CALM stands for Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation. Basically, it means stations across the country need to have equipment in place to make sure commercials are not louder than programming.
The new rules, which were adopted in December of 2011 (to be enforced beginning in December of 2012), require that commercials have the same average volume as the programs they accompany.
The FCC says consumer complaints about loud commercials have diminished since 2009, but they think the new rules will help reduce loudness complaints even more.
KWCH 12 and KSCW have been in compliance with the CALM Act since January. Chief Engineer Les Bach says the station spent around $60,000 to purchase equipment that normalizes, monitors and tracks audio levels.
