|
July 4th, 1998
INDEPENDENCE DAY MEANS?
Apparently "being free from the influence of others" means little in this
mega-corporation dominated country today. Huge mergers are occurring left and right
with seemingly little second-thought to future ramifications and mega-media corporations
are expanding their iron grip on what the public sees and hears -- all across the
world. And the FCC is on a sweeping movement to shut down more independent microbroadcasters
after their recent Free Radio Berkeley "victory." Many stations around
the country have been sent their 10-day notice from the FCC and are contemplating
what exactly they should do and when.
What will you do? and when?
FRB PLANS PROTEST
full story online at SanFrancisco Gate
Though shut down by federal court order, Free Radio Berkeley may offer a clandestine
broadcast at an Independence Day rally -- and shift its renegade programming to the
Internet.
In the spirit of the Fourth of July, the left-leaning micropower radio station plans
to hold a "free speech" demonstration at 2 p.m. at Cesar Chavez Park.
Organizers have asked people to bring their radios and tune in to 104.1 FM, which
had been the station's frequency until June 16, when a federal judge barred programmers
from operating without a Federal Communications Commission license.
"Speaking as a psychic, not as an active participant, rumor has it some broadcast
will occur," Stephen Dunifer, the station's founder, said yesterday.
Volunteers said they were considering returning to Sunday night broadcasts from the
Berkeley hills, in the style of the station's first broadcasts. Today's rally for
low-power stations, Dunifer said, is ironic in the sense that printing presses had
to be licensed during British rule. "Unless average people can talk to each
other, have discourse and share culture and music, then we really don't have a vibrant
society -- we have a silent society that can only hear corporate-speak," Dunifer
said.
http://www.freeradio.org
June 29, 1998
RADIO MUTINY FANS MOURN LOSS
full story online at Philadelphia Inquirer
When Susan Whitaker tuned her radio to 91.3 FM the other day, she was disappointed
by what she heard. Nothing.
Federal officials had raided the radio station known both as Radio Mutiny and WPPR
-- for West Philadelphia Pirate Radio -- early Monday evening and shut it down for
operating without a license.
Officials from the FCC and the U.S. Justice Department confiscated the station's
antenna, transmitter, power supply, a microphone and a turntable, according to FCC
spokesman David Fiske.
Radio Mutiny prided itself on presenting alternative broadcasting. Programs included
shows featuring poetry, Native American issues, prison issues, and various political
movements.
[on their website http://www.thud.org/mutiny.htm]
...they describe their programming as "rabidly non-hierarchical, decisively
anti-authoritarian, avidly pro-feminist, staunchly anti-racist, and resolutely anti-homophobic."
ONLINE PROTESTING
full story at Wired News
In the face of recent setbacks -- including a Federal court ruling
and an FCC sting in the past week alone -- freedom-of-airwaves activists have decided
it's time for some old-style solidarity with a distinctly '90s twist.
Sometime this autumn (possibly the first weekend in October), micropower radio broadcasters
and supporters will gather in Washington, DC, for a protest at FCC headquarters against
the commission's intolerance toward unlicensed broadcasters.
At the same time, the Electronic
Disturbance Theater, a loosely organized band of several thousand artists and
activists who are engaged in an online fight against the Mexican government's oppression
of Zapatista rebels in Chiapas, will help facilitate what it calls an "online
sit-in" at the FCC's site.
"We feel to some extent there is a core network between us and the micro radio
stations in terms of getting information out ... that doesn't necessarily flow with
the larger media network," said Electronic Disturbance Theater co-founder Ricardo
Dominguez. "There's a sense of shared concern."
June 24, 1998
RADIO MUTINY SHUT DOWN!
full story online at Philadelphia Inquirer
The U.S. Attorney's Office announced that federal agents have raided a building
in the 4400 block of Pine Street in West Philadelphia and seized radio transmitting
equipment used to broadcast a pirate station known as "WPPR" -- West Philadelphia
Pirate Radio.
Until Monday's raid, WPPR had broadcast without a license since about 1996 from its
secret location using a 20-watt transmitter on 91.3 FM. Its founders have been especially
vocal at publicly challenging Federal Communication Commission officials to debate
them about the constitutionality of licensing the public airwaves.
