Despite heavy lobbying from Clear Channel and its allies, the Federal Communications Commission proposes retaining its current ownership rules for commercial AM and FM radio stations. Here is a quick refresher course on the local radio rules. They allow any entity to buy as many AM/FM signals as its wants, nationally, with these restrictions in […]
Spurred on by the FCC’s proposal to create an online public inspection file for television broadcasters, reporter Meredith Hoffman at the New York Times decided to check out the paper public files at a variety of New York City broadcasters, both TV and radio. Not surprisingly, but still disappointingly, the reporter encountered puzzled receptionists and […]
I am pondering the merger names as I compose this post: Clear Citadus? Cumulo Citichannel? Citaclear Channelculus? My meditation is inspired by Clear Channel’s announcement on Monday that Cumulus’ 570 radio stations will be featured on the former company’s iHeartRadio application “wherever it is offered.” In exchange: Clear Channel Radio will also advertise daily deals from Cumulus […]
Underwriting represents a very modest percentage of the budget of most Low Power FM radio stations in the United States. So reports the Prometheus Radio Project in a filing to the Federal Communications Commission. The latest data comes from a 2011 study conducted by Prometheus in collaboration with Keith Brand, Associate Professor of Radio, Television […]
While many broadcasters had no problems receiving and retransmitting last week’s nationwide Emergency Alert System test, many others reports of problems are surfacing. John Anderson at DIYmedia.net compiled some of the glitches: Here in Wisconsin, radio stations broadcast 30 seconds of garbled audio that effectively degenerated into static. Similar results have been reported in Pennsylvania, […]
At 2 PM Eastern time this afternoon some percentage of US radio listeners and television viewers heard or saw the national EAS test. I was in the main studio of Northwestern University’s WNUR-FM (where I serve as advisor), and waited patiently for our EAS unit to receive the signal from WBBM-AM, triggering the alert to […]
The FCC is currently down one commissioner due to Republican Meredith Atwell Baker stepping aside last spring. Democrat Michael Copps is on an “extended term” that is set to end at the end of this Congressional term. So the FCC is due to be getting by on just three commissioners by the time the new […]
The first national test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) will take place next Wednesday, November 9th at 11am Pacific time. According to a letter issued by the FCC today: “The test will occur simultaneously across the United States and the U.S. territories and will last approximately 30 seconds, after which regular programming will resume. […]
Today the FCC released two lists containing the total number of licensed broadcast stations in the United States. Despite the crowded radio dial, the number of licensed radio stations increased between June and September, 2011. According to the FCC, as of September 30, 2011 (PDF), there were 14,865 radio stations in the U.S. That represents […]
The New York Times reports that Clear Channel is laying off radio deejays across the country, perhaps in the hundreds. These include Tony Lynn and Myles Copeland of Clear Channel Albuquerque country music station KBQI, shown in the YouTube video below. But two weeks before the story came out, the radio giant once again asked […]
