Wikipedia:Notability (TV and radio stations)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article or discuss the issue on the talk page. |
 |
This Wikipedia page is currently inactive and is retained as a historical archive. Either the page is no longer relevant or consensus has become unclear. If you want to revive discussion regarding the subject, you should seek broader input via a forum such as the proposals page of the village pump. |
This is a proposed criteria for determining whether a television or radio station in the United States is notable enough to be to be included in Wikipedia. The criteria are currently inapplicable to other countries. Errors may be corrected, but please suggest changes on the talk page.
There are so many TV and radio stations in the United States, let alone the world, that including all of them would be difficult. If all radio stations had articles, they would take up a significant percentage of Wikipedia's resources. There are 4,962 TV and radio stations licensed in California alone, which has 11% of the country's population. A conservative estimate of the entire country might be 40,000. Objective criteria should be used so that decisions are consistent and not based on whether a few Wikipedia editors are listeners or whether they disapprove of a controversial station's content.
Criteria are based on which class the stations are licensed under because nothing else so predictably indicates notability. Unfortunately, a few notable stations may be in the lower classes. The only major class of notable stations in the lower classes are universities, which are regulated differently than commercial stations. Therefore, a specific exception has been made for them. Also, a notorious pirate radio station may attain enough notability to be included. The standards are low enough so that most stations that readers are familiar with are included. If a reader lives in a medium-sized city, there are probably five to fifteen radio and TV stations that he or she never knew existed. The external links at the bottom of the page can be used to tell if a station may meet the criteria.
Contents |
[edit] Television stations
All stations with a four letter call sign, with no numbers, may be included. Some stations have a television designation but others do not. WNBC and KOCE-TV are examples. Other stations should not be included, unless they are particularly notable.
A station that does not originate any of its own programming, but solely rebroadcasts the programming of another station or network, should not have its own distinct article. In that case, the callsign should exist only as a redirect to the article on its programming source.
[edit] AM radio stations
All clear channel stations in the United States can be included. Only one or two radio stations in the continental U.S. is allowed to use a clear channel frequency, usually on opposite sides of the country. Three radio stations can be on the frequency, if one is in Alaska. The clear channel stations in Mexico and Canada can be assumed to be notable, but no other criteria here applies to them.
All Class A AM stations in the United States can be included. A large number of Class B AM stations may also be included, depending on the station's power, range, audience size and whether they operate 24 hours a day. Class C and D AM stations should generally not have articles, but exceptions may be made if they have a large audience, such as stations for medium to large universities, or are notable for some other reason.
[edit] FM radio stations
All Class C and B FM stations in the United States can be included. Class A and D FM stations should generally not have articles, but exceptions may be made if they have a large audience, such as stations for medium to large universities, or are notable for some other reason.