LOW POWER LAID LOW
full story online at Wired
Pirate broadcaster Stephen Dunifer's court challenge to the federal government's
regulation of radio spectrums has been dismissed on a technicality. But the Berkeley,
California, airwave activist says that, despite a court injunction, the low-power
radio movement is alive and well.
"It skirts the issue and allows the FCC to once again dodge the bullet of Constitutional
scrutiny," he said in an interview today. "Our attorney feels this decision
is an extremely poor decision. It's based on case law that's not extremely relevant.
We feel that basically [the judge] didn't either have the legal courage to stand
up, or somebody got to her."
The judge's injunction against him, he said, was "overly broadly worded"
and amounted to prior restraint and violating rights of free speech and free association.
FCC WINS CASE AGAINST FRB
full story online at San Francisco Chronicle
In a key test of government authority over the rapid spread of tiny, unlicensed
radio stations, Berkeley's pirate radio operation, Free Radio Berkeley, surrendered
to a federal court order and went off the air.
But supporters may be planning to go back to the hills to resume the clandestine
broadcasts that started the station five years ago.
Ending a four-year legal battle that has drawn national media attention, U.S. District
Judge Claudia Wilken in Oakland issued a permanent injunction Tuesday barring Stephen
Dunifer and others who operate Free Radio Berkeley from broadcasting without a license.
The case was filed in 1994 by the Federal Communications Commission.
"You can shut off one radio station, but you can't shut off an idea whose time
has come. That idea is democratic grassroots media under the control of average community
people."
JUDGE BACKS FCC SHUTDOWN
full story online at LA Times
A federal judge allowed the government to shut down "Free Radio Berkeley,"
run by an unlicensed low-power broadcaster who has fought a five-year guerrilla war
against the way federal authorities regulate the airwaves.
U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken declined to rule on most of Stephen Dunifer's
free-speech challenges to FCC restrictions because Dunifer never applied for an FCC
license. She rejected Dunifer's argument that federal law fails to set standards
for the FCC's decisions on licensing so-called microbroadcasters.
RADIO STOCKS RULE
full story online at NY Post
Reports of the death of radio, to paraphrase Mark Twain, have been greatly exaggerated.
The truth is that radio has survived, and publicly traded radio stocks are thriving.
As other stocks are rocked by the Asian economic contagion, radio stocks have become
a safe haven for investors.
CHANCELLOR BUYS AD FIRM
full story online at CNNfn
Chancellor Media Corp., the second-largest radio broadcaster in the United States,
said it has agreed to acquire outdoor advertiser Martin Media L.P. for $610 million
in cash plus a working capital adjustment.
Martin Media, a privately-held company based in California, has more than 13,000
display faces in 29 markets and 12 states, ranking first or second in about 90 percent
of the markets it serves.
The company provides advertisers with outdoor advertising venues, including permanent
bulletins, rotary bulletins, and multi-sheet poster billboards.
(Chancellor also owns Katz Media Group and AMFM Radio Networks.)
CPB TO GET FINANCIAL BOOST?
full story online at Current
Public broadcasters loudly applauded a long-overdue Corporation for Public Broadcasting
(CPB) reauthorization bill after House telecom subcommittee Chairman W.J. Billy Tauzin
(R-La.) gave them their first details in a satellite hookup June 15, during the PBS
Annual Meeting.
Not only would the bill launch a blue-ribbon commission to recommend a long-range
funding mechanism for the field, but it proposes a nearly 60 percent increase in
the CPB appropriation already adopted for the year 2000, plus a temporary supplement
for the digital transition.
In exchange for the raise, public broadcasters would face a significant rollback
in the commercialization of underwriting credits -- the bill would immediately limit
underwriting credits to 10 seconds length and allow them to say only: "This
program sponsored in part by (name of underwriter)."
MERGERS: OMINOUS OR NOT?
full story online at CNNfn and CNET News
Wall Street's merger wave drew scrutiny from Congress as the nation's top antitrust
watchdog pointedly disagreed with the world's most powerful central banker.
With four of the five biggest deals of all time in play already this year, U.S. lawmakers
have begun a fact-finding mission to mull whether existing antitrust laws go far
enough.
