Month: June 2004
-
Mikey Powell Might Step Down, This Can Only Improve the FCC
Chairman Powell’s future at the FCC is primarily dependent on November’s election — if Kerry wins, he’ll appoint a Democrat as FCC chair, and Powell most certainly won’t stay on for that. However, the LA Times speculates that Powell may be preparing a post-election exit, regardless of outcome. Apparently, major telecomm lobbyists share this prediction,…
-
Summary of Court Decision Against FCC Onwership Rules
The Media Access Project is the public interest law firm that represented Prometheus in their suit against the FCC. They’ve posted a useful summary of the Court’s decision in PDF format on a page with links to their statement, the full text of the decision and various press accounts. As the summary makes clear, the…
-
The FCC “Driven More by Marketplace Ideology than by… Communications Laws”
Salon’s Eric Boehlert, one of the best journalists working the media beat for a mainstream outlet, reports on the Court’s decision on the FCC’s ownership rules. A choice tidbit: “The court’s finding on Thursday highlights what critics had been suggesting all along: that the FCC failed to do its legal homework — and therefore the…
-
More on the FCC Court Decision: Prometheus’ Press Release & Link to the Decision Itself
Looks like I have some fun reading ahead of me tonight, since I’ll want to be able to comment cogently on this decision on tomorrow’s radioshow. In the interim, you can read the court decision yourself — the Media Access Project has a pdf of it hosted on their site (warning: it’s 218 pages). Prometheus…
-
Court Overturns FCC’s Loosened Media Rules, Sends Them Back for Review
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals today overturned the FCC’s loosened media rules, ordering the FCC to take a second shot at it. According to a post at Reclaim the Media: Andrew Jay Schwartzman, President and CEO of the Media Access Project, and lead counsel for the citizens groups in Promtheus Radio Project v. FCC,…
-
Amp for iTrip Transmitter? Boost Your Signal, But Also Boost Your Noise. Be Safe and Do It Right.
Boing Boing points to a design for a tiny amplifier to boost the signal of the iTrip personal FM transmitter, which is the older brother to the iTrip Mini, blogged about yesterday as hackable to do short-range “pirate” broadcasting. One of the basic problems with boosting the signals of these mini FM transmitters is that…
-
National Summit On Community Wireless Happening August in Urbana
From their press release: The Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network (CUWiN), Prairienet, and Free Press invite you to join us for a national Community Wireless Networking Summit August 20-22, 2004 in Urbana, IL. “Making the Connection: The 2004 National Summit for Community Wireless Networks” will focus on grassroots action, impacting national regulations and policies, and building…
-
iPirate
Gadget blog Engadget posted that they were able to extend the range of their iTrip mini FM transmitter for the iPod Mini, along with instructions. Essentially what they did is open up the iTrip to get to the internal antenna and get it outside the case. I’ve often told people that these little personal-type FM…
-
Congressional Push to Restore LPFM
Free Press is running a campaign to restore LPFM by pressuring Congress to pass McCain’s pro-LPFM legislatin. They have an on-line petition and contact info for your Congresscritters. Despite my disdain for lobby politics, I reckon this is worth doing, especially since only the NAB at this point is going to actively oppose LPFM. A…
-
There’s a New Public Radio Exchange for Programming, but a Superior Grassroots Exchange Pioneered the Concept 8 Years Ago
Slashdot takes note of the relatively new Public Radio Exchange, which provides an on-line sharing resource between radio producers and stations. While not a bad idea, this is public broadcasting, so participation is not free–producers pay $50 – $150 a year, and stations, obviously, pay more. The up side is that producers can get paid…