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May 21st, 1999
NAB, CPB, NPR DELAY LPFM AGAIN
Here's the notice from the FCC's Daily Digest:
CREATION OF A LOW POWER RADIO SERVICE. Granted 60-day extension of comment and
reply comment periods in the FCC's pending low power radio rulemaking proceeding.
Comments now due August 2; replies September 1. By Order (FCC 99-112) adopted
May 20 by the Commission. MM Docket 99-25.
May 11th, 1999
ACT NOW ON LPFM PROPOSAL
The deadline for comments from the public (that's you, dear reader) on
the FCC Proposal for Rule Making regarding the new low-power FM service is coming
up fast. The FCC needs to receive your comments by JUNE 1st. You can find out more
information on our LPFM page. If you already know what you
want to say, why not file electronically? Make sure you refer to DOCKET MM 99-25.
Do it here:
http://www.fcc.gov/e-file/ecfs.html
JUSTICE SUES RADIO GROUPS
full story online at SpokesmanReview
The owners of two Spokane radio groups were sued by the U.S Justice Department,
which alleges their combined 70 percent share of the advertising market violates
the Sherman Antitrust Act.
But under the terms of a companion settlement also filed with a U.S. District Court
in Washington, D.C., Citadel Communications Corp. and Capstar Broadcasting Corp.
will terminate a joint sales agreement that covers 44 percent of radio advertising
sales.
The agreement, in place since 1995, had allowed Citadel representatives to sell the
biggest share of radio advertising time in Spokane, according to the complaint.
Citadel set the prices, collected payments, deducted its expenses and divided profits
with Triathlon.
Triathlon, as a party to the agreement, had no incentive to compete with the joint
sales stations.
Advertisers couldn't shop around the combine, the complaint says.
PUBLIC RADIO AGAINST LPFM?
full story online at Current
[notice the quote in bold: straight out of NAB's kit to fight LPFM. see below.]
NPR is warning stations and the public that the FCC's proposed low-power FM service
could be a technological disaster.
What's at stake is "the ability to receive a radio station clearly," says
Jim Paluzzi, an NPR Board member and head of West Coast Public Radio. "This
is the most important issue facing public broadcasting in the last two decades."
The FCC in January proposed new rules that would allow hundreds and perhaps thousands
of low-power FM stations. It proposed licensing 1,000-watt and 100-watt stations
and sought comment on a third new microradio class, 1-10 watts. The deadline for
filing comments, recently postponed by the commission, is now June 1.
The effect of NPR's position is to ally NPR with big media--the powerful National
Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is unequivocally opposed to low-power FM--instead
of the free-speech and community groups calling for greater access to the airwaves
in the face of ever more concentrated media ownership.
FCC APPROVES RADIO DEAL
full story online at Yahoo News
The FCC approved Clear Channel Communications Inc.'s $3.8 billion acquisition
of Jacor Communications Inc., provided the companies sell 18 radio stations in four
cities to preserve competition.
The FCC's action mirrors an agreement between the companies and the Justice Department,
which cleared the deal.
The FCC also granted Clear Channel a temporary break from federal ownership rules
so that it may own TV and radio stations that serve the same markets.
Clear Channel, based in San Antonio, Texas, is the third-largest radio group
in the country based on number of stations; Jacor is second. As of March 1998, Clear
Channel operated more than 200 stations in 48 cities. Jacor, based in Covington,
Ky., operates 230 stations in 59 metropolitan areas.
RECENT PIRATE SHUTDOWNS BY FCC
gathered from the FCC Daily Digest
May 7, 1999
FCC CLOSES AN UNLICENSED RADIO STATION IN GRAND RAPIDS, MI. Report No: CI 99-21.
May 3, 1999
FCC SEIZES EQUIPMENT FROM HOUSTON UNLICENSED RADIO STATION. Report No: CI-99-18.
April 28, 1999
FCC CLOSES AN UNLICENSED RADIO STATION IN BROOKLYN, NEW YORK. Report No: CI-99-17.
