Majestic chairside

[Jeffhs]

Originally Posted by electroking

I guess those numbers on the FM scale are for a proposed channel number plan.
With 5 channels per MHz and a 20 MHz range, you would effectively have 100
or 101 channels in the band. Channel 300 would be 107.9 MHz, 299 = 107.7,
298 = 107.5, etc.

You are correct. The FCC (U. S. Federal Communications Commission) at one time tried this scheme to identify FM frequencies to make them more compatible with TV channels (the agency was trying to get listeners accustomed to referring to FM frequencies by channel numbers rather than by the actual frequency), starting with channel 201 (88.1 MHz) to channel 300 (107.9 MHz). However, the scheme didn't work out nearly as well as the FCC had hoped, so the channel scale, as well as the entire plan to "channelize" the FM broadcast band, were dropped in the early '50s. Note, however, that some U.S. FM radio stations still announce their assigned FM channel as well as the actual frequency in MHz, usually around midnight or one a. m. if they do it at all. There was an FM station in Cleveland, Ohio that did this back in the mid-'60s: "WKYC-FM, Cleveland, 105.7 megahertz, channel 289."