This morning's 9:00 hour News Pile contained a story with the lead in : "Today's lesson: Don't cross Christian broadcasting."
Maynard High School's radio frequency, 91.7 FM, is being seized by a network of Christian broadcasting stations that the Federal Communications Commission has ruled is a better use of the public airwaves.
The story inspired Toucher to (correctly) criticize the FCC and argue that this decision was an example of the FCC " buckl[ing] to Christian conservatives." Yet ironically (and probably unbeknownst to Toucher) a similar phenomenon has been happening in our own back yard. In this case, the FCC was buckling to a "conservative company" with political influence.
On FredToucher.com(registration required) a poster by the screen name of TDOGG related the following story:
My brother is the Chief Engineer at Southern Poly Tech's radio station (WGHR) in Marietta, GA.
...
Their frequency got pulled by....and get this...Q100, [99X's] partner station. Q100 claimed that my brother's station was bleeding over their frequency...honestly, you couldn't hear his station OFF-CAMPUS. They have a pic of them with a portable radio NEXT TO THE WGHR antenna...tuned into Q100 and there was no bleed through. But because Q100 is a [class C (commercial)] and WGHR is a [class D (non-profit)], Q100 had the ability to protest...and shockingly, Q100 won and their frequency was pulled!
...And in a subsquent post...
[A] LARGE corp bumped off a SMALL college radio station. This LARGE corp happens to be a sister station of 99x and the SMALL college station is actually in the ATL area. I was curious if the change in these variables changes Toucher's point of view, since the 'bully', in this scenario, signs his checks.
The details of this are chronicled on the WGHR website and wikipedia.
Interestingly, Q100 announced that it will be "upping its power at 5:15 p.m. Friday [October 21, 2005]."
Ultimately, the airwaves are owned by the pubic, and any influence which causes the FCC to act in any way, other than in the public interest is undue. Thanks to TDOGG, proprietor of www.stopstickers.com, for his contribution to this story.
Updated on 10/20/2005 11:24am to correct punctuation, to add wikipedia link, and to add Radio Talk link.
Updated on 10/20/2005 12:06pm to correct and amplify TDOGG quote regarding FCC License Classes.