BIG CITY BUYS FOUR IN ARIZONA
full story online at Yahoo Biz
Big City Radio, Inc. announced that it has made commitments to acquire four FM
radio stations in Phoenix, Arizona. All of these commitments are subject to finalization
of definitive agreements. Big City Radio intends to employ its unique Synchronized
Total Market Coverage (STMC) technology to combine these four signals into two stations,
each with full coverage of the Phoenix market.
CITADEL BUYS 10 STATIONS
full story online at Yahoo Biz
Citadel Communications Corporation announced that it has entered into definitive
agreements to acquire all of the outstanding stock of Fuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting
Companies, Inc., which, at closing, will own 10 radio stations clustered in Portland,
Maine and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Under the terms of the agreement, the total
consideration will be approximately $63.5 million, including the assumption of debt.
Citadel is a radio broadcasting company that, upon completion of pending transactions,
will own or operate 83 FM and 35 AM radio stations concentrated in 22 mid-sized markets.
INFINITY BUYS THREE STATIONS
full story online at Yahoo Biz
Infinity Broadcasting Corporation announced that it has completed its purchase
of WRBQ-FM and WSJT-FM in Tampa, Florida and WNCX-FM in Cleveland, Ohio, from Clear
Channel Broadcasting, Inc. for approximately $122.5 million in an asset transaction.
In Tampa, Infinity also owns three FM stations and an AM station. WNCX-FM will be
the company's first station in Cleveland.
Infinity Broadcasting Corporation operates more than 160 radio stations, as well
as TDI, the company's outdoor advertising business. Infinity also manages and holds
an equity position in Westwood One, Inc. Infinity Broadcasting Corporation is a subsidiary
of CBS Corporation, which owns approximately 80% of Infinity.
NAUTEL JOINS IN WITH USA DIGITAL RADIO
full story online at Excite News
USA Digital Radio Inc., a privately-held digital radio technology company owned
by the nation's largest radio broadcasters and headquartered in Columbia, Maryland,
and Nautel Limited, a transmission equipment manufacturer specializing in high power
solid state RF equipment and headquartered in Nova Scotia, announced that they have
signed a joint technology and marketing agreement designed to further the implementation
of digital radio.
Nautel and USA Digital Radio will work together to develop, test, and promote the
necessary In-Band On-Channel (IBOC) Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) transmission equipment
required for the radio broadcast industry.
REBELLION AT PACIFICA
full story at The Nation
One in five people in America lives within reach of the FM frequencies of the
Pacifica radio network, which consists of stations in Berkeley, Los Angeles, New
York, Washington and Houston. Indeed, the Los Angeles station, KPFK, has the strongest
signal of any FM station west of the Rockies. It's one of the last institutions of
even vaguely radical pretensions we have. So, for the past five years the core mandate
of Pacifica has been under attack by establishment liberals, who have silenced many
of the network's most original voices under brutish conditions that would delight
any corporate axman. Pacifica's bosses have imposed gags, brought in unionbusters
and jimmied the rules so its governing body of fourteen can preside over the $200-$300
million in Pacifica assets without accountability.
CONTROVERSY OVER RADIO PIRATES?
full story online at FoxMarketWire
full story online at Pioneer Planet
At a time when hundreds of radio stations nationwide try to operate without licenses
-- and as technology makes it easier to set up a station -- the government is looking
at ways to open the airwaves to more new voices. The FCC proposed in January issuing
very low-power licenses to help churches, schools and other community groups get
on the air legally.
Many Republicans and the National Association of Broadcasters actively oppose the
idea.
"We're very concerned that the FCC proposal may have the effect of legitimizing
pirates," the NAB's president, Edward Fritts, said Monday. The FCC has not decided
whether pirates who have refused to shut down would be eligible for the new licenses.
In addition, the NAB believes the stations' signals could interfere with FM stations.
Since 1997, the FCC has tracked down 430 pirate radio stations, ranging in power
from 1 watt to 800 watts.
"Many of them are just the average citizen wanting to serve their community,"
said the FCC's top point man on the issue, Richard Lee. "I was totally surprised."
