On Nov. 22 the Federal Communitications Commission voted unanimously to adopt a proposal for rulemaking to allow AM radio stations to convert to fully digital broadcasting, using the MA3 all-digital mode of HD Radio. There was no dissent, and all three Republican commissioners issued separate statements of support. As I noted earlier, if approved, all-digital AM broadcasting would […]
In April 2020 the FCC will open up the next auction for FM radio licenses. This is the next, and only currently scheduled opportunity to build a new radio station in the U.S. Jennifer, Eric and Paul discuss this news, along with celebrating the 60th birthday of KFJC-FM at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, […]
Can you save AM Radio by killing it? The original broadcast band gets little love as it prepares to celebrate its 100th birthday. Plagued by electromagnetic interference from wi-fi routers, LED lights and all sorts of other modern electronics, and dominated by tired right-wing and sports talk programming targeting a shrinking demographic, there’s not much […]
Net neutrality received a very mixed ruling from the DC Circuit Court of Appeals last week. The Court largely upheld the significantly looser rules passed by the FCC in 2017 under the leadership of Republican Chairman Ajit Pai. But at the same time the Court said the Commission overstepped its bounds in attempting to forbid […]
The FCC lost in court for the fourth time on September 23, in what’s become a really bad habit in the case known as Prometheus Radio Project v. FCC. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals keeps sending the Commission back to do homework to justify with evidence the changes it wants to make in loosening […]
Prof. Christopher Terry also guests on this week’s podcast to review the FCC’s recent court loss in detail. -Ed. “Here we are again.” That is the opening of the recent decision written by Judge Thomas L. Ambro in the latest judicial review of media ownership rules, in what is now Prometheus Radio Project v. FCC […]
Radio waves don’t obey borders, and stations have been taking advantage of this fact since the dawn of the medium – often despite the rules of government regulators where the signals go. Dr. Kevin Curran of Arizona State University has been studying border radio stations extensively, making it the subject of his doctoral dissertation. Everyone […]
The FCC is one step closer to a rule change that threatens to de-fund community media and technology, by undermining a long-established principle that cable and internet companies owe rent to municipalities for use of the public right-of-way. Sabrina Roach, board member of the Alliance for Community Media Foundation, joins to help us understand what’s […]
The FCC just proposed a series of changes to help make it easier for low-power FM stations to move their transmitters and to fill in weak signal areas. We review this proposal along with a suggestion from the Commission to whittle away at protections for the few dozen remaining analog low-power TV channel 6 stations, […]
A different media world is possible. What if the FCC truly regulated in the public interest, creating policies and services that promoted community voices and civic values? It does happen occasionally, but not often enough. It’s easy to assume our media system turned out this way because it was inevitable, but in truth it was […]
