Just two months ago it seemed like the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was taking a break in its enforcement efforts against unlicensed broadcasting.
That break is now over.
Since July, agents with the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau (EB) have definitely been busy in the field, doubling their number of station busts for the year in the course of a scant 60 days. Continue reading “The FCC Awakens”
Month: September 2001
A Modest Proposal
As the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) grinds forward with its implementation of a minuscule low power FM (LPFM) community radio service, media activists around America are looking at new ways to further the gains they’ve made in opening access to the airwaves.
The FCC tried to acknowledge pressure from unlicensed microbroadcasters as a reason for attempting to widely legalize LPFM, but these so-called “pirates” were eventually cut out of the new opportunities through lobbying by the radio industry and National Public Radio.
That spurred many stations to redouble their broadcast efforts and brought new blood into the unlicensed microbroadcasting scene. For example, recently-visited free radio station KBFR – Boulder Free Radio – in Boulder, Colorado was originally run by applicants for an LPFM license. They decided to buck the law only after Congress stepped in and killed potential LPFM stations in America’s cities, including Boulder. Continue reading “A Modest Proposal”