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artmorris
Administrator
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Posted: Fri Feb 29th, 2008 06:46 pm |
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Got this in my email yesterday.
http://www.savechristianradio.com/SCRsite_printable.pdf
FCC docket 04-233 has to do with re-regulating certain aspects of broadcasting, including the follow areas.
(1) Main studio must be in city of license.
(2) Studios must be manned whenever station is on the air.
(3) Public input must be sought on ways the station can serve the community.
The religious radio community is up in arms, since they have hundreds of stations that operate unmanned 24/7.
Most small market stations are opposed to it, because they'd have to man their studios overnight.
Most station owners are opposed to requiring a manned main studio in the city of license.
If these were implemented, it would be a quantum shift in how stations are operated. It would be the biggest change, in my mind, since the 80-90 docket allowed hundreds of new FM stations on the dial.
I'm on the fence on these proposals. How about you?
Art
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Turner the burner
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Posted: Fri Feb 29th, 2008 07:03 pm |
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| I like the idea, it could be a step in the right direction. Some regulation is needed in certain fields and I feel that broadcasting is one of those fields were regulation should be required, maybe then ownership will once again become diverse and local needs of the community will once again be met.
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J ROBERTS
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Posted: Sun Mar 2nd, 2008 03:40 am |
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I like the idea, it may put a financial burden on some stations, but the present city of license makes no sense at all,over half Joplin and Springfield stations have another city of license.
They should be required to at least serve their city license with special programing or get rid of the city of license requirement cause that means nothing..2 Zimmer stations here are in Webb City, 3 community radio stations are in Kansas, other in Neosho but studio all in Hoplin.
I believe most companies will oppose it especially if they have to have a main studio there., but I think some programing should at least be required local news from city of license,community news, etc. As far as a requirement someone should be in studio at all times.I understand a city in North Dakota had a tornado warning years ago , no local station aired it cause no one was there.
In Wichita Falls TX a city over 100,000 they lost 2 of their 3 AM stations 620 and 990 that moved to the Dallas metroploiton area..Sure a station can make more money in a big metroplitan area but a city of over 100,000 deserves more than one AM station..In Musogee OK 50 miles from Tulsa both FM stations moved closer to Tulsa also studio 97.1 and 106.9. Muskogee is about 50,000 population.
J Roberts
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Bud Janes
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Posted: Sun Mar 2nd, 2008 01:43 pm |
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Art:
I know longer have a dog in the fight, but consider:
Thousands of stations are set up under current rules, that were set up by the FCC.
This includes thousands of owners including the largest owners in large markets.
Any attempt to "change back" will be met by lots of law suits which the FCC will lose. I think the term is "arbitrary."
The FCC would be wise to stop whining about rule changes that were made in the past.
Station owners must work with the FCC and find ways to better serve the communities while they still have a business to change. Certainly automation will be part of the solution, but good old fashion service must be improved in many cases.
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Micheal Dickens
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Posted: Sun Mar 2nd, 2008 11:18 pm |
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I don't have a din og in the race either, but would love to have one.
I'm on the fence about the city of license thing, esecially like the Webb City example given earlier. Because I was out ridin' around one day with a friend here in Joplin and I didn't recognize where we were so I said "Where the heck are we?" and she said Webb City. I couldn't even tell that we had left Joplin!
I think that owners will fight station's having to be manned when the station is on, but I think it's a great idea as we all know of instances of bad weather going through a region and the residents didn't know anything about it because of the station being automated. So if this rule does stick we may go back to "the olden days" back in the 80's when stations signed off at Midnight.
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Ace
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Posted: Mon Mar 3rd, 2008 01:26 am |
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Manning every stick 24/7 is an unrealistic expectation now, and the FCC has only theirselves to blame - they are the ones who made the rules.
I hate the mega-corps as much as anybody, but they have set their entire budgets upon the de-regulation act.
To change it back now and require every stick to have a poor human chained to it 24/7, is so very unrealistic. And the software has come a very long way.
More accountability (as in logged hours per month), for local news and weather, might be a better start.
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Mr Mike
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Posted: Tue Mar 4th, 2008 12:38 am |
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| Stations will go dark for good, or get so cheap anyone can buy one That may or may not be a good thing. Last edited on Tue Mar 4th, 2008 12:40 am by Mr Mike
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Desdinova the Super Villain of the Ozark
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Posted: Tue Mar 4th, 2008 04:04 am |
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Mr Mike wrote: Stations will go dark for good, or get so cheap anyone can buy one That may or may not be a good thing.