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan questioned whether federal regulators should
exercise a "higher degree of humility" and not interfere with monopolies
that maintain dominance through cost efficiencies and low prices.
"By the measure of what benefits consumers, such enterprises should not be discouraged,"
Greenspan said during testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
But the remarks by the nation's central banker drew opposition from Justice Department
antitrust chief Joel Klein, who told reporters that "humility is not a prescription
for abdicating responsibilities."
"One example of an industry where there has been significant consolidation following
deregulation is radio," he said. "Many of these mergers did not raise significant
antitrust problems, but a significant number did cause us concern."
June 17, 1998
FREE RADIO BERKELEY SHUT DOWN!
FCC CLAIMS VICTORY!
full story online at Yahoo News and FRN
U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken on Tuesday enjoined Stephen Dunifer, founder
of an unlicensed radio station known as "Free Radio Berkeley," from making
any further broadcasts within the United States without obtaining a license from
the Federal Communications Commission.
The injunction in the closely watched case was a victory for the FCC, which has been
trying to silence Dunifer for four years. FCC Chairman William Kennard said the ruling
should put to rest any doubts about the FCC's authority to manage public airwaves.
"The permanent injunction ... and the FCC's success in the last two years in
shutting down over 200 pirate radio stations should send a message to all pirate
radio broadcasters: Obey the law -- and join the FCC in our efforts to expand the
legal uses of the public airwaves," Kennard said in a statement.
"I don't consider this to be a setback. It's only going to increase awareness
of what we're doing," Dunifer said in a telephone interview.
"I basically intend to redouble my efforts to bring this issue before as many
people as possible," Dunifer said. "It is my view that we have won this
issue in the court of public opinion."
Pirate radio operators, also known as micro-broadcasters, generally use one watt
to 95 watts of power to air their FM signals. The FCC will not license any station
below 100 watts, and it can cost more than $100,000 for a broadcast license for a
100-watt station.
Dunifer said he never applied for an FCC license, arguing that it have would been
futile because his 45-watt station fell below the FCC's 100-watt minimum.
It seems to be a shocking event -- Free Radio Berkeley and Stephen Dunifer silenced
by the FCC after more than 3 years of microbroadcasting and several court battles.
Many people in the movement look to Dunifer and FRB as the example to follow in low-power
radio and, indeed, he has made great contributions to the movement. But as he said,
he doesn't consider this a setback. Will this turn out to be the flashpoint that
gets even more people involved in microradio? The turning point in the struggle to
legalize low power broadcasting? This battle is far from over, so stay tuned and
WRITE THOSE LETTERS to the FCC!
BRANSON WARNS RADIO EXECS
full story online at Yahoo News
Richard Branson warned radio programmers that the consolidation of the industry
could further alienate listeners and that "programming has taken a back seat
to profits." He also chided the industry for preferring to "engulf and
devour rather than grow from within."
Branson, chairman of the Virgin Group of Cos., which encompasses V2 Records, Virgin
Atlantic Airways, Virgin MegaStores and Virgin Cola, made his remarks during a keynote
speech at the Radio & Records 1998 convention.
The enigmatic Branson also suggested that the fractionalization of radio, with its
numerous and narrow programming genres, is stifling creativity and preventing the
airing of a wide range of music.
"In these days of rampant consolidation ... and the attendant pressure to secure
market share, programming has taken a back seat to profits, which is a dangerous
direction in an era in which unique content is getting spread awfully thin,"
Branson said.
He urged radio programmers to be innovators, not duplicators, and create a brand,
as he has done with the Virgin name.
"You may be able to purchase a radio network for several hundred million dollars,
but you can't purchase loyalty," Branson said.
June 12, 1998
LPFM REPLY COMMENTS - MAKE THEM!
The deadline for filing reply-comments with the FCC on all LPFM petitions HAS
BEEN EXTENDED to Friday, July 24th, 1998. Get your comments in NOW if you didn't
file comments on the original petitions!
If you want really detailed information on most all of the comments filed on the
most recent Petitions for Rulemaking, head on over to Harold
Hallikainen's page. It is some interesting reading on both sides of the issue.
