Rumor-Rama at the FCC
The official rumor states that Robert McDowell, a lobbyist for Comptel (representing small telephone carriers), will fill the final empty republican seat on the commission. The FCC hasn't been a full commission since Michael Powell resigned last March. We don't know much about McDowell's positions or views, but we do know that Comptel also employs Earl Comstock, who was once in the running for a seat on the commission thanks to his buddy, Senator Ted Stevens. You may remember Stevens in such roles as: the gent responsible for various indecency hearings on the hill, the champion of the $500k-a-curse Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act (BDEA), the leader in the fight to regulate indecency on cable and satellite TV, and the flagger of digital broadcast media. Stevens seemed a teensy bit reluctant in throwing his full support towards McDowell's supposed-nomination, which makes us wonder if perhaps McDowell doesn't share all of Stevens' convictions.
In other FCC-related gossip, it appears that 2006 will not mirror 2005 as a fineless year: the enforcement bureau is currently processing their huge backlog of broadcast TV and radio indecency complaints.
Caller Dies On-Air
Last month, a man who regularly phoned in to a radio talk show in Liverpool died while speaking on-air.
The program's host was concerned when the line went dead and notified the police, but when they failed to check on the man, the host abandoned his show and drove out to the caller's house.
Satellite Pirates Broadcast Stern
Illegal broadcasts of Howard Stern's filth-laden satellite radio program cropped up in various locations and frequencies in the greater NY area during the first week of his switch to Sirius.
Omnipresent Rat
Commercial rock station WRAT ("The Rat") in Lake Como, NJ, is the source of interference problems with their newest neighbors, the Lake Como borough council offices. Recent city meetings include a backdrop of the station's audio, which carries over the council's wireless microphones and speakers. Prolonged exposure to Creed and Aerosmith, incidentally, has inspired a few Lake Como council members to sport chain wallets and long, frilly scarves at work.
Other radio-related headlines from the past month that you may have missed:
- You catch the pearl and ride the dragon's wings... through the Professor's AM radio adventures: Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7.
- Read about WCBN's amazing audio collagier Ed Special in this post, and grab some MP3s while you're there.
- Check out the list of naughties Ken dug up on the FCC's website! All hail our country's pillar of decency.
- Right-wing radio host Glenn Beck helps CNN get an edge on ratings over Fox News
- You want to know what's up with this broadcast flag nonsense? I'll tell you what's up with this broadcast flag nonsense.
I think I know what the Howard Stern thing was about, though I could be wrong. I'm a fan of Opie and Anthony on XM Radio, and for a while O&A fans that also had Sirius radio were re-broadcasting it so other O&A fans could listen in and prepare for attacks on Scott Farrell's short-lived show (his show on Stern's channel was cancelled two days after O&A fans started barraging his show with calls).
Posted by: Kendall | March 18, 2006 at 09:07 PM
Oh, and the article says that Sirius didn't acknowledge any piracy or even know about it, but Sirius lawyers did send a cease and desist to the people doing it. I guess they just didn't want the media knowing that their signal was being pirated by a rival.
Posted by: Kendall | March 19, 2006 at 02:33 PM