Anyone? Anyone? Who are you afraid will own one? Me. As a person who grew up in a small town, I think I would make the perfect person.
(3) Public input must be sought on ways the station can serve the community.
I'll get a group of high school kids for public input. No Businessmen. No City Councilmen. No ministers. Just high school kids, but no jocks, preppies, Bubbas or kids who are mouth pieces for their parents. I'll get really high school kids. The Emos, the Goths, the Gangbangers, the wanna bes, the nerds, the average kids and cheerleaders (Desdinova has to have someone to look at).
Soon small town radio will be filled with the stuff young people like: hip-hop, punk, metal, trance and alternative. No more country, bluegrass, Bubba talk call-in shows, garage sale programs, death notice shows and NO MORE PAUL HARVEY!
NOTHING CAN STOP ME! I have an award to back me up. Mwu-HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!
Last edited on Tue Mar 4th, 2008 06:00 am by Desdinova the Super Villain of the Ozark
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XGM
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Posted: Tue Mar 4th, 2008 04:30 pm |
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The problems of the day go right back to the FCC and their idea to allow too many stations. In virtually any other business...gas station, restaurant, etc. If there are too many, some go broke and turn that building into some other type of business. Radio should like wise...if a station can't make it on their own, should go broke and out of business, off the air permanently. the FCC allowed too many stations in the first place. Proping them up by automating, voice tracking, no news, no local presence as all...is wrong. There is no way to SUPER SERVE THE LISTENER by cutting, cutting and cutting some more. Put the station out of it's misery and off the air.
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J ROBERTS
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Posted: Tue Mar 4th, 2008 09:33 pm |
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XGM you hit the nail on the head, I have been saying that for a long time..No one knows that better than you and your experiance in radio. I also think HD Radio is a waste of money in mist cases...
All these problemsthe FCC is to blame which is ruining radio as it was..Now stations are paying for it..
The city of license requirement is not for what it was intended .either.
I have your cell phone number I would like to talk to you sometime
J Roberts
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DougSki
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Posted: Wed Mar 5th, 2008 02:37 am |
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The focus seems to be on small market radio being against this, but I would argue that syndicators would like to have a word on this. As if local stations are required 24 hours a day 7 days a week to man the station, then there would not be as much need for syndicated shows or satellite shows. I could see that easily being the case for music stations. The upside would be local cities would be serviced 24 hours, however I do have to say that automation has come a long way and there are ways stations can get that weather coverage mentioned without having a person in studio 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
Our competitors in town close up shop at 6 or 7pm at the latest and don't come back until 5am. We at least have somebody in house until midnight, with meteorologists updating in the overnight.
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Buddy Dornster
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Posted: Wed Mar 5th, 2008 01:41 pm |
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Time to chime in on this Docket. I had to probe the deep recesses of the brain to bring back how things once were.
(1) Main studio must be in city of license.
Interesting thought, but this was tried in the 1970’s, and was withdrawn by the FCC after NAB and several ad hoc organizations actually filed suit. The name of the game later became “unfunded mandate.” The idea behind the suit was that if the government was going to force stations to actually locate within the city limits of their community of license, they’d have to pay for microwaves (digital phone lines, good STL’s and other signal delivery methods were not available then. Remote controls were for dedicated phone loops, which were expensive and unreliable in small markets).
I was working for Jay Smith at KBTC/KSCM at the time, and it was one of the few things that really got him visibly upset.
The effect today would be to break up the multi city groups, from Clear, Journal and Family, to Markafka, Zimmer and Community.
It would also depend what was meant by “studio,” which leads to….
(2) Studios must be manned whenever station is on the air.
The definition of “manned” has been arbitrary with the FCC. Indeed, the definition has been left to the individual districts. Kansas City region maintains that one and a half persons must be on duty during regular business hours. I have worked with several “half” people during my career, but most are gone now. We’d have to recruit a whole new crop.
So, let’s suppose we extend the 1 & 1/2 standard applied to 24/7 stations, combined with the in city limit requirement. I see tons of stations consolidating with the local convenience store, and just enough training to turn off the transmitter in an emergency, or log an EAS alert that came in at 1:15 AM.
