Wikipedia:WikiProject Radio Stations/Standards
Naming conventions
Broadcasting naming conventions have their own guideline page, which covers the vast majority of articles in the project scope.
Notability
Every radio station article on Wikipedia must meet the general notability guideline:
A topic is presumed to be suitable for a stand-alone article or list when it has received significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject.
Before you go off to write about a radio station, ask yourself:
- Are there independent, reliable sources?
- Can you put them in the article? (Of course, for some older stations, sourcing may not be available on the internet.)
- Do the sources demonstrate significant coverage?
Business listings and streaming pages on sites like TuneIn, OnlineRadioBox, and Radio Garden are not sources.
Your cause will be helped if the radio station meets both of these criteria, but even then it might not meet the GNG:
- The station is or was on the air and broadcasting instead of being merely a construction permit or authorization to build
- It produces (or has produced) local programming
In our experience, the vast majority of internet radio stations do not meet the GNG. They commonly languish, rejected, at Articles for creation, or they get deleted.
Some articles pertain to stations that had history prior to becoming a repeater, a rebroadcaster or as part of a full-time network.
If the article is to be call sign-titled, and the station continues operation as a separate facility following a format and call sign change, move the page title to that of the new call sign once confirmed by the respective agency. Occasionally redirects are appropriate given the circumstance (ex, KFAC (radio station) redirecting to KWKW).
For a station that has broadcast on two or more frequencies with different licenses, split up the history of the intellectual property pertaining to the station's respective license. The history of WWCD in Columbus, Ohio, is split among three articles: with WOSA covering the period from 1990 to 2010; WWLG for the period between 2010 and 2020; and WWCD (AM) from 2020 to the present.
In particular with stations in North America, articles about HD Radio subchannels or low-power analog translators should be discouraged. Typically, these should be automatic redirects to the parent station's article (e.g., W233BG redirects to WLW and WWWQ-HD3 redirects to WWWQ) with any applicable content within said articles.
Article components
A good radio station article should include the following:
- An infobox
- A good introduction with a summary of the article's contents
- History of the station
- Kind of programming aired, with an emphasis on original programming
- Are there any original programs that the station broadcasts?
- Other relevant and verifiable facts about the station, while avoiding lists of miscellany
- A link to the station's website, if applicable
An article should not contain:
- A full station program schedule
- Lists of current presenters (though it may have a list of notable presenters, as in those with an article and who meet our notability guidelines)
Infobox
{{Infobox radio station}} is the standard infobox for radio station pages all around the world and has more than 21,000 transclusions.
Consult the infobox page for documentation and examples.
Introduction
The way an introduction is written will likely vary depending on whether the naming conventions prescribe call sign titling (as in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico) or common name titling (as in most of the rest of the world). Here are two examples; consider looking at other radio station articles in your country:
- KLMN (102.3 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Smallville, Kansas, and features an oldies format known as "The Illuminator". Owned by Lexcorp, the station serves both Metropolis and the surrounding Metropolis metropolitan area. KLMN's studios are located in downtown Metropolis at the LexCorp Tower, while the transmitter resides in Smallville. In addition to a standard analog transmission, KLMN broadcasts over four digital subchannels using the HD Radio standard, and streams online.
- KLMN first began broadcasting in 1933 under the call sign KRYP. Owned for decades by the Cleveland-based Siegel-Shuster Communications, it was purchased by LexCorp in 1976, the first station in the industrial conglomerate’s chain.
- 107 Radio Holby is a community radio station in Holby, broadcasting from premises near the Holby South police station on 107.6 FM and locally on DAB. It is owned by Holby Community Radio CIC.
Note: Link "AM" to AM broadcasting and "FM" to FM broadcasting, instead of "AM" to amplitude modulation and "FM" to frequency modulation, since the broadcasting articles are less generic.
Regardless of form, the following elements are crucial:
- Name
- Location
- Frequency, if applicable
- Type of programming
The rest of the lead should be a useful overview of the topic. See the MOS for more guidance.
Images
Wikipedia allows images to be used in articles, but in order to maintain a freely-distributed online encyclopedia, the following rules must be observed:
- Before using any image, familiarize yourself with guidelines for non-free content and logos, and the policy on non-free content criteria.
- Public domain images can be used in all articles without restriction. Most images created before 1923 are in the public domain and do not require a copyright notice; however if the image is also a trademark currently in use, it should be tagged as such. Other images created prior to 1978 may also be in the public domain, but the copyright status of such images should be thoroughly researched prior to use, as their status of public domain is likely to be challenged. Cornell University has published an excellent reference on copyright term and the public domain.
