Posted on 04/18/2014 9:36:32 AM PDT by raccoonradio
Governor Deval Patrick (D-MA) today sharply criticized federal agents for shutting down an unlicensed radio station in Grove Hall and said he tried to dissuade them from raiding the station that bills itself as the fabric of the black community.
Patrick, the state’s first African-American governor, said he had received advanced warning from the US attorney’s office that TOUCH 106.1 FM was going to be raided and urged the office not to proceed.
But federal agents disregarded him. They swept into the station Thursday and seized transmission equipment in what they called a strike against illegally operating radio stations.
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonglobe.com ...
I have lots of problems with the FCC, and you do a very good job of describing them.
Allocating the commercial broadcast spectra is not one of them. Calling the FCC’s regulation of the spectra (and anybody who supports the practice) “statist” is, for want of a better term, “knee-jerk.” The FCC needs to stick to what they were created for, in 1934.
But giving the right to determine who and under what circumstances the licenses are granted is a power that is easily abused, especially by a huge federal bureaucracy. The potential for bribes, kickbacks and cronyism is just too readily accessible.
Friends of Harry Reid stand a lot better chance of getting licences approved than friends of Ted Cruz or Sarah Palin.
Frankly I don't know why the FCC finally got around to shutting this station down, but I'm willing to bet someone with a lot of money and an interest in getting a station on that frequency had a lot to do with the decision.
You wanna bet it was Clear Channel?
I agree with that too.
I don’t have an answer for how to do it better than by auction. This I can say: Throwing out all spectrum regulations because the Friends of Harry Reid have been getting things is not a good answer, there is still a legitimate reason to allocate spectra via license. We need to concentrate our fire there.
As for the original story, this “pirate station” should have been shut down years ago, and the carp should have been fined out of the perpetrators. They harmed legitimate license holders who played by the rules by infringing on their spectra. Broadcast licenses are not cheap or easy to come by. I worked for a small FM station in a large city, and getting our signal out was difficult. Lawbreakers like this makes it a lot harder, and I think the only reason this bunch got away with it so long is because they are black.
It seems to me if ever there was a good purpose to have a federal agency to set the ground rules for an activity, broadcasting is it.
-=0=-
My receivers all have tuning capabilities and an OFF/ON selector....
If you are suggesting this makes me “non-conservative,” then FU if you think you are the arbiter of what’s conservative.
-=0=-
Go easy on the noob, he will figure it out
SHUPNOOB
LOL. Only a nOOb when compared to us fossils. This one has certainly earned his stripes, many times over. There are the scars to prove it.
‘so broadcasting ‘ Kill White people’ from an illegally operating station is a constitutional right? -=0=-
YEP”
Well put
and I agree
LOL. Only a nOOb when compared to us fossils. This one has certainly earned his stripes, many times over. There are the scars to prove it.
-=0=-
Alright then. But he does seems to be learning. Scars are just tattoos of historical veracity.
Naw...Marlowe’s a good guy (?). I’m the curmudgeon here. His instincts are right on the money. I just have special knowledge on the subject that leads me in a slightly different direction on this subject. 15 years in the business.
Courtesy ping because I forgot on the previous post I mentioned your name.
TOUCH falls right on the edge of WCOD's fringe area. So far as I can tell, it's the closest station right on the same frequency. There are also WHDQ in Claremont, NH (1600w), and WSCA in Portsmouth, NH (100w). Too far away and too low power to reach Boston.
WCOD 106.1 in Hyannis, MA |
WWKX 106.3 in Woonsocket, RI |
WWKX would probably be obliterated on most cheap radios near TOUCH, even though it is a channel up at 106.3.
That is an excellent point and should be the focus of the discussion. Which agencies, departments, etc. of the federal government need enforcement, police, prosecution, and/or military weapons level assault forces? (The prior question, of course, is which shouldn't even exist. The department of education for one. They are a waste of perfectly good oxygen.)
Should the FCC exist? (not as a distinct entity, and not with enforcement, police, prosecution, and military weapons level assault forces.) Since we say its about commerce, then it should be a map office within the commerce department that draws venn diagrams of airwave overlaps and frequencies.
They report to some commerce higher who gets to decide whether 2 kids and rock music on a micro-power pirate station are more important than a freight war between American and Mexican truckers on America's highways. Then he'll focus his attention accordingly.
One thing they could do is to raise the maximum wattage for non-licensed operators from 100mw to 1 watt. This would give neighborhoods the ability to have neighborhood radio stations on a band that everyone in the neighborhood can get on their radios.
Then maybe we could have a Tea Party station dedicated to playing patriotic music and arranging tea party meetings.
Like the feds would ever allow that!
If the freeway was 100 miles wide I might agree with you....
I like that. But not on any frequency they choose.
Actually, I don't want a Federal Highway Patrol. (In fact, I fear that P-Marlowe may have just given them an idea//...NSA...keep this to yourself..ok?)
I don't the FCC having a SWAT Team, a police power, a prosecuting power, and even an enforcing power.
I really am content with them filing reports and Venn diagrams. I am. No matter how wide the highway is.
That's exactly what they are supposed to do. In fact, they do have maps, one for each frequency, and they (FCC) apportion that stuff out. There are big circles and everything. There is a map office, and they issue maps. I've seen them. And the FCC is within the Commerce Department where they belong.
They report to some commerce higher who gets to decide whether 2 kids and rock music on a micro-power pirate station are more important than a freight war between American and Mexican truckers on America's highways. Then he'll focus his attention accordingly.
Let's get something straight. We're not talking about 2 kids and rock music. This is a group of people acting like this is a real radio station. They are collecting revenue, they are taking spectrum. There is at least one station being stomped on (radio term for hogging the same frequency).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.