Continuing its series of workshops–which are more informal than hearings–on a variety of important topics, the FCC will hold one on the topic of “Public and Other Noncommercial Media in the Digital Era.” This workshop is part of the Commission’s project on the Future of Media and the Information Needs of Communities. This day-long workshop […]
The National Association of Broadcasters wraps up its annual national trade show in Las Vegas tomorrow. Radio has its own annual show, so at the big one it tends to take a back seat to television when it comes to big announcements. Nevertheless, when FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski gave his remarks [PDF] to the crowd […]
The Federal Communications Commission has called for comment on proposed rules intended to prevent interference between Sirius XM radio (SIRI) and wireless broadband in the 2.3 GHz band area. But when Sirius XM asked for a one week extension on the comment deadline, the organization representing the various wireless companies blasted the request. “At virtually […]
If you’re running a college radio station it’s a good idea to beef up your understanding of FCC rules and deadlines. Recently Colby Community College radio station KTCC was schooled in the lesson that ignorance is no excuse when it comes to FCC license renewal. Because they missed several deadlines for the renewal of their […]
While we commonly accept that broadcast stations and, especially, their licenses to broadcast have a market value, for most of US broadcasting history there was no direct cost to obtain that license. Sure, there were engineer surveys to conduct, lawyers to pay, and so on. But the license itself came at no cost from the […]
Over the past year I’ve been tracking the mini-phenomenon of a few low-power TV stations on channel 6 using their signal as a back-door to the FM dial rather than real TV stations. This situation occurs because the audio portion of analog TV channel 6 bumps up against the far left end of the FM […]
In advance of its upcoming biannual review of media ownership rules, the Federal Communications Commission is holding a series of workshops on the issue. These workshops are less formal and expansive than hearings, and tend to be focused on a smaller array of topics. On April 20 the Commission’s Media Bureau will host a panel […]
I’ve now had my eyes glued to the Federal Communications Commission’s 370+ page National Broadband Plan for 24 hours, and the message is clear: video rules; audio drools. The document goes so far as to propose the creation of video.gov: “a federated national archive for digital content. Creating such an archive will require tackling digital […]
Federal Communications Commission Chair Julius Genachowski did his best to sell the agency’s upcoming National Broadband Plan to country music and country radio fans this week. “You thought I was going to say something about my wife leaving me, my dog and my truck, didn’t you?” the FCC’s boss asked the Country Music Association on […]
At the end of last month the FCC released its tallies for the total number of broadcast stations in the US as of Sept. 31, 2009 and Dec. 31, 2009. When you see the big number of 14,420 full-service radio stations it’s a big reminder that radio is still an enormous media presence in this […]
