically, every piece of equipment in here needs to be updated or replaced,” said Boylan. “Hopefully, we’ll get the money from somewhere.”
The current analog tower is a joint venture between WJCT, Ch. 30, and FM-107.3; those stations will also experience interruptions in their signal as they convert to digital. The FCC is requiring that once stations have established a digital signal, they operate with both analog and digital until 2006.
“At that time, they will have the kinks worked out,” said Johnson. “And then we’ll decide from there what to do with the old tower.”
The new digital tower is a joint venture between Ch. 30 and communications company Towercom, which seeks to become somewhat of a landlord for bandwidth. The analog tower is about 700 feet tall. The digital tower will stand at 900 feet.
To assuage the damage caused by six weeks of blurry air time, FM-89.9 has been making announcements periodically throughout the day alerting listeners to the situation.
“The problem is not so much that people will have to go a few weeks without great service,” said Boylan, “we just want to make sure people don’t get used to it to the point where they won’t come back.”
Boylan said they have already sent out letters to all their contributors telling them about the problem. They also have plans to run ads in local newspapers.