Comments Filed in NAB Translator Fallacy

I filed some comments today in the FCC’s proposed rulemaking that would give AM radio stations access to FM translators. The comments essentially boil down all the random thoughts I’ve posted here in the past about the matter, and present them in a more formal and constructive, and slightly less caustic manner.
Not like they’ll amount to anything, though: after re-reading the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking more closely, it’s obvious the agency’s really leaning in the direction of the NAB’s desire. In addition, a cursory check of the FCC’s Consolidated Data Base System reveals that more than a dozen AM radio stations have already applied for special temporary authority to run an FM translator, and at least one has been formally approved. Many of these applications cite the ongoing proceeding as justification for operation. Talk about creating “facts on the ground,” eh?

Microradio: As Pawn and Pain In the Ass

It’s hard to imagine that the FCC in 2007 would end the year with such a thud, but it has. With the promulgation of a rule effectively repealing the ban on newspaper/broadcast station cross-ownership – drafted in the dead of night, formally introduced in a newspaper op-ed, modified without consensus, and approved along partisan lines, with outright disdain for the 99.99% margin of public disapproval of both the practice and policy – Kevin Martin’s FCC has firmly put itself in the political cross-hairs.
A lawsuit to challenge the ruling is in the works, and members of Congress are yelping as their constituents call all pissed off (and rightly so); they’re pondering taking actions ranging from a “resolution of disapproval” of the FCC’s cross-ownership action, to a bill formally repealing the FCC’s decision, to a campaign to scrutinize and overhaul the FCC itself next year. The latter option would definitely be the most interesting to observe – anytime an agency goes into the legislative woodshed for restructuring, it’s going to disrupt business as usual. Regardless, this issue is far from finished, and still has the potential to undertake several dangerous iterations. Continue reading “Microradio: As Pawn and Pain In the Ass”

The FCC's Three Ring Circus

That’s what I get for taking a month-long hiatus: the FCC goes all P.T. Barnum on our ass, in hopes of making suckers of us all.
In the center ring is the agency’s proposed changes to media ownership regulations. After hinting that he wished to ram through major changes allowing broad consolidation by the end of the year, and hustling to finish public hearings on the subject over the last month, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin – in a highly unusual move – published his own proposal to modify only the regulation that restricts cross-ownership of newspapers and broadcast stations in a single market. Unfortunately, as noted by the minority Commissioners, this proposed change contains loopholes that would effectively do away with the cross-ownership ban, while keeping its regulatory shell on the books. This has irked members of Congress, many of whom are threatening to legislatively intervene if the FCC moves on any media ownership rule changes before the end of the year. Continue reading “The FCC's Three Ring Circus”

Back Door to AM Station/FM Translator Incest Wide Open

At last month’s NAB Radio Show, a representative of the Audio Services Division of the FCC’s Media Bureau disclosed that, even though the agency hasn’t yet taken action on a proposed rulemaking that would allow AM radio stations to utilize FM translators to supplement their coverage areas (a terrible idea, for several reasons), FCC staff are already implementing this “policy.”
How is this possible? The unnamed staffer revealed that all AM broadcasters must do is apply for special temporary authority to run FM translator stations, and, after cursory review, the FCC will let them go ahead and invade the FM dial. Continue reading “Back Door to AM Station/FM Translator Incest Wide Open”

FCC On Track to Meet/Beat Enforcement Record

As the graph to the right shows, the agency’s Enforcement Bureau is well on pace to meet or exceed last year’s record-breaking enforcement action effort.
eadbyyearLooking more closely at the data, one can see how FCC field agents are escalating the initial levels of the enforcement protocol much more quickly now (for example, the New York field office has cut the time between visit to warning letter down to as little as eight days). Continue reading “FCC On Track to Meet/Beat Enforcement Record”

FCC Now Taking Pirate Complaints Online

In a message circulated exclusively within the broadcast industry this week, the Federal Communications Commission has unveiled an online pirate radio snitch/complaint form.
The page, nestled within the Enforcement Bureau section of the FCC’s website (though not yet linked publicly, as it’s currently in “beta test”), requests information on the station’s name, address, operating frequency, dates/times of operation, and whether or not the station has an online presence (MySpace page, blog, etc.). This information, once submitted, “will be automatically forwarded to the closest Field Enforcement Office” for further investigation.
This is a development with mixed consequences. On the one hand, it makes the complaint process much simpler for licensed broadcasters, who used to have to navigate somewhat complicated bureaucratic channels in order to make sure their concerns were heard. Thus, one might expect the number of complaints filed against pirates to rise. It certainly has taken the FCC long enough to harness the power of the Internets to help do its job. Continue reading “FCC Now Taking Pirate Complaints Online”

Boston Pirate Tickles FAA Frequency

The story, of course, makes national news because it feeds into the industry-foisted myth that pirate radio has the potential to make airliners fall from the sky. Buried within the copy is the admission, however, that the affected channel at Boston’s Logan International Airport prevented “air traffic controllers from communicating with private aircraft, but not commercial airlines, on the frequency published to all pilots” [emphasis mine]. A follow-up story also notes that the dirty pirate station is but one of about a dozen known to broadcast regularly in the Boston metropolitan area, none of which are reported to interfere with anything. Continue reading “Boston Pirate Tickles FAA Frequency”

Full-Power FM Filing Window Imminent; FCC in Chicago

Next month, the FCC will open a long-awaited filing window for applicants for new non-commercial FM radio stations. The FCC is currently considering placing certain parameters/limitations on how many stations a single entity can apply for – possibly in hopes of avoiding the flood of mass-applications for FM translator stations filed by greedy godcasters in 2003.
At present, the FCC is considering capping the number of full-power FM stations a single entity can apply for at 10, but it’s waffling under pressure from some incumbent broadcasters, like the aforementioned godcasters and some public broadcast outfits. Continue reading “Full-Power FM Filing Window Imminent; FCC in Chicago”

Good Cop/Bad Cop: The NAB and Satellite Radio

Last month, a consultant engineer hired by the National Association of Broadcasters filed comments with the FCC in opposition to the proposed merger of the Sirius and XM satellite radio networks. These comments stressed the unique transmission and reception infrastructure of each satellite system and pronounced them inherently incompatible. The consultant, Dennis Wallace, asserts (among other things) that the variation in the orbital paths of XM and Sirius satellites, combined with a host of differences involving how the networks encode and compress their digital signals for broadcast, makes each company’s distribution infrastructure nearly impossible to consolidate without “significant disruption” to satellite radio service more generally.
This assertion is belied by two fundamental facts. The first is that XM and Sirius do not serve their subscribers primarily via satellite; instead they use a network of ground-based repeater-transmitters. In most cases, XM/Sirius listeners are not listening to signals directly from space, but instead to a signal bounced from the ground to space and back down again, then rebroadcast from gear bolted to some rented space on a cell phone tower nearby. It doesn’t matter what the difference in XM and Sirius satellites’ orbital paths are – so long as one satellite can “see” the United States (and XM’s constellation is in geostationary orbit), the repeaters will be served, and hence the listeners. Continue reading “Good Cop/Bad Cop: The NAB and Satellite Radio”

Free Radio Olympia Off-Air But Online, For Now

It seems that the FCC’s sweep of microradio is not leaving the old guard alone. Several long-running microradio stations have been visited by the FCC recently, including two individuals specifically targeted from the Free Radio Olympia collective, which sent out this missive: Continue reading “Free Radio Olympia Off-Air But Online, For Now”