In the

broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began wi ...

industry, a dark

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the ea ...

or silent

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

is one that has gone off the air for an indefinite period of time. Usually unlike dead air (broadcasting only silence), a station that is dark or silent does not even transmit a

carrier signal In telecommunications, a carrier wave, carrier signal, or just carrier, is a waveform (usually sinusoidal) that is modulated (modified) with an information-bearing signal for the purpose of conveying information. This carrier wave usually has ...

U.S. law

Transmitter operations

According to the U.S.

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

(FCC), a radio or television station is considered to have gone dark or silent if it is to be off the air for thirty days or longer. Prior to the

Telecommunications Act of 1996 The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is a United States federal law enacted by the 104th United States Congress on January 3, 1996, and signed into law on February 8, 1996, by President Bill Clinton. It primarily amended Chapter 5 of Title 47 of ...

, a "dark" station was required to surrender its

broadcast license A broadcast license is a type of spectrum license granting the licensee permission to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses generally include restrictions, which vary f ...

to the FCC, leaving it vulnerable to another party applying for it while its current owner was making efforts to get it back on the air. Following the 1996 landmark

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to ...

, a licensee is no longer required to surrender the license while dark. Instead, the licensee may apply for a "Notification of Suspension of Operations/Request for Silent STA" (FCC Form 0386), stating the reason why the station has gone silent. A service can go dark for any number of reasons, including financial resources being too drained to continue effective operation of the service as being of benefit to its

community of license In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broad ...

; abandonment for a different channel or to go cable-only; complicated technical adjustments involving radio antenna repair, requiring the

broadcast tower Radio masts and towers are typically tall structures designed to support antennas for telecommunications and broadcasting, including television. There are two main types: guyed and self-supporting structures. They are among the tallest human-made ...

to be de-energized for the work to be done;

structure fire A structure fire is a fire involving the structural components of various types of residential, commercial or industrial buildings, such as barn fires. Residential buildings range from single-family detached homes and townhouses to apartments ...

natural disaster A natural disaster is "the negative impact following an actual occurrence of natural hazard in the event that it significantly harms a community". A natural disaster can cause loss of life or damage property, and typically leaves some econ ...

that has rendered the facility inoperable; if unowned by the station, the loss of a leasehold on either the tower or the land for the transmitter, usually by sale to another party; or technical adjustments that would make it prohibitively expensive to perform the work and carry on the normal operations of the station in question. The service is not required to notify the FCC of silence if the period of silence is less than ten days. If the period of silence is to last at least ten days but less than thirty days, the licensee must notify the FCC in writing explaining why the service is silent and an expected return to the air. A service that expects to be silent for more than thirty days must apply to the FCC using Form 0386, which can be done electronically (preferred method) or by a paper application. On this application, the date the station has gone dark or its targeted date to go silent must be stated on the application, along with the reason for silence. The Silent STA (

special temporary authority Special Temporary Authority (STA) in U.S. broadcast law is a type of broadcast license which temporarily allows a broadcast station to operate outside of its normal technical or legal parameters. In the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) st ...

) is valid for a period of 180 days. If the station is required to remain off the air beyond the 180-day period, a "Request to Extend STA" must be subsequently filed, along with the reason. However, any broadcast station that is dark (or transmits using facilities different from their license except for operation under STA) for 12 months has their license automatically canceled as a matter of law pursuant to section 312g of the Communications Act as amended. Some stations have been known to re-appear for a week or two to keep the license alive.

WDHS WDHS, virtual and VHF digital channel 8, was a television station licensed to Iron Mountain, Michigan, United States, which served the Central and Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The station was owned by Withers Broadcasting Companies, al ...

, a television station in

Iron Mountain, Michigan Iron Mountain is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 7,518 at the 2020 census, down from 7,624 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Dickinson County, in the state's Upper Peninsula. Iron Mountain was named for the va ...

, was only on the air a few days a year for most of its 25-year existence, as its small market made running a religious television station (its original purpose) financially infeasible, and it was unable to position itself as a major network affiliate within the Marquette television market. It went off the air in 2015 after the FCC's new rules made its operation strategy impossible, and a year after the station's owner died and his heir decided not to put more money into the long moribund operation. If a station goes dark due to

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debto ...

(as happened with many

Equity Media Holdings Equity Media Holdings Corporation was a broadcasting company based in Little Rock, Arkansas that owned and operated television stations across the United States. Prior to March 30, 2007, the company was known as Equity Broadcasting, a name later ...

stations in 2009) there is often a rush for the new owners to get a signal – any signal – on the air at least a few days before the one-year deadline in order to avoid forfeiting the license. The

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...

was problematic for many struggling new-entrant stations, which had to move to lower channels and convert to

digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative adva ...

so that UHF 52-69 TV spectrum could be sold to

mobile telephone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while ...

companies. A station which was already in financial trouble due to the recession often had no means to construct the new facilities before analog shutdown, forcing the bankrupt proprietor to take the station dark until it could be sold to new owners.

Tower-light markings

While a licensed station is silent, it must continue to meet tower lighting and marking requirements as per

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

(FAA)

mandate Mandate most often refers to: * League of Nations mandates, quasi-colonial territories established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, 28 June 1919 * Mandate (politics), the power granted by an electorate Mandate may also r ...

. If a station (silent or otherwise) must shut down its lighting system for an extended period of time (such as it being disabled by a

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous release of an average ...

strike), it is required to notify the FAA immediately. The station is required to provide the FAA with its assigned tower number, latitude and longitude coordinates, and an anticipated time that the tower light operations will resume. A licensee has 15 days to make the necessary repairs until the FCC is notified by the FAA. Once repairs are made, the FAA must be notified that all is well.

Telecommunications Act of 1996

The

was created in part to increase the

accountability Accountability, in terms of ethics and governance, is equated with answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and the expectation of account-giving. As in an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the pub ...

of broadcasters, while providing requested

deregulation Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...

in response to the

hardship , meaning difficulty or trouble, may refer to the following: *hardship clause in contract law *undue hardship An undue hardship is an American legal term referring to special or specified circumstances that partially or fully exempt a person or org ...

s of many small-town broadcasters with small audiences and revenues. Under the Telecommunications Act of 1996, licensees of stations that were listed as "silent" by the FCC (at the time around 400) were warned to either power their facilities back up or their licenses would be canceled permanently.
The FCC did allow reasonable provision for broadcasters who notified them that they were trying to get back on the air. Nevertheless, many licenses were canceled, primarily those with abandoned facilities.

References

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External links