Want a radio station without having to go through the bothersome process of applying and bidding for the license? Critics will doubtless charge that the Federal Communications Commission let that happen last week. The agency rejected challenges to several Idaho outlets in which the objectors warn that the winning bidder won't really run them; instead, a company linked to Clear Channel Communications that loaned the full price of the signal to the "buyer" will enjoy actual control.

The Commission also turned down an appeal suggesting that the agency awarded a major modification grant to an Oklahoma station overseen, for all practical purposes, by Clear Channel. The FCC's dismissals drew ire from Michael Copps, the Commission's senior Democrat. "These cases seem to have an air of unreality about them," Copps declared in a public statement.

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The Federal Communications Commission is looking for a bidder to provide free broadband service in the 1.9 GHz-2.1 GHz bands, agency Chair Kevin Martin told reporters on Friday. The data will have to download at a minimum of 768 kilobits, Martin said, provided at a "pretty aggressive" build out schedule: Half the United States population must be able to access it after four years, and 95% by the time the license comes up for renewal. The agency will pony up about 25 Megahertz of spectrum for this in an Advanced Wireless Services auction (AWS-3)—details to be disclosed in a Report and Order unveiled at the Commission's Open Meeting scheduled for June 12th.

There will be one more requirement for the service. A spokesperson for the Commission has told Ars that the FCC wants it to include "content filters." For what? We asked. More

It is late May. KPFA in Berkeley, America's first listener supported radio station, is running its Spring listener marathon. So, of course, it is time for the Berkeley Daily Planet to run an op-ed piece denouncing the signal.

"If there was more excitement on the air, live or current speeches, and the news wasn't straight off the AP wire," writes former KPFA board member Richard Phelps, " . . . and the listeners felt that their concerns mattered, I know I would donate much more and I believe lots of others would also. KPFA could be so much better with progressive management that puts the mission first!"

Phelps complains that during station marathons KPFA doesn't broadcast the entirety of talks by popular speakers like Michael Eric Dyson. "I have no problem with selling the speeches and programs as long as they play them for all to hear," he writes. "The corporate media has a political wall to stop progressive speeches, programs and culture from getting to the people. KPFA has a glass sound barrier, stopping those that don't have the money from hearing these important speeches and programs."

The nation's biggest electronics retailer has told the Federal Communications Commission that the agency lacks the authority to punish Best Buy for screwing up its digital transition TV selling rules.

"The Commission never before has claimed, asserted, or exercised direct or ancillary jurisdiction over retailers, or retail practices, of the nature that is asserted" by the FCC, Best Buy attorneys say. And the appliance giant charges that the Commission's recent Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL) holds the company to "a standard of flawless compliance." That's especially unfair, Best Buy complains, given that the FCC's NAL also contains mistakes.

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She was thirteen years old and thought that she was having a MySpace online romance with a sixteen-year-old boy named "Josh Evans." Four weeks later, "Josh" broke off correspondence, allegedly telling the girl that the world would be a better place without her. In response, she hung herself and died a day later.

Now the Department of Justice says that "Josh" was really Lori Drew, 49, of O'Fallon, Missouri. Drew will stand trial in Los Angeles, accused of providing false information to get a MySpace account and violating MySpace terms to harass and harm other people—specifically, a girl the DOJ will only identify as "M.T.M." The accused faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.

"Whether we characterize this tragic case as 'cyber-bullying,' cyber abuse or illegal computer access, it should serve as a reminder that our children use the Internet for social interaction and that technology has altered the way they conduct their daily activities," said LA FBI Assistant Director Salvador Hernandez. "As adults, we must be sensitive to the potential dangers posed by the use of the Internet by our children."

In 2003, Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) sponsored a resolution condemning the Federal Communications Commission's massive relaxation of its media ownership rules. It passed the Senate by a big but not overwhelming margin: 55 to 40. Thirty-eight Senate Republicans voted against the measure, including Republican John McCain.

But yesterday the Senate by voice vote overwhelmingly approved Dorgan's Joint Senate Resolution repudiating a far less sweeping FCC revision, one affecting only the agency's newspaper/TV cross-ownership rule that allows companies to own more of both types of media in a single market. Just two senators expressed opposition, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, both Republicans from Georgia.

What a difference a Presidential election makes. . . . more

"We know all too well that there is no 'second chance' to redo a live performance," five parties warned the Federal Communications Commission yesterday. "The white spaces proposals being considered by the FCC could turn 'Music City' into a silent city unless they get it right. As it stands, these proposals will not provide critical protection to the wireless microphone systems that are integral to every show." 

These protesters include Country Music Television, the County Music Association, the Grand Ole' Opry, and Viacoms' MTV Networks. "Nashville Music Requires Interference-Free Wireless Microphones," they title their comments. Most are new recruits to the broadcasting industry's war against unlicensed "white space" devices. The Opry, however, has had a dog in this fight for a while, repeatedly filing against the technology from early last year onward.

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