First the news from Washington: John McCain’s bill to expand the FCC’s LPFM service cleared the Senate Commerce Committee yesterday, but not without some last-minute chicanery – an amendment has been added that exempts the state of New Jersey from any expansion (if it occurs).
Now it must clear the full Senate and House of Representatives, where the odds are not as good. However, Prometheus reports that some of the religious LPFMers are leaning on GOP congresscritters pretty hard, so there’s still some hope. Continue reading “FCC Gets Earful in Monterey; LPFM Bill Advances from Senate Committee”
Tag: media ownership
Limited Audience in Monterey Provides Fodder for Protest
As the FCC is only letting 400 people into its public hearing on “localism” in Monterey, California this Thursday – and only a portion of those 400 will be allowed to speak – the public is being encouraged to gather outside the hearing venue and make some noise.
They’ll be supplemented by microradio activists who plan to conduct a remote broadcast in protest of the general lack of public access to radio (as well as to the hearing itself). At least one group may set up a PA system to relay the events inside to those outside; perhaps some of the hearing may also be rebroadcast this way. Continue reading “Limited Audience in Monterey Provides Fodder for Protest”
LPAM Petition Revival Effort; FCC Tomfoolery Planned for Monterey
What with the FCC in the midst of a spasm of public backlash (recently magnified by the judicial bodyslam given its media ownership work), a new effort is afoot to resurrect a petition for rulemaking to consider the establishment of a low-power AM radio service. Such a petition was actually tendered to the FCC more than a year ago but, like other selected documents, it entered the agency’s maw and disappeared.
The “revival petition” asks the FCC to finally respond to the LPAM request made in mid-2003; it will be submitted as a part of the agency’s ongoing inquiry into localism. Don Schellhardt is collecting signatures; if you’d like to be included e-mail him and include your contact information for the petition’s purposes. The initial plan called for submission to the FCC by tomorrow but that may be a bit flexible, and follow-up filings can be made to include more signatories. Continue reading “LPAM Petition Revival Effort; FCC Tomfoolery Planned for Monterey”
Third Circuit Orders FCC to Re-Justify Media Ownership Changes
Kind of a big day for “the public interest” – in a 2-1 decision yesterday the Philadelphia-based Third Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the implementation of several media ownership rule changes made by the Federal Communications Commission last year. However, it did not do so because the court thought they were necessarily bad rules.
Judgment (12 K) Opinion (632 K)
“Citizen Petitioners” (a plethora of public interest groups) and “Deregulatory Petitioners” (the FCC, media companies, and their trade organizations) can both find something to like. The primary criticism of the decision falls in the citizens’ favor: Mikey Powell and his FCC are taken to task for a skewed interpretation of their mission under the Telecommunications Act. Continue reading “Third Circuit Orders FCC to Re-Justify Media Ownership Changes”
Powell AWOL at South Dakota Localism Hearing
The FCC’s ongoing “Localism Task Force” tour stopped yesterday in Rapid City, South Dakota – the hometown of Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein. Only the two Democrats on the Commission (Adelstein and Michael Copps) bothered to show up. Chairman Mikey Powell was supposed to be there but backed out due to a last-minute “scheduling conflict.”
Funny thing, though: Powell managed to be in South Dakota the day before for a meeting with governor Mike Rounds on issues dealing with wireless technology. But I digress. Continue reading “Powell AWOL at South Dakota Localism Hearing”
Packed House in San Antonio
A couple of clarifications from an observer on the scene at the microradio protest outside Clear Channel’s corporate headquarters: the transmitter used by “KRRR” was ~10 watts and could be heard for at least a couple of miles. More power to ya!
Also, the station reappeared during the FCC’s Localism Task force meeting yesterday and operated completely unmolested, despite mainstream media reports to the contrary. Houston IMC now has photos of the pirate crew (and their clever subvertising) outside CCHQ.
As for the hearing itself, “to call [it] a zoo would probably be too kind,” reports one LPFM broadcaster who stood in line for more than three hours just to get 60 seconds at the mic.
Scene Reports: Washington, Texas, Vermont
Two reports from Free Radio Olympia confirm a male/female team of agents from the FCC’s Seattle office were first caught snooping on the property around 3:30 yesterday afternoon. Confronted by someone, the agents finally identified themselves and were repeatedly denied entry to inspect the station.
After more than 20 minutes of getting nowhere the agents retreated to their “mini-van/suv type” vehicle, where reportedly “the female fcc agent called into the studio with a cell phone.” Don’t know if the call was broadcast, or if anything was taped, but the FCC went away after that. Continue reading “Scene Reports: Washington, Texas, Vermont”
Fun in Clear Channel Country
In about two and a half weeks, the FCC’s Localism Task Force will set up shop in San Antonio, Texas for a public hearing. This is the second one; the first happened in October in Charlotte, North Carolina. That produced a 153-page transcript, if you’re interested in catching up on the pontification.
I still don’t quite see the point of this effort, as the damage done to localism in the media (however you want to define it) from industry consolidation is already done, and is just getting worse as time goes on. At least those that get to speak to some FCC officials will feel momentarily important, as said officials momentarily act like they care. Change/progress? Not likely (however you want to define it).
That being said, the image at right arrived in the inbox this week courtesy of “RPMRADIO,” a shadowy entity that claims to operate a network of unlicensed microradio stations in San Antonio, also the home of Clear Channel. Photoshopped or not, the sentiment’s dead-on. Task force public hearings are only one venue through which the public may be heard.
(click on image to see a larger jpeg)
Congress Pulls Fast One on Media Reform
All the hoopla and hard work this year in Washington, D.C. on the issue of media reform can now officially be declared futile. In the horsetrading sessions typical at the end of a congressional session, provisions unrelated to federal government spending get attached to spending bills – this allows controversial pieces of legislation to clear Congress with little fanfare and controversy.
Congressional allies of media reform incrementally ceded ground to the GOP majority controlling the horsetrading, settling for a single provision attached to a multi-billion dollar spending bill that would restore the FCC’s original television station ownership cap (prohibiting one network from reaching more than 35% of the national TV audience, down from the 45% limit approved by the FCC in June).
But back in the smoke-filled room this week, a “compromise” was reached – instead of restoring the original 35% cap, the “compromise” will prohibit networks from owning stations that reach more than 39% of the country. Continue reading “Congress Pulls Fast One on Media Reform”
Amherst Alliance in Last-Minute Lobby Flurry
Congress is getting ready to wrap up business for the year; work left undone so far includes the rollback of the FCC’s changes to media ownership rules. There’s a quasi-insurrection brewing in the House of Representatives, where 190 congressfolk have signed onto a letter asking Republican leadership to allow a vote on the FCC rollback.
The Amherst Alliance’s Don Schellhardt put together another detailed analysis of where things stand now, and includes helpful boilerplate examples of what to say if you’re inclined to call your representative and urge some action.
The Amherst Alliance has also launched a petition drive to the FCC designed to immediately expand the LPFM service back to its original parameters and request that the FCC protect LPFM stations from digital radio interference. Visit the Amherst Alliance’s web site and sign on, if you can…