Alternatively, this could be good for brining up some talent. Small markets would have to leave their automation behind; after all, why have expensive satellite programming if you have to “man” the station. Let the kid run the show. THAT would be a GOOD thing, right Martha? Granted, the station would sign off immediately following the last paid spot, but that, too, can be good.
(3) Public input must be sought on ways the station can serve the community.
This is the only proposal that has legs. While a pain to do, community ascertainment should be required. Not just because I can make money teaching stations how to do this, or that I can contract to perform the studies on their behalf (see my post under administrative, “Ready to help”), but that stations can make a real difference by paying attention to their community. Why else would LPFM be taking off in non-commercial form? Look at the guys in Ava. They’re not getting rich by any means, but they have hold of that communities’ audience like none other in the area. They do it by serving the people, not pandering to the latest consultant rage.
If this can be implemented WITHOUT having to share the saddle with the Fairness Doctrine, it could fly.
An adjunct to this should be to return to the operator license requirement. Having to take a test and maintain even a 3rd phone kept many less than deserving persons from being on the air. I would rather the local SBE administer the test than to have people trek to Kansas City, and would further set qualifications.
So there. Have some coffee………
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Turner the burner
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Posted: Sat Mar 8th, 2008 11:45 am |
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Mr Mike wrote: Stations will go dark for good, or get so cheap anyone can buy one That may or may not be a good thing.
(How about that, Mr Mike actually posted something in his own words instead of someone else's.)
The jobless rate raises but still corporate exec's rake in record salaries and bonuses and radio stations in recent years have sold at exhorted prices and ownership wants to cut the expenses by eliminating the salaries of most of the people who try to make a living in the industry, so they can make the mortgage payments of the properties that they overpaid for. Is it good for the country to have a few people (owners & management) making big bucks and bonuses or to spread the wealth and employ people? It is rough for people to make a living in radio these days and to me it goes back to corporate greed and poor judgement in overpaying for radio properties. Radio people could earn a respectable wage and make a living in the business prior to deregulation. As for the dreaded Fairness Doctrine, I worked under it for years and never found it evil or difficult to deal with. It might not be needed if there was a variety of ownership but now ownership is controlled by a few and most with the same mindset of corporate big business and they want even more control of the airways by owning more station and controlling the content to suit their agenda...excuse my soapbox.
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Mr Mike
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Posted: Sat Mar 8th, 2008 07:25 pm |
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Turner the burner wrote:
The jobless rate raises but still corporate exec's rake in record salaries and bonuses and radio stations in recent years have sold at exhorted prices and ownership wants to cut the expenses by eliminating the salaries of most of the people who try to make a living in the industry, so they can make the mortgage payments of the properties that they overpaid for. Is it good for the country to have a few people (owners & management) making big bucks and bonuses or to spread the wealth and employ people? It is rough for people to make a living in radio these days and to me it goes back to corporate greed and poor judgement in overpaying for radio properties. Radio people could earn a respectable wage and make a living in the business prior to deregulation. As for the dreaded Fairness Doctrine, I worked under it for years and never found it evil or difficult to deal with. It might not be needed if there was a variety of ownership but now ownership is controlled by a few and most with the same mindset of corporate big business and they want even more control of the airways by owning more station and controlling the content to suit their agenda...excuse my soapbox.
YOU ARE THE MAN THANK YOU!Attachment: stalin.jpg (Downloaded 30 times)
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AdamWest
Member
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Posted: Sat Mar 8th, 2008 08:18 pm |
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Turner the burner wrote: (How about that, Mr Mike actually posted something in his own words instead of someone else's.)
Rick, don't get too excited it was a mere sentence and a short one at that.
Personally, I am good with the proposal and ready to pick up a few signals on the cheap should owners be required to staff 24/7 and maintain studio in city of license. What would that do to Midwest or CC in Springfield? I believe all of their signals are licensed outside of the city sans AM1400.
I've always thought that your proposal on hosting a program that educates and offers practical on-air experience for a small tuition fee is a good one. It's like the southwest school of broadcasting on steroids and with a signal. Imagine a staff that pays to be on the air...oh wait, I did that already.
Bring on some regulation and stop the under-served over-signalled madness.
Adam
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