By 10:30am PST in Seattle the police had already used hoses and pepper spray on WTO protesters in the streets. Eventually they turned to tear gas and rubber bullets and the mayor declared a state of emergency and an evening curfew. Don't know what all the big deal is about?
A decent article on radio can be found at suck.com which accurately claims:
Driving across America with the radio on is like being trapped in an endless, circular mall. Wherever you go, the playlists are the same, the promos use the same voices, and the DJs sound identical -- no regional accents, just that bizarre plastered-smile voice native to anchormen, dentists, and Raffi.
Eric Boehlert has written a very good article on radio for the NY Press. You should take the time to go and read it!
When recently asked about the ramifications of the mega-merger with AM/FM, Clear Channel president Randy Michaels told Billboard, "As local owners who tend to play their favorite music get forced out by people who are focused on shareholders' value and therefore understand we have to move customers' products, meaning we have to attract larger desirable audiencesñwe're intensely focused on serving the public."
The head of the FCC is being criticized for a decision to allow a stock-car racetrack facility to broadcast an event from its stadium to its parking lot without a license.
Technically, the Metroplex speedway in Ennis, Texas, required a license to air over low-power television the race happening inside. But when the operators of the track were shut down by local FCC agents for not having a license in the middle of an event, they appealed to their local congressman to help them out.
According to a complaint by a high-level agency official, that's when Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, contacted FCC Chairman Bill Kennard on behalf of the owner of the facility. Following the request by Barton, who is a member of the House Commerce Committee, which oversees the FCC, Kennard ordered through his chain of command that the field agents in Dallas let the operator continue running.
FCC officials in Washington said the racetrack operators didn't know they needed a license for the short-range transmission from stadium to parking lot. They promised they would get a license in the future but were in a bind with 100,000 expected at the weekend sporting event, FCC officials said.
The commission then granted the facility temporary authority to broadcast over the weekend, an action Kennard defended as common sense.
"We made a pragmatic, common-sense decision not to disrupt an ongoing three- to four-day racing event involving a low-power television broadcast from a stadium into its parking lot," Kennard said. "I believe this decision was made in good faith by all those involved."
The FCC took a key step toward U.S. deployment of digital radio when it issued proposed rules for launching the service "expeditiously" after technical and standards issues are resolved.
In a 28-page notice on digital audio broadcasting (DAB) issued Monday Nov. 1, the FCC stopped short of endorsing in-band, on-channel (IBOC) systems designed to allow the simultaneous broadcast of analog and digital signals without disrupting existing services. Still, the notice stressed that "the catalyst for this action is the progress of in-band, on-channel DAB technology.
"IBOC DAB systems have not been conclusively proven to be technically viable at this point in time, yet great strides have been made and the systems certainly hold real promise," the FCC notice stated.
Among IBOC design issues [are] DAB systems that operate within existing AM/FM "emission masks," or limits, on signal power. FCC rules impose limits on signal power inside and outside a station's assigned channel. Industry comments on the FCC notice are due by mid-January.
FCC PROPOSAL (text)
FCC PROPOSAL (acrobat PDF)
John Malone's Liberty Media Group jumped full swing into the radio industry, buying a 14% stake in radio broadcaster Emmis Communications Corp. for roughly $150 million.
It's Liberty's first foray into a business that, like cable, has undergone rapid consolidation. And according to Liberty executives and analysts, there's more to come.
"In the radio business, we think there's at least one more round of consolidation," said Liberty president/CEO Robert "Dob" Bennett during a conference call to discuss the deal. "And, hopefully, with this investment and with the public offering that Emmis is doing they'll be well positioned to play an important roll in that consolidation."
Indeed, analysts say that some $4.5 billion of radio assets are expected to come out of the $23 billion merger of mega-radio concerns Clear Channel Communications Inc. and AMFM Inc., which was announced in early October. The combined companies must divest of the properties in order to pass regulatory hurdles.
While Emmis has recently been sitting on the sidelines during rapid radio consolidation, it has begun positioning itself to start gaining size.
Cumulus Media Inc., the nation's second-largest owner of radio stations, announced that it has bought the three leading radio stations in Jonesboro. Cumulus paid $26.5 million in cash for KFIN-FM, KIYS-FM, and KBTM-AM, from Duke Media Inc. of Jonesboro.
Cumulus owns 264 radio stations in 49 cities in 22 states and the Caribbean and employs more than 3,000 people. Cumulus also owns six radio stations in Northwest Arkansas and three in Fort Smith.
In the early morning hours of Oct. 29, someone set fire to Pacifica's Houston outlet, KPFT-FM. Actually the arsonist or arsonists burned down a two-story storage building behind the Houston community station.
A deliberately set fire gutted a storage building at KPFT-FM's Montrose-area offices on the eve of meetings here to determine the liberal station's future.
Two points of origin were found for Friday's fire, which Houston Fire Department investigator Robert Kent said was obviously arson. One KPFT employee said, "It's a pretty poor way to make a statement."
The FCC proposed rules to allow radio stations to take advantage of new digital technologies that could enhance the sound quality of their programs.
The proposal, approved by a 5-0 vote, was issued for comment and could be significantly altered before being approved. That process can take anywhere from a few months to several years.
The FCC said it would study different plans for offering digital radio. While considering an industry-backed plan to offer digital signals over the same frequencies that now carry AM and FM radio, the agency said it also was open to considering proposals that would utilize new airwave bands.
For example, the agency asked for comment on using frequencies that now carry TV channel No. 6 for digital radio. In less than 10 years, TV broadcasters are expected also to switch to digital, and no TV station will be using channel No. 6 anywhere in the U.S. after the transition, the FCC said.
Industry calls for FCC rules on digital radio were led by USA Digital Radio Inc., a digital radio pioneer owned jointly owned by leading broadcasters including AMFM Inc., CBS Corp. and Clear Channel Communications.