The National Association of Broadcasters annual show and convention just started in Las Vegas, bringing together nearly every sector of the broadcast industry to show off new products, discuss trends and hob nob. Unfortunately, the Radio Survivor travel budget doesn’t yet cover more than cab fare across town, so we don’t have a correspondent on […]
Archive | FCC
Radio Continues to Grow in U.S. Based on FCC’s Quarterly Station Tally
The FCC just released its quarterly list of the total number of licensed broadcast stations in the United States. Based on their statistics through March 31, 2012, the number of licensed broadcast radio stations is still on the rise, continuing the trend that we saw in last quarter’s update. Based on this list, there are […]
Is the FCC proposing rules for non-commercial radio local marketing agreements like KUSF’s?
A local marketing agreement (LMA) is when a station owner permits another broadcaster to rent the station, taking over the programming and advertising for a fee. However, the station owner retains all rights and liabilities for the station, including the license. LMAs have often been used to let a large owner, like Clear Channel, operate […]
Clear Channel’s mystery comment to the FCC
On Tuesday a quartet of Clear Channel executives piled into the Federal Communications Commission building and buttonholed most of the agency’s top brass, including FCC Chair Julius Genachowski. Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman did most of the talking, it seems. Pittman “emphasized the ways in which the Internet and broadband technology offer Clear Channel the […]
Broadcast workers union to FCC: don’t relax radio-TV cross ownership limits
The American Federation of Television and Radio Artists has sent a twelve page missive to the Federal Communications Commission urging the agency not to loosen its restrictions on how many radio and TV stations an entity may own in a market. AFTRA also wants the FCC to take a closer look at joint news agreements, […]
Reed College Donates KRRC License to Community Radio Group
Reed College’s tiny radio station KRRC struggled to be heard over the Portland, Oregon airwaves and now its terrestrial days may be over. Last week paperwork was filed to transfer the class D license for KRRC to Common Frequency, a non-profit devoted to community and grassroots radio. There’s a silver lining to this story, as the […]
Paul Smith’s College Radio Station WPSA Turns License Back to FCC
Over the winter holidays, Paul Smith’s College in The Adirondack Park in New York sent a letter to the FCC asking that its class D FM license for college radio station WPSA be cancelled. The December 12, 2011 letter was accepted by the FCC on December 20, 2011 and the 98.3 FM license was deleted. […]
What’s news in unlicensed broadcasting: Retired Navy air traffic controller in Florida faces state charges, but overall FCC enforcement is down
The biggest news in pirate radio so far this year is the story about Ft. Myers, Florida resident Albert Knighten, a retired Navy air traffic controller who was arrested in December on charges of unlicensed broadcasting. Knighten’s Dunbar Radio, named for his neighborhood, focused his broadcasts on the city’s underserved population of older residents who […]
DoJ to Supreme Court: radio is where the “vile and lewd” stuff is
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Fox vs. Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday. That’s the case reviewing the First Amendment constitutionality of the FCC’s sanctions against Fox for broadcasting Cher and Nicole Richie’s famous “fleeting expletive” potty talk comments during the 2002 and 2003 Billboard Music Awards. Also attached to the case are Commission […]
Central College Turns License for KCUI Back to FCC
Just before winter break, college radio station KCUI officially ended its life as an FM station when its license holder, Central College, turned its class D FM license back in to the FCC. Although it was a tiny station at just 10 watts out of Pella, Iowa, it had been a fixture at the private […]