Next Tuesday the Federal Communications Commission will reveal the entirety of its National Broadband Plan, over a year in the making. Required by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which authorized $7.2 billion in broadband stimulus spending, The Plan will weigh in on about a thousand broadband related subjects—how to help more people get it, […]
Archive | FCC
Sirius XM "extremely disturbed" by FCC wireless non-interference proposals
Sirius XM satellite radio CEO Mel Karmazin warned the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday that the FCC’s proposed non-interference rules with a nearby wireless band won’t do. “We are extremely disturbed by the proposal,” Karmazin confided in a letter sent to the agency’s Chair, Julius Genachowski. “The proposed rules seem to bear little resemblance to […]
FCC may use "tribal priority" radio model to bring wireless to Indian country
Last month the Federal Communications Commission announced new rules that will give Native Americans “tribal priority” when it comes to applying for radio licenses. Now the agency may extend that principle to wireless licenses as well. Here’s what FCC Chair Julius Genachowski told the National Congress of Native Americans today: “The Commission recently adopted rules […]
College Radio Barely Present Amid New "Educational Radio" Licenses
It was some pretty exciting news from the FCC on Tuesday, when they announced the list of 59 organizations who won the non-commercial educational radio license lottery. Although I was thrilled for some of the winners, as a college radio observer, I was saddened and surprised to see that very few colleges or educational institutions […]
FCC Awards Full-Power Licenses to 5 LPFMs, Plus 52 More Orgs
The FCC opened up an important licensing window for new noncommercial FM stations in 2007, announcing the first round of license winners in 2008. However another 59 licenses remained up in the air due to the Commission needing to pick a winner amongst competing applications. The FCC announced those winners on Tuesday [PDF]. The Commission […]
Parents TV Council: Stop Howard Stern from joining American Idol!
The Parents Television Council has a message for Sirius radio shock jock Howard Stern’s reported plans to join American Idol: No pasará—he shall not pass. “WHEREAS Howard Stern is one of the most profane, sexually-explicit and anti-family performers in the history of the broadcast medium;” declares the PTC’s latest resolution and petition (which the group […]
FCC proposes fine for New York FM station after bogus death notice
A radio station that staged a prank call to a New York woman claiming that her husband had been badly hurt in a motorcycle accident, then died in a hospital, has received a proposed fine of $16,000 from the Federal Communications Commission. Here’s an excerpt from the August 2007 exchange: “Mr. Ithier: Juliana, oh, oh […]
Gaston College Radio Station Fined $8K for Public File Violation
One of the things that every radio DJ learns during training is the importance of a station’s “public file.” Every FCC-licensed broadcast station in the United States is required to maintain a public inspection file, containing a number of items including documents pertaining to a station’s license and ownership. The file should also house FCC […]
FCC OKs Increase in HD Radio Power. Increased Interference Ahead?
On Friday the FCC’s Media Bureau quietly announced that it adopted an order to allow FM stations broadcasting a digital HD signal to increase their power levels up a maximum of 10% of the power of their main analog signal. While the National Association of Broadcasting and iBiquity have been agitating for this change for […]
FCC will let public radio raise money for Haitian relief
The Federal Communications Commission normally bars Noncommercial Educational Radio (NCE) stations from using the airwaves to raise money for any cause besides their own operation. But the FCC granted waivers from this rule following the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina, and now it’s doing the same for stations that want to raise relief cash […]