While patent reform is still delayed in the Senate, there was some good news for podcasters fighting a patent troll’s claim. Last October the Electronic Frontier Foundation filed a challenge to Personal Audio’s patent, issued in the mid 90s, that it says covers podcasting. The US Patent and Trademark Office’s Patent Trial and Appeal Board […]
On the heels of the FCC and US Attorney shutting down unlicensed Rika FM in New York City, on Thursday three stations in the Boston area were taken off the air, as well. The most prominent of these stations is Touch 106.1 FM, which was a fixture in Dorchester’s African-American community. Like the Rika FM […]
“I think radio did a very poor job of marketing itself, and everybody started talking all about the shiny new things.” That’s Clear Channel CEO Bob Pittman explaining why radio lost much of its public mindshare at Adweek’s Power of Personality event. Sure, that claim is plausible to someone who hasn’t been listening to radio […]
On Monday the FCC announced [PDF] the unsealing of two complaints against unlicensed broadcasters operating in the New York City borough of The Bronx. The Commission and US Attorney’s Office also said that “on April 2, 2014, FCC agents and Deputy U.S. Marshals, pursuant to warrants, seized the radio transmission and production equipment identified in […]
On Friday the Washington Post published a profile of FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler that vividly paints some of his quirks, but reveals very little of his policy outlook. Anyone looking for insights on radio or net neutrality here will be disappointed. We do get some additional bellyaching from the National Association of Broadcasters, who wish […]
The United States added 48 more full-power broadcast radio stations in the first quarter of 2014. That’s according to the FCC’s quarterly totals, released this week. Here’s that breakdown: AM Stations 4726 FM Commercial Stations 6624 FM Non-commercial Stations 4057 TOTAL 15,406 Low-power FM stations are down slightly in the quarter. Read this week’s LPFM […]
The FCC released its first quarter radio station totals this week. And while the overall station count is up slightly in 2014, the number of LPFMs dipped two from the end of 2013. On the surface this might not make sense given the 1,148 low-power station construction permits the FCC has issued this year. But […]
If you haven’t yet caught part 1 of the BBC’s radio documentary that I mentioned last week you only have until Thursday to listen. Veteran podcasters Helen Zaltzman and Olly Mann put together an engaging half-hour that covers podcasting’s birth and early growth as a medium, talking with prominent hosts from both sides of the […]
This week the National Association of Broadcasters convention takes over Las Vegas. To kick it off, the lobbying group’s top man, Gordon Smith, took to the stage Monday to set the tone. And the tone was this: Hey, FCC what about us broadcasters? Leading off Smith’s list of complaints is the FCC’s effort asking TV […]
House Intelligence Chair Mike Rogers (R-MI) is leaving Congress and taking a job as a national radio host with Cumulus media. Rogers has established himself as late as a defender of the National Security Agency’s surveillance program. Just for kicks I rummaged around the Federal Communications Commission’s databases to see what he’d sent them of […]
