Friday was the one-year anniversary of the FCC’s Open Internet Order, which established strong network neutrality rules in the U.S., in part by reclassifying internet service as a public utility. As Public Knowledge’s Meredith Whipple observes, “despite the clamoring of the ISPs that Title II would be the end of times, the Internet ecosystem is […]
Five new low-power FM stations have been granted their full licenses in the last week: KQRZ-LP, Oregon Amateur Radio Club (Hillsboro, OR) WTPB-LP, Third Presbyterian Church of Rockford (Rockford, IL) WEMV-LP, Elijah Message Ministry (Vandalia, IL) KMYB-LP, Killeen Independent School District (Killeen, TX) WBNH-LP, Town of Bedford, NH LPFMs Mostly Unaffected by New Performance Royalty […]
New low-power FM construction permits continue to trickle out. One new one was issued this week to Nueva Imagen Community Church in McAllen, Texas. ‘Rocket Docket’ Resolves Contentious Philly MX The FCC resolved a highly contentious fight between two time-share groups for one frequency in Philadelphia, using the so-called “rocket docket” process intended to speed […]
Here’s a broadcasting policy history question. Who said this? “Obviously it is a waste of valuable spectrum space to use two frequencies to bring the same material to the same location.” Believe it or not, it was the Federal Communications Commission in 1965. A year earlier agency ruled that no FM station broadcasting to a city […]
A slow week here in August for low-power FM, with no new construction permits approved in the last week. There was no other LPFM action from the FCC, with no applications canceled or denied, either. Here are some recent stories of note: Radio World published a thorough overview of REC Networks’ proposal to the FCC […]
On this episode Dr. Christopher Terry from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee tells us how the FCC has fumbled its updates of media ownership regulation for a dozen years, and why that’s important. We also learn why community radio and independent musicians should care that NPR has left the MIC coalition, a lobbying group targeting music […]
The first low-power FM construction permits of the month were issued in the last week–three of them, to be precise. Two are in Florida, and one in California. That brings the grand total to 1,871 LPFM applications approved from the 2013 licensing window. One grantee had its request to cancel its construction permit finalized by […]
No new low-power FM construction permits were issued this past week, which, of course, had a holiday weekend probably slowing down the works. However, the FCC did release its quarterly count of broadcast stations in the US. Not surprisingly–especially if you keep up with LPFM Watch–the radio service with the biggest increase in the second […]
Today, the FCC released its quarterly list of the total number of licensed broadcast stations. As we’ve seen in recent years, the number of licensed stations continues to grow, with the current grand total at 15,455 licensed full power radio stations as of June 30, 2015. The biggest increase this quarter is in the number […]
Four years ago, on July 7, 2011, the United States Third Circuit Court of Appeals handed down a second “remand” to the Federal Communications Commission’s attempt to weaken its media ownership rules. When a court remands an action by a government agency, it is telling the agency that the decision is somehow wrong, often procedurally wrong, and needs to be revised. The […]
