The Federal Communications Commission has tendered its budget request to Congress for fiscal year 2013. It’s asking for $346.8 million – a $7 million increase from FY 2012. The trades have highlighted the agency’s request for $2.5 million to replace and upgrade “direction finding and wireless monitoring equipment,” of which $1.1 million will be spent on eight custom field enforcement vehicles.
The Clear Channel-owned publication Inside Radio dubbed this an investment in “pirate-fighting funds.” Such sentiments have no basis in fact. Continue reading “FCC Budget: Enforcement Bureau to Get Some New Gear”
Author: diymedia_tu6dox
FCC Speech Restrictions Not Appropriate in Real Life
Five Republican state senators in Arizona have introduced a bill that attempts to limit free speech in the classroom. SB 1467 would make it an offense for teachers to “engage in speech or conduct that would violate the standards adopted by the Federal Communications Commission concerning obscenity, indecency and profanity if that speech or conduct were broadcast on television or radio.” Continue reading “FCC Speech Restrictions Not Appropriate in Real Life”
Regulatory Innuendo as Stalking Horse?
Never before has an FCC enforcement action hit so close to home.
This week, the agency issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for $44,000 to Chicago radio station WLS-AM. The proposed penalty stems from a complaint filed by a listener regarding news programming aired by WLS that originated with the Madison-based Workers Independent News (WIN) service. The FCC accuses WLS of violating its rules by failing to disclose that it was paid for running WIN newscasts.
(Disclosure: I was one of WIN’s founding producers, helping to develop and launch the service between 2001-2004.) Continue reading “Regulatory Innuendo as Stalking Horse?”
Rest in Peace, Radio First Termer
Clyde David DeLay died last week of acute respiratory distress, just months after having significant heart surgery. He was 63.
DeLay was better known to the world as “Dave Rabbit,” the slick-tongued DJ behind Radio First Termer, a pirate radio station he ran from a Saigon whorehouse during the Vietnam War. Continue reading “Rest in Peace, Radio First Termer”
HD Radio: Listeners Still Missing in Action
The slow-motion struggle that is HD Radio proliferation in the United States continues to bobble along with no meaningful developments in traction. This is exemplified by the results of a recent survey which shows that consumer awareness of what HD Radio is is stagnant at best. A bit more than half of those surveyed have “heard of” HD Radio – but of those knowledgeable folks, one in three don’t have any clear idea what it actually is. Continue reading “HD Radio: Listeners Still Missing in Action”
Leaving the Ground? Shut It Down
This story flew under my radar, probably because it was published in USA Today, which is not necessarily known for its in-depth investigative journalism.
The bottom line: f*cking with your smartphone on an airplane has a clear potential for danger. The report uncovered nearly three dozen incidents of interference from onboard passenger electronic devices last year. The interference affected communications and navigational systems; though none resulted in an accident, critical flight-management systems were compromised. Continue reading “Leaving the Ground? Shut It Down”
FCC: LPFM a Tiny Fish in Big Pond
The FCC has released its long-awaited economic assessment of the LPFM radio service. Although the need for such a study was initially dismissed as unnecessary more than eight years ago, the commercial broadcast lobby forced the agency to conduct the research as part of the compromise which allowed for the passage of the Local Community Radio Act last year.
Radio Survivor’s Paul Riismandel has a good overview of the report and its findings. More detail below on salient points: Continue reading “FCC: LPFM a Tiny Fish in Big Pond”
Anti-Pirate Enforcement Plummets in 2011
The austerity gripping the United States caught up with the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau last year, as field activity against unlicensed broadcasters dropped dramatically – to a level not seen in six years.
From a record high of 447 enforcement actions clocked in 2009 and 2010, field agents executed just 184 in 2011, against fewer than 100 stations total. Massive drops were seen in the number of station-visits and warning letters issued. Continue reading “Anti-Pirate Enforcement Plummets in 2011”
FCC Bipartisanly Bad on Media Ownership
Last week the FCC promulgated a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would allow for more media consolidation. Among many changes contemplated, the most significant would actively encourage the merger of print and broadcast media companies. The proposal also leaves the door open to loosening restrictions on the number of radio and television stations a single company can own in any given market.
These propositions sound awfully familiar, as they contain ideas floated by Democratic Chairman Julius Genachowski‘s two Republican predecessors, Kevin Martin and Michael Powell. Continue reading “FCC Bipartisanly Bad on Media Ownership”
HD Radio Scene Report: Hawaii
From the new-lows-in-translator-abuse-department: HHawaii Media, owner of nine stations throughout the island chain, has begun quadcasting in HD on its adult-contemporary station, KORL. The three additional subchannels are smooth jazz, Korean pop, and Japanese pop.
KORL owner George Hochman launched the multicasts exclusively for feeding analog FM translators, and each HD subchannel already has its own translator. Continue reading “HD Radio Scene Report: Hawaii”