(Big thanks to Harold for creating this massive resource!)
FCC BIENNIAL REVIEW!
The FCC is currently reviewing ownership rules (the FCC has to review all it's policies
and such every two years) and comments are due by July 21, 1998. You can get additional
information at FreeRadio
or the FCC
Website.
Our suggestion: The 1996 Telecom Act was detrimental to radio. Change it! ARD will
publish a guide to filing comments on this issue very soon. Stay tuned.
PAY-FOR-PLAY SCAM PROBED BY FEDS
full story online at Canoe
full story online at San Jose Mercury News
Culminating a wide-ranging probe of corruption in the Latin music business, federal
agents began serving subpoenas Wednesday on several dozen record distributors and
radio stations suspected of taking cash to play records.
The "payola" investigation was launched seven months ago after lawyers
representing Fonovisa -- the dominant independent label in Latin music, which is
the fastest-growing segment of the record industry -- contacted the U.S. Justice
Department to report improprieties within their own radio-promotion department.
Radio airplay is the most powerful promotional tool for record companies. Many consumers
buy records solely because of what they hear on the radio, believing those songs
to be the best available. Federal law prohibits radio stations from taking money
for playing songs without telling listeners.
Federal agents have served subpoenas on about 18 wholesale record distributors and
20 radio stations they suspect are involved in a scam to play records for money,
the Los Angeles Times reported.
No one has been arrested, but law enforcement sources said some radio station employees
could face criminal charges for "payola," a misdemeanor, and tax evasion,
a felony.
Couriers allegedly visited radio stations and handed packages containing cash payments,
sometimes as much as $10,000 per month, to program directors who agreed to play specific
Fonovisa songs, Times sources said.
CBS COMPLETES ARS PURCHASE
full story online at Yahoo Business
CBS Corp. said it completed its acquisition of the radio broadcasting operations
of American Radio Systems Corp. for about $2.6 billion, including the assumption
of debt.
With the deal, CBS, the nation's largest radio company with stations predominantly
in the top 20 markets, bolsters its presence in the mid-tier markets. American Radio
has more than 90 radio stations in 19 predominantly top 50 markets, including several
major markets where CBS has existing radio and television stations. CBS expects the
radio station group to contribute more than 65 percent of the company's future operating
cash flow with the deal.
THE CBS / ARS RADIO SHUFFLE
full story online at San Jose Business Journal
full story online at Twin Cities Business Journal
full story online at MetroActive
full story online at MetroActive
The FCC last month gave the green light to CBS Corp.'s proposed acquisition of
American Radio System Corp. But what remains to be seen is how the San Jose-based
stations involved, including KUFX-FM and KSJO-FM, will come out of the buyout.......
....The Twin Cities radio chess game continues, with CBS Radio picking up KMJZ-FM
(104.1) and KSGS-AM (950) in a move that will give it greater clout in an increasingly
consolidated market....
....KOME is gone, for good. The call letters that have defined innovative music radio
in the South Bay for 28 years have vanished into the ether, perhaps to reappear in
some other CBS/Infinity radio station in a market far, far away.
KOME's owner, CBS/Infinity, bought its strongest competitor, KITS (Live 105), and
then performed a transplant, sending many of KOME's vital organs to Live 105, including
Howard Stern, the Loveline and much of KOME's management. It was as if CBS/Infinity
had Siamese twin stations and opted to sacrifice one to assure the health of the
other....
....The future of radio showed up at San Jose's doorstep last week when venerable
rock station KOME ended its quarter-century life, cut most of its talent loose and
moved its management team to San Francisco. This community's loss of a media innovator,
though, is a mere footnote in a massive radio industry consolidation unleashed by
Congress's passage of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. Despite the considerable attention
paid to its Internet "decency" provisions and telephone industry competition
issues, few noticed that the bill gutted longstanding restrictions on broadcast ownership
concentration by removing the limits on how many U.S. radio stations a single company
could own.
CAPSTAR WANTS TO BE RADIO WALMART
full story online at Yahoo Business
Radio station operator Capstar Broadcasting Corp. wants to become the "Wal-Mart
of middle-market radio" by targeting rapidly growing, mid-size U.S. markets
and consolidating its systems and operations, said interim chief operating officer
John Cullen.
