At last, felines and canines are getting into broadcasting. The Federal Communications Commission has approved Low Power FM licenses to two animal advocacy groups: Flash Cats Animal Advocacy of Iuka, Mississippi and Cause 4 Paws of Bedford, Indiana. From Flash Cats’ application statement: “Individuals are advised of the importance of neutering their pets to minimize […]
NPR has added its voice to the Federal Communication Commission’s proceeding on revitalizing AM radio. Although the filing supports the FCC’s general recommendations for improving the service, it also functions as a vehicle for promoting one of NPR’s favorite causes: getting the Commission to license more translators for Non-commercial Educational (NCE) FM radio stations. Still, […]
Clear Channel Communications has posted its response to the Federal Communications Commission’s proceeding on AM radio revitalization. The radio giant has many recommendations, among them the suggestion that the FCC should permit all digital AM operations “on a voluntary basis.” “As more HD receivers are installed in vehicles and more consumer digital receivers are purchased, […]
Last week the FCC began granting new LPFM applications and so far, it has granted several applications for new LPFM college, high school, and middle school radio stations. I profiled two of the college stations, Washington College and York Technical College, in College Radio Survivor on Friday and in this post I will run through […]
This week there were some interesting developments on the LPFM front. Most notably, the FCC began to grant LPFM applications yesterday and by day’s end there were 107 non-profit groups that were one step closer to getting on the air with a new licensed radio station. These singleton applicants faced no competition for their frequencies, […]
I’m glued to REC Networks‘ LPFM application status twitter feed, as it has been lighting up over the past few hours with messages about newly granted LPFM applications. The first granted license was for Center Pole, Inc. in Montana. So far I’ve been excited to spot a college (York Technical College in Rock Hill, South […]
Turner Broadcasting System has been issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (PDF) due to complaints about the repeated misuse of Emergency Alert tones over its network. The FCC found that Turner is liable for a forfeiture amount of $200,000. This is on the heels of a warning and notice in November, 2013, which […]
Today the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the FCC’s ability to regulate discrimination of data by internet service providers. Not unexpectedly, the Court says that the FCC itself set the stage in 2005. That’s when the Commission, led by Republican Kevin Martin, reclassified internet service as an “information service” rather than a “telecommunication […]
Communications legislation and regulation are moving back to the front burner in Washington as both Congress and the FCC turn up the flames on this policy area that has seen relatively little attention in the last five years. The Republican-controlled House leadership is pushing for a Communications Act rewrite, while FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler is […]
This week the FCC released its quarterly list of the total number of licensed broadcast stations in the United States. Based on FCC statistics through December 31, 2013, the number of licensed broadcast radio stations is still on the rise (in keeping with a 20-year trend), with 162 more radio stations at the end of 2013 […]
