June 2001

One Big Happy Channel?
Posted Wednesday, June 27, 2001 by glenn
Story Link: salon.com
The Telecommunications Reform Act handed over control of the radio airwaves to a chosen few. Will TV be next? (see story link for details)

Five years later nobody doubts that the law was indeed a landmark -- not only because congressional efforts to update the country's vast communications industries for the first time since the 1930s had themselves dragged on through the '80s and well into the '90s but also because the Telecom Act, as it became known, unleashed unprecedented deregulation and media consolidation, among the most pronounced in American history.

Senators Speak Out Against Consolidation
Posted Wednesday, June 20, 2001 by glenn
Story Link: Washington Post
Visit the story link to read the complete op-ed written by Senators Hollings and Dorgan

For decades, our communications policy has imposed sensible restrictions on media ownership to promote and preserve multiple, independent voices. Unfortunately, the rules that protect this diversity are under assault: from regulators, judges and from the industry itself. This despite the fact that the rules in question have encouraged the growth of locally relevant, independent programmers and distributors of media content.

The industry claims that the current ownership restrictions are outmoded because of the proliferation of new media outlets. This argument fails to note that these restrictions are not based on narrow antitrust notions of competition. Rather, they are grounded in principles -- the promotion of diversity and localism -- that must be considered distinctly from our nation's competition laws.

Counter 'Revolution'
Posted Tuesday, June 19, 2001 by glenn
Story Link: Village Voice

Feminist black performance artist Sarah Jones and less than-politically-correct white rapper Eminem aren't an obvious pair. But the Federal Communications Commission has censored both artists by recently issuing $7000 indecency fines to radio stations for playing their songs.

Ironically, Jones's "Your Revolution" makes a powerful statement against indecency—in particular, the sexual exploitation of women in popular music. The song, originally a poem, pulls no punches in making its feminist critique, taking direct aim at famous hip-hop songs by artists including LL Cool J and Notorious B.I.G. by quoting and then denouncing some of their macho lyrics. (see story link for details)

FCC Prepares for LPFM Study
Posted Thursday, June 14, 2001 by glenn
Story Link: R&R Online

The Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act of 2000 requires the commission to solicit bids from an "independent entity" that will study the impact of LPFM broadcasters in up to 10 markets. "This is not going to be an inexpensive process," acknowledges the FCC's Peter Doyle, who tells R&R ONLINE the agency is still developing the bid. "I just don't know how close we are to finishing it," he says. The process, which bypasses the FCC's own qualified engineering staff, will likely force the commission to appeal to legislators for additional funding to cover the cost of getting the contract.

The Campaign to Take Back Pacifica
Posted Thursday, June 14, 2001 by glenn
Story Link: Common Dreams

Denis Moynihan is an organizer with the campaign to take back Pacifica radio network from the forces of corporatism -- those who would sell off one or more of the five Pacifica stations for millions, or who would transform the stations so that they would be indistinguishable from the rest of the noise makers on the FM dial.

Judge Clears Way for LPFM Challenge
Posted Tuesday, June 12, 2001 by glenn
Story Link: R & R Online

Connecticut U.S. District Court Judge Warren Eginton ruled that Mark Blake and Loretta Spivey, who operate as "Prayze FM" in Hartford, may challenge the constitutionality of the Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act of 2000, which requires third-adjacent channel protection for established FM stations and severely limits the number of low-power FMs that the FCC can license. Blake and Spivey allege that the act violates the First and 14th Amendments because the requirements for third-adjacent channel protection are "not narrowly tailored to serve the substantial government interest" and because they have been barred from LPFM licensing by the FCC due to a previous charge of pirate broadcasting.

Viacom Calls for More Deregulation
Posted Tuesday, June 12, 2001 by glenn
Story Link: R & R Online

Viacom President (Mel Karmazin), speaking on a panel at the National Cable & Telecommunications Assn. convention in Chicago, said the FCC's restriction on the number of radio stations a company can own "seems to be silly in light of Internet radio." He reiterated his desire for the FCC to relax its TV rules and said Viacom "would absolutely love" to buy NBC from General Electric should the rules be loosened.

Major Downsizing at Clear Channel Internet Stations
Posted Monday, June 11, 2001 by glenn
Story Link: LA Radio People

Less than 24 hours after Clear Channel cleaned house of all djs at their prized WorldClassRock Internet station (formerly AAA KACD) last Thursday, the lay-offs started at the other Clear Channel stations, KNAC.com and Grooveradio.com. Given pink slips Friday afternoon were Mark Mendoza, production director and personality, and Eveready Ed, pure rock patrol director and on-air personality. Eveready Ed was with KNAC from 1989-95 and has been with the Internet version since the beginning three years ago. Mark has been a longtime LARP, working at “Pirate Radio,” KIIS, and KLOS, among other stations.

At Grooveradio.com, all employees but four were let go. Last month, Clear Channel closed down completely their Internet-only station, Luxuriamusic.com.

Clear Channel also shut down the Forum section of the WorldClassRock.com Web site. Apparently, they wanted to stop the rash of complaints. Some were very vicious.

Privatising the Airwaves
Posted Sunday, June 10, 2001 by glenn
Story Link: The Guardian
see story link for more details:

On February 7, 37 leading US economists signed a joint letter asking the federal communications commission (FCC) to allow broadcasters to lease spectrum they currently license from the government in secondary markets. The letter, which went virtually unnoticed by the general public, is the opening salvo in a radical plan to wrest control of the entire spectrumm from governments around the world, and make the radio frequencies a private preserve of global media giants. If they succeed, the nation state will have lost one of its last remaining vestiges of real power - the ability to regulate access to broadcast communications within its own geographic borders.

FCC Chairman to Rap with Rappers
Posted Sunday, June 10, 2001 by glenn
Story Link: Radio Business Report

According to a report in Variety, FCC Chairman Michael Powell (R) has agreed to meet with Hip-Hop Summit organizer Russell Simmons and a host of artists in the genre. The Summit is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday next week in New York.

Several members of Congress are also making the trip up I-95 from Washington, including James Clyburn (D-SC), Earl Hilliard (D-AK), Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and Maxine Waters (D-CA).

A topic of discussion sure to come up is the $7K fine which was assessed to KKMG-FM Pueblo for airing an edited-for-radio version of "The Real Slim Shady" by rap superstar Eminem.