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 […]
The FCC just released its quarterly list of the total number of licensed broadcast stations in the United States. Based on their statistics through March 31, 2012, the number of licensed broadcast radio stations is still on the rise, continuing the trend that we saw in last quarter’s update. Based on this list, there are […]
In my free time I like to schedule visits to radio stations in order to get a glimpse into their day-to-day operations. This project started way back in 2008 when I made my first field trip to WECB at Emerson College. Along the way some studios (like KUSF) have sadly been dismantled, others have moved […]
A local marketing agreement (LMA) is when a station owner permits another broadcaster to rent the station, taking over the programming and advertising for a fee. However, the station owner retains all rights and liabilities for the station, including the license. LMAs have often been used to let a large owner, like Clear Channel, operate […]
An interesting YouTube video of a dialogue between an NPR reporter and national security critic Glenn Greenwald is making the rounds. The argument took place in November 2010 at the NYU School of Law during a round table discussion about “Free Speech and Incitement.” You’d think this exchange would be old news by now, but […]
Rollins College radio station WPRK is celebrating its 60th anniversary with a fundraiser and a free all-day event and live broadcast today from the Rollins College campus in Winter Park, Florida. According to an article in the Orlando Sentinel, the station has 120 student and community volunteers. The article states, “It’s community and student involvement […]
Canada’s government has cut CBC radio to the tune of $115 million over three years. CBC has responded by proposing staff cuts and adding advertising to its two national music networks: Radio 2 and Espace musique. “This measure will allow us to ensure that we can continue . . . to be a point of […]
I’ve long admired New Jersey non-commercial freeform station WFMU. It started life as the college station for Upsala College. When the college went bankrupt in 1995 the volunteers formed a nonprofit corporation to buy the license, rather than see it liquidated. Since then WFMU has been a strong voice for true freeform radio and an […]
Back in January I reported on Ft. Myers, Florida resident Albert Knighten, a retired Navy air traffic controller who was arrested in December 2011 on charges of unlicensed broadcasting for running a neighborhood community radio station. Knighten got in additional hot water when he missed his arraignment hearing in order to appear on a panel […]
I was talking with my pal John Anderson earlier today about how relatively muted the reaction is to the FCC’s LPFM decision on Monday. We did get a statement from Prometheus Radio Project pretty quickly. But even today, three days later, there’s only a handful of hits on a google news search. Perhaps the news […]