- Copyrighted, or non-free, images can also be used in all articles, but their use has restrictions that should be understood and followed prior to use:
- Any non-free image must include a copyright notice and at least one fair-use rationale. See the fair use rationale template for a compliant and easy-to-use rationale.
- If a non-free image is used in more than one article, a separate fair-use rationale must be created for each use. Links to images without a fair-use rationale will be removed.
- Note: There is no consensus as to how many uses violates fair use, and excessive use of images may be removed. There is no definition of how many uses is considered excessive, so use good judgment.
- Excessive use of non-free images in any one article is discouraged. Again, there is no standard for "excessive", so use good judgment. All non-free images should be the subject of critical commentary and should significantly add to the understanding of the article. Non-free images should never be used merely as decoration. Keep in mind that "significance" is subjective and may be challenged.
- Galleries (meaning multiple images, whether they are enclosed in <gallery> tags or not) of non-free images are generally not allowed. Galleries of historical logos meet legal standards as per Wikimedia General Counsel, but are still controversial, as some do not believe that they meet Wikipedia non-free policies and guidelines. (See Wikipedia:Non-free content, Wikipedia:Non-free content criteria, and Wikipedia:Logos.) If creating a historical logo gallery, pay specific attention to NFCC policy statements #3a and #8. Remember that the purpose of a historical logo gallery is to illustrate the evolution of a radio station's branding over the years, so there should be noticeable difference between logos and clear critical commentary on each logo. Do not add a logo if the only thing that has changed from the previous logo is the finish of the image.
- Use of multiple non-free images in an article—or multiple uses of a non-free image—is more likely to be challenged, so make sure you have followed all guidelines and policies prior to use. Otherwise, the image may be removed.
Templates
Utility templates
In addition to hundreds of media market navigational boxes, WPRS includes several utility templates, some shared with the television stations task force.
- United States
- {{FCC-LMS-Facility}}
- {{FCC station profile}}
- Canada
- {{RecnetCanada}}
Categorization
There are a wide variety of categories in the project scope, with most being generally classifiable as one of the following:
- By geographic area: Category:Radio stations in Lubbock, Texas, Category:Radio stations in Indiana Category:Radio stations in Bangladesh
- Categories exist at the state/province level in the U.S., Australia, Mexico, Canada, India, the Philippines, and some other countries; for each of the nations in the United Kingdom; and by city in a number of countries.
- Generally, a station should not be added to more than one geographical category. In cases where a station is heard across multiple geographic areas (states or countries), select the one category that best describes where the station is licensed (or the transmitter is located). In a few very unusual and isolated cases where a station actually has operations — not just audience, but official operational status — on both sides of a state, provincial or national border, it may be necessary to add a station to multiple geographic categories, but this should only be done after soliciting input from this WikiProject. A station should never be added to a country or divisional-level category that already parents the same station's regional-or-city-level category.
- If an appropriate country-level category does not already exist, create it rather than adding a station directly to Category:Radio stations. Creation of new regional or local subcategories is also permitted, but you should immediately populate it with all of the relevant articles. Do not create a new city or regional category if you're not prepared to populate it, do not create a new city or regional category with only one or two articles in it (which may be subject to deletion), and do not leave an article sitting with a redlinked category on it. When in doubt, solicit opinions on this project's talk page as to whether a new geographic subcategory is warranted or not.
- By year of establishment or disestablishment: Category:Radio stations established in 1968, Category:Radio stations disestablished in 1999
- By format: Category:Classic rock radio stations in the United States, Category:Business talk radio stations, Category:Community radio stations in Belgium
- These categories are never subdivided by state or province.
- By ownership: Category:Multimedios Radio, Category:Bauer Radio
- By language: Category:French-language radio stations
Categories should be defining characteristics for the articles placed into them.
Stub templates
The official list of stub templates and categories is maintained by WP:WSS/ST.
If an adequate geographically-specific stub tag cannot be found for a station, use the {{radio-station-stub}} tag.
{{NorthAm-radio-station-stub}}{{SouthAm-radio-station-stub}}{{Europe-radio-station-stub}}{{Africa-radio-station-stub}}{{Asia-radio-station-stub}}{{Oceania-radio-station-stub}}
1 Templates also exist in this country by state or province.
- Other stub templates are specified in the subcategories of Category:Broadcasting stubs and Category:Radio station stubs.
- Note: New stub types will first need to be proposed at Wikipedia:WikiProject Stub sorting/Proposals.
Talk page template
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The tag {{WikiProject Radio Stations}} should be added to the top of the talk page of all articles maintained by this project. This template can be used for making assessments of the articles for WikiProject Radio Stations.
{{WikiProject Radio Stations
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