ACTIVIST CAMPAIGN FOR INDIE PUBCASTING
full story online at Current
Leading media reformers of the progressive stripe are organizing a new group,
Citizens for Independent Public Broadcasting, to campaign for a public broadcasting
system beholden to neither politicians nor business.
CIPB is hiring an executive director and an associate director to open a Washington
office and recruiting a national advisory board that will include "recognizeable
names," says Jerold Starr, a member of the organizing committee. The group has
arranged funding, contingent on successful completion of its first steps, he told
Current.
Organizers include Jeff Cohen, executive director of Fairness and Accuracy in Media
(FAIR); Jack Willis, longtime public TV executive now associated with George Soros'
Open Society Institute; University of Wisconsin communications historian Robert McChesney;
William Hoynes, author of the 1994 book Public Television for Sale; and Starr,
a West Virginia University sociologist who has served as a leading critic of WQED,
Pittsburgh.
POLL: 8 in 10 SUPPORT PUB.BROADCAST LAW
full story online at Current
Seventy-nine percent of adults would favor a law requiring commercial broadcasters
to pay 5 percent of their revenues into a fund for public broadcasting, according
to a national poll released in January.
Results of the survey, commissioned by the Project on Media Ownership and the Benton
Foundation, indicate that Americans back much tougher requirements than the Gore
Commission, the advisory committee that gave its undramatic recommendations to the
White House.
They're not aware, however, that the FCC now gives broadcasters free use of TV channels,
the poll found. Fifty-two percent said broadcasters pay to use the airwaves; 29 percent
thought they use them for free, and 19 percent said they didn't know.
ALBANY BROADCASTING PICKS UP THREE
full story online at Albany Business Journal
Albany Broadcasting Co. Inc. agreed to purchase Peak Communications, owner of
two radio stations in Rutland, Vt. and one in Manchester, Vt., pending regulatory
approval. The purchase, terms of which were not disclosed, will bring [Albany's]
holdings to 13 radio stations.
TRANSMITTERS PASS IBOC DAB SIGNAL
full story online at Excite News
USA Digital Radio Inc. announced that five leading transmitter manufacturers successfully
passed AM and FM In-Band On-Channel (IBOC) waveforms through transmission equipment:
Broadcast Electronics, Inc., Energy-Onix Broadcast Equipment Co., Inc., Harris Corporation,
Nautel Limited, and QEI Corporation.
A significant milestone in IBOC Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) development, these
successful tests show that transmitter manufacturers have taken initial steps towards
equipment certification.
April 15th, 1999
NAB GEARING UP TO FIGHT LPFM MOVEMENT
Thanks to sympathetic sources, we have received a PDF file of the National Associations
of Broadcasters' "LPFM ACTION KIT" which instructs NAB members on how to
fight the Low Power FM movement. Interesting reading. It includes such items as:
an "argument sheet" for comments, a one-page "talking point sheet
for Members of Congress," and a sample editorial for NAB members to send to
their local papers! While there is much to pick apart (such as the "threat"
of establishing new stations) there is one line we'll have to agree with:
"This is the single biggest issue to hit the radio industry in the last few
decades."
NAB's LPFM Action Kit (PDF 657k)
FRB RETURNS TO AIR
FREE RADIO BERKELEY CELEBRATES 6TH ANNIVERSARY BY RETURNING TO THE AIR ON SUNDAY,
APRIL 11
Despite a Federal Court injunction against its founder Stephen Dunifer, Free Radio
Berkeley will return to the broadcast airwaves on Sunday, April 11 at 8 PM. Established
as a Free Speech voice, a direct challenge to FCC regulatory authority and as a means
to break the coporate stranglehold on the free flow of information, news and cultural
expression, Free Radio Berkeley will resume a daily broadcast schedule as soon as
circumstances permit. Citing compelling circumstances, former listeners and programmers
decided to re-establish this alternative voice for the community despite potential
legal and regulatory ramifications.
Even though the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is currently entertaining
the possible creation of some type of low power FM broadcasting service, its proposal
is severely flawed and faces incredible opposition from the National Association
of Broadcasters.
Speaking on behalf of Free Radio Berkeley, Paul Griffin stated, "We have been
silent for too long. The prospects of obtaining a license from the FCC at any time
in the near future are very remote. We are going back on the air because that is
what our listeners want us to do."
