These are the news headlines as read on the March 4, 2005 edition of the mediageek radioshow: Sen. Ted Stevens, Broadcasters Want Indecency Enforced for Cable & Satellite; Illinois Anti-Muni Wireless Bill Dead for Now; Sinclair Asks Supremes to Review Ownership Reg.
Click MORE to read ’em.
My pal John Anderson was our guest on the show this past Friday again, since he’s been doing a lot of the digging into Calvary Chapel, Edgewater Broadcasting, their various associates/aliases and the exchange of FM translator station licenses.
The program is now posted for download, streaming and podcasting.
On the program, I neglected to mention that its the phenomenally thorough research of REC Networks that tipped John and I to what they call the “translator invasion.” I apologize for the oversight.
For those of you who haven’t been reading each post on this scandal, here’s a quick compendium on recent posts from DIYmedia.net and mediageek:
- DIYmedia – Moneychangers In the Temple
- DIYmedia –
God Squads Fall From Grace- DIYmedia – Religious Broadcasting As Franchise Operation
- mediageek – Something Fishy in Right-Wing-Christian-Translator-land, Grabbing Spectrum away from LPFM, Maybe Profiting from the Venture?
- mediageek – Calvary Chapel, LPFM and Plausible Deniability
- mediageek – Calvary Chapel: The Decentralized Christian Clear Channel
As John mentioned on today’s mediageek, here’s a link to a map of the Calvary Chapel of Ft. Lauderdale’s coverage map for their 100,000 watt blowtorch station and its translator repeaters.
The Boston Phoenix reports on CSN’s plan to erect a 20,000 watt completely unmanned satellite-driven station on the fringes of several college station’s signal:
If the syndicate is allowed to transmit its satellite feed, 20,000 watts strong, from a tower in Plymouth, it could muddle the signal of many lower-power stations — including Boston College’s student-run WZBC (90.3 FM) — for several hundred thousand listeners on the South Shore. It would also set a terrible precedent, allowing a nationwide broadcaster to take up valuable FM bandwidth with syndicated programming antithetical to the local spirit noncommercial radio is supposed to support.
Mitchell Szczepanczyk at Chicago IMC reports that the sponsor of an anti-municipal broadband bill in the Illinois legislature failed to enter it, likely due to lots of negative attention.
However, the war is not over yet:
Nevertheless, [there are] fears that the bill could still be in play in a “poison pill” maneuver, which would bury the bill in another “must-pass” bill and thus indirectly bring into law the municipal-internet-killing bill.
Always keep an eye on your state legislature and your local reps. It’s much easier to get a state legislator out of office than a US senator or congressperson, so you are more likely to get some response and action from them.