The company said it has about a $1 billion acquisition pool to add stations to existing
markets and enter new markets. Private investment firm Hicks Muse Tate & Furst
currently owns 62.4 percent of outstanding Capstar common shares.
"We want to buy as many stations as the government will allow us to have,"
Cullen said.
The company highlighted its "Star System," which uses one disk jockey to
broadcast to as many as 10 radio stations in a region. The system cost $10.5 million
to build, but the costs have been paid back through cost savings.
Capstar currently owns and operates more than 300 radio stations in 75 middle markets
across the country. It's the largest owner of U.S. radio stations, based on station
count and one of the largest in terms of revenue and cash flow.
JACOR TRADES STATION
full story online at Akron Business Journal
Jacor Communications Inc. announced it will swap sports radio station WKNR (1220-AM)
for Capstar Broadcasting Corp.'s WTAE-AM station in Pittsburgh.
It is the latest in a series of radio station swaps that Jacor has made with other
companies in its effort to obtain government approval to buy Nationwide Communications
Inc. for $620 million. The Nationwide deal was announced in October.
WAR AGAINST ADVERTISING BLACKLISTING
full story online at Philadelphia Enquirer
Tom Joyner and Tavis Smiley have struck again.
They've taken on Katz Radio Group, a national media buying firm, over a memo that
insulted minorities. Last month, the New York Daily News reported that a high-level
official of Amcasts, a subsidiary of Katz, had sent out an internal memo encouraging
companies not to buy ads on black- or Latino-oriented radio stations. The memo read,
in part, that "advertisers should want prospects, not suspects."
Smiley, who gives commentaries on Joyner's morning show, heard on WDAS-FM (105.3),
lambasted the memo, and in his normally fiery tone, encouraged listeners to barrage
the New York-based Katz's offices with angry faxes, calls and e-mails, which greatly
hindered the company's ability to do business.
AMFM ACQUIRES GSN's PROGRAMMING
full story online at Yahoo Business
Chancellor Media announced that AMFM Radio Networks has acquired the syndicated
shows of Global Satellite Network's programming, noted for its leadership in Rock
syndication. AMFM, a division of Chancellor Media, assumes such Global programming
as Rockline along with other shows such as Reelin' in the Years, Modern Rock Live
and the concert series Live From the Pit. The acquisition of Global's programming
adds to AMFM Radio Networks' line-up that includes American Top 40 with Casey Kasem.
DIGITAL TV SQUELCHES LOW-POWER
full story online at LA Times
Hundreds of low-power TV stations, which compose an important core of the nation's
minority-owned media outlets, may be forced off the air later this year by the launching
of digital TV, a technology that offers super sharp pictures but consumes more airwaves.
The Federal Communication Commission is ordering the low-power stations, which have
carved out a niche with ethnic shows, local sports and other programs over the last
decade, to forfeit their frequencies to bigger stations for the new digital broadcasts.
"This is a spectrum grab by large companies, pure and simple," said Charles
Lore, general manager at low-power stations KNLA-TV Channel 68 and KNET-TV Channel
38 in Los Angeles.
WHAT'S LOCAL ABOUT LOCAL BROADCASTING?
fulll story online at Benton Foundation
What's local about local broadcasting? An analysis of a two-week period in late February
and early March finds that the answer is "not much." Broadcasters in five
markets chosen to represent conditions in small towns and big cities around the country
are providing almost no programming that addresses local issues in the communities
they serve. The numbers are staggering:
- In the five markets combined, 40 commercial broadcasters provided 13,250 total
hours of programming -- just 0.35% (46.5 hours) were devoted to local public affairs.
- In three markets -- Nashville, Tennessee, Spokane, Washington, and Bangor, Maine
-- not one commercial station aired any local public affairs programming.
- 35% of the stations surveyed provide no local news; 25% offer neither local public
affairs programming or local news.
- A total of two hours of local public affairs programming was available between
6:00pm and midnight, when viewership numbers are highest. Just two stations aired
any local public affairs during this time period.
A Joint Report of the Media Access Project and the Benton Foundation
|
Main Page
