Facility ID
Encyclopedia
The facility ID number or FIN is a unique positive integer assigned by the United States
Federal Communications Commission
to each domestic and international
(shortwave
) broadcast station
in its Common Database System (CDBS). Licensees are required to provide the relevant station's FIN when filing reports and applications with the FCC. Because CDBS includes information about foreign stations which are notified to the U.S. under the terms of international frequency coordination
agreements, FINs are also assigned to affected foreign stations. However, this has no legal significance, and the numbers are not used by the regulatory authorities in those other countries.
Current FCC practice is to assign facility ID numbers sequentially, but this is not an official requirement, so third-party users must not rely on it. Unlike call sign
s, however, the FIN associated with a particular station never changes; thus, the FCC staff and interested parties can be certain to which station an application pertains, even if it has changed its callsign since the application was originally filed. (The FCC's previous database system, the Broadcast Application Processing System or BAPS, did not have such an identifier.)
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
to each domestic and international
International broadcasting
International broadcasting is broadcasting that is deliberately aimed at a foreign, rather than a domestic, audience. It usually is broadcast by means of longwave, mediumwave, or shortwave radio, but in recent years has also used direct satellite broadcasting and the Internet as means of reaching...
(shortwave
Shortwave
Shortwave radio refers to the upper MF and all of the HF portion of the radio spectrum, between 1,800–30,000 kHz. Shortwave radio received its name because the wavelengths in this band are shorter than 200 m which marked the original upper limit of the medium frequency band first used...
) broadcast station
Broadcast station
A broadcast station may be:*a radio station*a television stationIt does not include radio networks or television networks.-See also:*Broadcasting*Broadcast network*Station...
in its Common Database System (CDBS). Licensees are required to provide the relevant station's FIN when filing reports and applications with the FCC. Because CDBS includes information about foreign stations which are notified to the U.S. under the terms of international frequency coordination
Frequency coordination
Frequency Coordination is a technical and regulatory process which is intended to remove or mitigate radio-frequency interference between different radio systems which utilize the same operational frequency....
agreements, FINs are also assigned to affected foreign stations. However, this has no legal significance, and the numbers are not used by the regulatory authorities in those other countries.
Current FCC practice is to assign facility ID numbers sequentially, but this is not an official requirement, so third-party users must not rely on it. Unlike call sign
North American call sign
Call signs in North America are frequently still used by North American broadcast stations in addition to amateur radio and other international radio stations that continue to identify by call signs around the world...
s, however, the FIN associated with a particular station never changes; thus, the FCC staff and interested parties can be certain to which station an application pertains, even if it has changed its callsign since the application was originally filed. (The FCC's previous database system, the Broadcast Application Processing System or BAPS, did not have such an identifier.)