FCC TUNES IN PIRATES
full story online at Detroit News
Ron Goodsight admits to being a pirate, but he doesn't consider himself a criminal.
Goodsight, a 39-year-old electronics repairman, operated an illegal radio station
-- Living Free Radio -- from his Howell home for three years until federal officials
confiscated his equipment last month.
"As far as I was concerned, I wasn't doing anything wrong," said Goodsight,
who began broadcasting music out of his attic in 1997. "It wasn't like I was
trying to hide -- I used to broadcast my name and phone number on the air all the
time."
Goodsight said he'd like to operate a legal radio station, "but the law says
I can't. It's currently illegal to have low-power stations -- so if I wanted to run
a radio station, I had no choice but to do it underground."
That may change. The Federal Communications Commission in January proposed to license
low-watt FM stations and create one or more new classes of service in the existing
FM radio band. The FCC would allow 1,000-watt stations, which would service areas
within a radius of approximately 8.8 miles, and 100-watt stations, which would serve
3.5-mile radius areas.
A decision is expected in June.
CUMULUS BUYS 6 IN WISCONSIN
full story online at Excite News
Cumulus Media Inc. announced that it plans to enter the Eau Claire, Wisconsin
radio market through the purchase of four FMs and two AM radio stations. The Company
plans to purchase WQRB-FM, WATQ-FM, WBIZ-AM/FM and WMEQ-AM/FM from Phillips Broadcasting
for a total purchase price of $14.8 million. Cumulus will begin operating these stations
immediately under the terms of Local Marketing Agreement (LMA). "We believe
this acquisition will immediately add to shareholder value," said Richard Weening,
Cumulus Executive Chairman.
CUMULUS BUYS 5 IN KENTUCKY
full story online at CBS Marketwatch
Cumulus Media said that it's agreed to acquire five radio stations -- all serving
the Lexington, Ky.-area -- from privately held HMH Broadcasting for $44.5 million.
Cumulus will start operating the stations immediately under a local marketing agreement.
Cumulus owns or operates more than 200 stations in small and mid-sized U.S. markets.
Lexington is the nation's 107th-largest radio market, according to the Arbitron ratings
service.
JACOR BUYS PENNSYLVANIA STATION
full story online at Cincinnatti Business Journal
full story online at Deseret News
Jacor Communications will pay $800,000 to buy WBZY-AM from WBZY
Radio Sam of New Castle, Pa. The purchase is subject to approval by the Federal Communications
Commission.
SINCLAIR SELLS THREE STATIONS
full story online at Excite News
full story online at Baltimore Business Journal
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. announced that Barnstable Broadcasting, Inc. has
agreed to acquire for $23.7 million in cash radio stations WFOG-FM and WGH-AM/FM
serving the Norfolk, Virginia radio market.
April 5th, 1999
B-92 TAKEN OVER, SHUT DOWN
Please make yourself aware of the situation over in Yugoslavia.
Help B92.
March 26, 1999
YUGOSLAV GOV'T SHUTS DOWN B-92 AGAIN
full story online at ITN Online
full story online at CNN
B92, Yugoslavia's main independent radio station,
is using the Net to stay on air after having its radio transmitters shut down under
government emergency powers.
In an interview with ITN B92's Executive Producer Milivoje Chalija described the
dramatic moment the station was pulled off air and the efforts being made to keep
broadcasting over the Internet.
Chalija told ITN Online's Justine Powell that two Yugoslav government telecommunications
officers ordered the radio to stop broadcasting immediately.
"They marched into radio B-92's Belgrade studio at 3:00am and demanded we come
off air. The officers were backed by five uniformed inspectors and a police patrol.
It was very intimidating.
"They produced a signed paper, stating we were bared from transmitting. We were
given a reason - that B92 transmitters are more powerful than specified by the Government."
Asked whether this was just an excuse to prevent broadcast, Chalija said he believed
this to be the case as the station had not been informed of this fact in the past.
"But the real reason they had to shut us down is because we were informing
people about what is going on," he said.
