Big news for broadcasters today, as the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a decision striking down the FCC’s indecency policy. According to the decision, the “FCC’s current policy fails constitutional scrutiny,” in large part because it is too vague and can lead broadcasters to shy away from airing programming, effectively […]
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Broadcasters union to FCC: don't change your radio ownership rules
The union that represents what’s left of the radio broadcasting workforce has told the Federal Communications Commission to keep its current restrictions on how many radio stations an entity can own. The filing by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) is a reminder of how dramatically broadcast radio ownership has consolidated over […]
FCCFREE RADIO: Pirates No More
Lately there’s been a lot of buzz about the comings and goings of pirate radio stations, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area. New station Radio Valencia is about to begin broadcasting any day now in San Francisco and pirate radio stalwart Freak Radio Santa Cruz is continuing in its mission, while looking for a […]
![Freak Radio Studio [image courtesy DIYmedia/flickr]](https://www.radiosurvivor.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/213634017_eacc013ca2_m.jpg "Freak Radio Santa Cruz's transmitter looking for a new home")
Freak Radio Santa Cruz's transmitter looking for a new home
FCC Fines Non-Commercial Radio Station KUFW for Airing Commercials
As everyone in non-commercial radio in the United States knows, there’s often a fine line between underwriting messages to indicate sponsored programming and commercial announcements. College, community and other non-commercial radio stations are not allowed to air commercials, but they can play underwriting announcements which simply acknowledge the support received by an outside entity. It’s […]
How local is radio? FCC wants more data
The Federal Communications Commission is commissioning nine economic studies on the state of the media industry, and numbers five and six couldn’t come too soon as far as I’m concerned. Here they are: Study 5: Quantity of radio news and public affairs programming provided and audience for radio news programming as a function of local […]
FCC Commissioner Clyburn Suggests Channels 5 & 6 for Radio
The National Federation of Community Broadcasters just wrapped up its annual conference this past weekend in St. Paul, MN. The NFCB has been a true anchor in the community radio movement, both supporting individual stations and advocating on their behalf in DC. This year the FCC actually graced the conference, with Commissioner Mingon Clyburn giving […]
FCC ponders the future of radio consolidation
The Federal Communications Commission is reviewing its media ownership rules again. That ordeal took up quite a bit of public bandwidth over the last decade, especially after former FCC Chair Michael Powell proposed scotching most of them. Now we’re back to square one, with the Commission launching a Notice of Inquiry about its current ownership […]
Top radio device maker backs net neutrality
A gaggle of major Internet content companies say they support the Federal Communications Commission’s proposed new net neutrality rules, and the signers of their letter include Sony Electronics. “This framework will ensure that consumers have access to an open Internet, one that would preserve a level playing field for all participants,” they write. “And it […]
College Radio Again Takes a Backseat in FCC's Latest Batch of FM Licenses
As Paul reported earlier today, the FCC just announced the names of 26 groups to be awarded new full power non-commercial educational FM radio licenses. As was the case back in February, when 57 licenses were awarded, college radio is poorly represented amongst all of the applicants and winners (PDF). Not having the funding of […]