FCC eliminates rule requiring a local presence for AM/FM/TV broadcasters
fcc.gov
fcc.gov
" When a train derailment in the middle of the night released a frightening cloud of anhydrous ammonia, Minot police sought to notify the citizenry of the crisis. They called KCJB, the station designated as the local emergency broadcaster, but no one was home; the station was being run by computer, automatically passing along Clear Channel programming from another city.
Clear Channel argues that only a technical glitch prevented word from getting through. But glitches aside, the six stations now have only one news employee among them."
Radio is key in disasters. Why do this?
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/press_box/20...
As much as we like to think we've got the technology thing figured out, your smartphone becomes a useless brick when the cell towers start melting. Don't take your infrastructure for granted.
One by one, with the exception of AT&T (salt water battery backups anyone?), the wireless networks and cable TV went down. When you've got your bags packed and you're ready to bug out, you tune in to the local radio station because the spotty overtaxed 4G and Satellite TV can deliver only so much relevant information.
Granted, the FCC does have a point in stating that this could allow small rural stations to stay on the air when they might otherwise go dark. But if you're just going to give me an ad-filled, OTA version of SomaFM (only with crappy, "one-size-fits-all" generic pop), maybe it's best to just let them go dark as an artifact of an earlier time. Some day kids can go on field trips to look at the equipment, which will be right next to the telegraph exhibit.
KQED took over two other local PBS broadcasters and now has 4 general-purpose TV channels (KQED, KQED+, KQED Life, KQED World), plus kids-only and Spanish channels.
Instead of adding diversity to programming, their programming is now less diverse. At times, they will have the same program on three of the four channels at once.
KRCB (Cotati) is the only remaining independent PBS station included in the local Comcast basics.
Personally I detest this and miss the flavor each city brought to its local media, instead of the same stations playing the same 30 songs repeatedly, but with phone music streaming becoming so popular I cannot see a lot of people being outraged by this.
I mean, what are the alternatives? If the station can't afford to keep staff around the clock then should they shut down the transmission at those times like in the old days?
These days most TV and radio stations are simply remote retransmission sites for Big Radio anyway, simulcasting a computer-selected assortment of anodyne crap into every market where they have a franchisee. Whether there's some poor sap at the reception desk or not doesn't change that.
Now if Pai really believed that FM radio is a public safety resource (cf his fatuous posturing about FM radios and mobile phones) then this order could have had a requirement that public safety officials be able to add warnings or even recruit a volunteer to take over the station temporarily.
But failing that, broadcast radio and TV are basically zombie media primarily aimed at a literally declining audience of old folks. There's nothing the FCC can do about that (except pander, when there's still profit and/or votes for the string-pullers).
> other than the first sentence which feels unnecessary
That comment is there for two reasons. First, in our hyper-polarized environment its easy for someone to assume that if I support something this FCC chair says I must be a hyper-partisan "alt-rightist" (and if I oppose I must be a "libtard"). I wanted to point out that regardless of what I might think about the current FCC's attitude to regulation and regulatory capture, we shouldn't assume from a knee-jerk point of view that everything suggested is wrong.
Second, I do think that about Pai. My comment about him is relatively sympathetic; I have worse to say about other members of the administration.