In a Forfeiture Order released on Friday, Bethany College’s student radio station WVBC 88.1 FM has been fined $6500 for “remaining off the air without Commission authorization for a period of more than 30 days and failing to timely file a license renewal application for the Station.” According to the FCC’s Forfeiture Order, WVBC’s license […]
In a case with huge implications for broadcast radio, the Supreme Court has overturned the Federal Communications Commission’s sanctions against Fox Television News for broadcasting so called “fleeting expletives”—essentially potty talk spoken on the fly. The same relief was extended to ABC for broadcasting a brief nudity scene on NYPD Blue. “Because the Commission failed […]
Nearly 17 months after University of San Francisco (USF)’s college radio station KUSF was shut down without warning, the FCC has granted the KUSF license to Classical Public Radio Network (CPRN). For those who have been fighting this sale for all this time, there might be some comfort in the fact that the FCC has […]
Albert Knighten is a retired Navy air traffic controller in Ft. Myers, Florida who was busted by local police for running an unlicensed radio station back in December. Now the FCC has caught up with him, too, issuing him a Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL) for $15,000 on Monday [PDF]. He was operating a community […]
In the face of a supposedly looming “spectrum crunch,” Congress and the President are endlessly threatening/promising to produce a conclusive compendium of where all the usable radio bands are presently located. I’m starting mine now for radio spectrum that is used in one way or another by radio stations—as opposed to TV, public safety responders, […]
This Wednesday the Federal Communications Commission will hold a live, streaming forum on how the agency plans to handle Low Power FM and translator applications. “The focus of the forum will be how pending FM translator applicants from the 2003 Auction 83 window and pending and prospective FM translator modification applicants will be processed,” the […]
So, last night I wondered if the deletion of the non-commercial station fundraising item from the FCC’s open meeting agenda meant that they were going to release a proposal ahead of time. Today, the Commission answered that question by releasing a proposal to give non-commercial and educational (NCE) stations a limited ability to raise money […]
Wednesday the FCC announced that it’s dropping from Friday’s open meeting an item addressing non-commercial radio stations’ ability to fundraise on-air for other non-profit organizations. The item appears to deal with stations raising money for efforts like disaster relief. But, as I wrote earlier this month, this rulemaking might also address non-commercial stations being operated […]
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 […]
A divided Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the Federal Communications Commissions’ ban on commercial advertising on public radio and television. But it struck down the bar on political advertising. “Public issue and political advertisements pose no threat of ‘commercialization’,” Justice Carlos T. Bea wrote for the court majority on Thursday. “By definition, such […]
