Indecency resurfaces at the FCC
After taking a long break from making any indecency rulings, the FCC fined ABC networks $1.4 million for broadcasting images of an actress' butt in 2003. This is a curious move, considering that the commission's indecency policies been under scrutiny by the courts. Last year, a federal appeals court decided that the FCC's ever-morphing indecency standards were too nebulous, shooting down some of their rulings on fleeting expletives. As a nice little contrast, public TV stations in the Netherlands are planning to air Deep Throat, with a green light from the country's media minister.
Meanwhile, the FCC is making enemies in the cable industry as they plot out a way to force cable providers into offering a la carte programming. On the radio side of things, Prometheus Radio will convene in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 25 and 26, hoping to convince Congress to expand LPFM.
More on the fire at KOOP
Community radio station KOOP in Austin, TX was set on fire last month, and investigators have now tied the blaze to an arsonist DJ. Paul Feinstein poured gasoline over KOOP's equipment and set the station ablaze following an incident in which the music he had selected for the station's web-only programming was changed. (Freeform or burn?) The arson charges certainly bring new meaning to Feinstein's radio program, which was called "Mellow Down Easy."
Danger for CKMS in Waterloo, Ontario
30-year-old college and community station CKMS is in danger of losing funding thanks to a referendum on the student ballot. Some students are feeling alienated from CKMS, which is the oldest campus station in Canada. Voting ends on 2/14, and the station's fate will be assessed.
As usual, the RIAA has been making inflammatory claims again...
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