In late March, one of the nation’s most listened to Classical radio brands found itself in a quandary. An FM translator with 250 watts had signed on the air, using a tower near the old Candlestick Park adjacent to U.S. Highway 101 in the southeastern part of San Francisco.
On paper, there seemed to be little concern for the FCC, which gave its blessing to the facility. In the real world, the translator purportedly caused interference issues for one the Classical station’s four FM signals — a facility that’s not even listened to reach San Francisco.
That’s irrelevant. The issue was if this translator interfered with the Class A’s signal contour, not the other way around. To propel its protests over the translator, it pleaded listeners to write to the FCC with interference complaints.
As of today, the interference is no longer an issue. But, it appears the Commission had little to do with it.
