The Broadcasters' Desktop Resource

Greetings from your broadcast friends out on the Desert…
This is BDR Newsletter 879, Volume 17, #46 for June 17, 2026

NCE FM TRANSLATOR WINDOW IS ANNOUNCED
The FCC has announced the dates for the NCE FM Translator Window. It will be open for two weeks, August 11th to 25th, 2026, with a limited freeze on some applications starting earlier.

SUMMERTIME AND THE SKY IS FLASHING!
Summer is upon us, with the “official” start coming next Sunday. Some parts of the country are already experiencing storms and lightning. This reminds us of the need to be aware of the condition of your ground system. Ensuring the electrical charge from any lightning strike can be dissipated safely and directed away from your RF system. Can the charges on the guy wires get to ground and avoid exploding the base?

UPCOMING FILING DATE
It is a new quarter and the Issues & Programs must be filed by July 10th. But do not forget the quarterly tower lighting inspection and, now that we are near the middle of the year, the yearly NRSC measurement for AM stations. Need some help in getting it done? Give one of these fine folks a call.

A BETTER WAY TO GET PHONES ON THE AIR
The Phone Gizmo from Angry Audio easily solves a problem many stations face: how to get good, clean audio into the program audio now that POTS is fading away. Catfish Dosch drops in to visit and share with us information on getting VoIP telephones on the air, without an phone hybrid, bringing callers right to your console with clean balanced audio. 

Our 324th Virtual Lunch Gathering will be on Thursday at 2PM Eastern / 11 AM Pacific. Join us and learn things! The link request is at www.theBDR.net/TLG/ … the same place where you will find most of the 323 previous presentations.  (By the way, our buddy Jeff Welton does his 100th TTT next week. Register at Nautel .com for access.)

… and do not forget, on the same page we have over 200 videos you can use on subjects you will want to learn about.