How to break news to a friend that they’re looking a bit uncouth? It’s not easy.
Recently I stumbled across the web site of a group called the National Association of Microbroadcasters. This sort of idea’s been tried before but, given the nature of the free radio movement in the United States, such groups have never lasted very long (and the few still in existence are very low-key). Not so the NAMB: boasting more than 40 “member stations,” “covering 194,000 [square] miles,” this is quite a boost from the blue, if true.
Further exploration of the site, however, tempered my enthusiasm. Specifically, the link off the front page labeled, “What is The Law?” This takes you to a page with eight links on it. Some of them are pretty benign, like links to the Communications Act of 1934 and various pieces of U.S. Code applicable to the FCC. Sprinkled in are links to dubious legal memoranda whose basic gist is that the FCC does not have the jurisdiction to license stations that do not broadcast over state lines. One link here even includes a scanned image of a letter one Eric Johnson of Everett, WA received from a functionary at the FCC: it claims that “intra-state radio communications may be regulated by individual states, and I would recommend contacting your State Utility Commission for further information.” Continue reading “Like Food Stuck In Teeth”
Skip to content