The station editor-in-chief Veran Matic was arrested and taken to a Belgrade
police station for eight hours. His lawyer had been
given no explanation by police and was not allowed to see him.
You can visit Radio B92 online at www.b92.net
Also: http://www.siicom.com/odrazb/b92-live-feed.html
TAMPA COLLEGE STUDENT FINED $6,000
full story online at FCC.gov
University of South Florida student Andre Dominique Hunter has been given 30 days
to pay a FCC fine of $6,000 for unlicensed broadcasting. He was operating a station
from his dormitory room at USF. FCC agents informed Mr. Hunter that his unlicensed
operation was a violation of 47 U.S.C. 301, which prohibits operation of a radio
broadcast station without a license. In light of the violation, the agents warned
Mr. Hunter of the possible enforcement sanctions for his unlicensed operation, such
as assessing a monetary forfeiture, and offered him the option to voluntarily surrender
the illegal equipment. In response, Mr. Hunter stated that he would prefer to pay
a monetary fine from the FCC rather than voluntarily surrender the illegal equipment.
LUCENT TESTS DIGITAL RADIO
full story online at Excite News
The future of digital radio has just gotten a little clearer.
Lucent Digital Radio, a wholly-owned venture of Lucent Technologies, announced an
agreement to test its In-Band On-Channel (IBOC) Digital Audio Broadcast (DAB) system
with Nassau Broadcasting Partners, L.P.
These are the first tests of Lucent Digital Radio's IBOC DAB system with commercial
radio stations. The tests will be conducted in Nassau Broadcasting Partners' radio
facilities. Nassau Broadcasting Partners L.P. owns and/or operates 15 AM and FM stations
in New Jersey. It also owns and/or operates two stations in New York and two in Pennsylvania.
Lucent Digital Radio is developing its IBOC DAB system for consideration as a potential
digital radio standard in the United States. The Lucent Digital Radio tests will
evaluate several technical issues associated with digital radio, including interference,
range of signal, and audio quality.
In the tests with Nassau's stations, Lucent Digital Radio will evaluate its Multi-Streaming
technology, which is expected to provide high-quality digital audio reception over
a coverage area equal to that of current analog FM stations.
KUMT REPLACED
full story online at Deseret News
The adult rock music of Salt Lake's KUMT ("The Mountain,"
FM-105.7) disappeared over the weekend and was replaced by 1970s pop music and a
name change ó KCPX.
As of Saturday, all KUMT DJs were fired except for Trish Griffith, who will remain
as an evening personality. The station's new call letters are the same ones that
were used by a Salt Lake AM station popular during the 1970s.
SUNBURST MEDIA GROWING
full story online at Dallas Business Journal
Sunburst Media snaps up more than a dozen radio stations in three years, becoming
a broadcast company to be reckoned with.
A Dallas broadcasting company wants to top a period of rapid growth by grabbing at
least two radio stations in the Dallas Metroplex.
Sunburst Media L.P. recently closed an $18.5 million deal for KRJT-FM (100.7), a
defunct country music station in Bowie that Sunburst is relicensing in Highland Village,
said John Borders, Sunburst's president, director and founding shareholder.
The new KRJT will most likely feature Hispanic programming, and has been upgraded
to a "high-power" radio station with 100,000 watts, he said. It will hit
Metroplex airwaves later this year.
But the transaction that has tongues wagging in the radio industry is Sunburst's
bid for what's considered the leading contemporary Christian station nationwide:
KLTY-FM ("The Light" 94.1).
Sunburst will pay longtime owner Marcos Rodriguez $63.3 million for the Irving station
-- a price representing the second-largest sale of a single radio station in Dallas-Fort
Worth, experts say.
March 19, 1999
NAB DELAYS ONCE AGAIN!
The National Association of Broadcasters has once again succeeded in delaying
FCC actions for their own purposes. Under the guise of a "receiver study"
yet to be conducted, they have pushed back the initial comment and reply comment
periods on Docket 99-25 (Low Power FM Radio). The
comment period deadline is now June 1, 1999 and the reply comment period is now July
1, 1999.
Tell them how you feel about
this.
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