Laguna Beach to Get Back FM Radio Signals It Lost

FM radio signals that were silenced in most of Laguna Beach and some other areas this summer after a cable company exchanged them for more local television channels will be available again by December, a cable company official said Thursday.

Dimension Cable Co. in August dropped two channels that carried FM radio reception, to make room for additional television channels being required by federal law. Company officials said they could not provide both, and that FM service “was not a highly popular product.”

The move set off a furor in this city, where most residents rely on a cable hookup for FM stations since strong radio waves are blocked by much of the topography in Laguna Beach. Last month, about 50 disgruntled customers spoke at a meeting with Dimension officials at City Hall.

Eventually, cable company officials decided to rethink their options.

“Obviously, there was a great deal of uproar in Laguna Beach and we were pushing them to do something,” Deputy City Manager Rob Clark said Wednesday. Countywide, between 2,000 and 2,500 households lost their FM signals.

But Laguna Beach residents were “more vocal and more formal” about their grievances, said Dick Waterman, corporate affairs vice president for Times Mirror Cable Television, the corporate office for Dimension Cable.

Many in this city were particularly miffed at losing National Public Radio, he said.

“Because of the obvious concern . . . we found this other approach, which basically will allow us to provide (the FM stations) through digital cable radio and will not interfere with the spectrum reserved for video channels.”

Customers will be allowed to pay $5 monthly for 27 FM stations, just as they had in the past. Or they can pay $9.95 monthly for those FM stations plus some 30 commercial-free digital channels.

Before the cable company found this solution, which was revealed to city officials on Tuesday, residents who could not get the necessary radio signals had been advised they could reel in up to 30 FM stations by purchasing a $16 antenna.

Those who already bought the antenna will now be able to avoid paying the $5 monthly fee, Clark said.

The only apparent losers now are residents who were bootlegging the signals, which won’t be accessible now without the installation of special equipment, he said.

“Many people apparently were connecting their FM tuners and not paying the $5 fee,” Clark said. “It was something that was very simple to do and that could not be detected.”

Dimension Cable is owned by Times Mirror Co., which publishes The Times.