FCC Opens Investigation into NPR and PBS

[Weiserguy]

That. Doesn’t. Matter.

The rules are irrelevant. The laws are irrelevant. There is no one to enforce them. What does it take for people to grasp what’s happening in broad daylight?

What Bill Maher has referred to, many times, as a "slow-moving right-wing coup" has kicked into overdrive in the last 16 days. Trump is the Distractor-in-Chief while this is happening, but Elon seems to actually be running the show, with a sizable support crew of very willing co-conspirators. (Anyone who thinks I'm being hyperbolic should listen to, or read the transcript of, the first 10-or-so minutes of today's [Feb 5th] APM Marketplace. Host Kai Rysdahl did a very interesting interview with a UCLA law and government professor on what seems to be going on.)

BTW, so far these people are distracted enough with their various roles in the hostile takeover that they're not paying attention to discussions like this. I expect that to change, that they will cycle back to forums like RD sooner or later, probably sooner.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

Remember all those bean counters people here said ruined radio? What happens when those bean counters are put in charge of the government?

The bean counters would be better. By and large, a bean counter is analyzing costs and expenses with a relatively dispassionate outlook.

This isn’t that. President Musky and his veep in the actual office are on a retribution quest. OSHA tried to enforce some rules at his companies? He’ll kill it. USAID helped support the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa? You better believe he’ll kill that.

Nothing about what’s taking place right now is about bean counting. It’s score settling.

 

[Jean Luc]

But then where is that line drawn, who decides whats remote... i have a community of 275 people as my home base, biggest for 150 miles.

But a community of 5000 in Cow Dung, MN may be just as remote as me, but its much bigger

Plus, i dont want the government getting involved in programming or exceptions like this

Oh wait, theyre already trying to do the first thing.

Not already. Always have.

 

[gr8oldies]

The bean counters would be better. By and large, a bean counter is analyzing costs and expenses with a relatively dispassionate outlook.

This isn’t that. President Musky and his veep in the actual office are on a retribution quest. OSHA tried to enforce some rules at his companies? He’ll kill it. USAID helped support the dismantling of apartheid in South Africa? You better believe he’ll kill that.

Nothing about what’s taking place right now is about bean counting. It’s score settling.

Elon trying to replace the bureaucracy with himself

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

Not already. Always have.

The FCC largely isnt involved in programming and neither is CPB or NPR really... stations themselves do what they do.

I don't want anyone more involved than they already are.

Republicans have tried to do this to CPB/NPR before.

Tried is different then have

 

[SomeRadioGuy]

BTW... anyone who thinks CPB and by extension, NPR member stations arent due this money.. come talk to me.

I will tell you our story. Elimination of funding from CPB would force us off the air, not just all national programming..... our transmitters would go off.

You would deny over 1200 people any source of local programming, including safety information like the very recent and very rare earthquake just 10 miles away.

You would deny people access to life saving information during wildfire season .. how close the wildfires are to their village... if their town is at risk of a flood during break up

(weve had towns in our region flooded at break up, weve had wildfires get very very close to communities)

Several stations here would be completely eliminated.... the other bigger stations would likely lose nearly all their news staff and some of their on air/production staff.

 

[TheBigA]

I suppose I owe NPR and PBS an apology. At least they've had the decency to come before Congress and openly ask for an appropriation every year.

NPR and PBS don't ask for an appropriation. They also don't receive one. The appropriation goes to CPB, the agency charged with distributing the funds. The head of CPB regularly makes a presentation to the committee asking for the money. Once CPB gets the money, they distribute it, with 70% of the money going to the stations, not NPR or PBS. PBS gets the majority of the remaining money. NPR's share is mainly for the national satellite system that they manage for all of public radio, including American Public Media.

 

[gr8oldies]

BTW... anyone who thinks CPB and by extension, NPR member stations arent due this money.. come talk to me.

I will tell you our story. Elimination of funding from CPB would force us off the air, not just all national programming..... our transmitters would go off.

You would deny over 1200 people any source of local programming, including safety information like the very recent and very rare earthquake just 10 miles away.

You would deny people access to life saving information during wildfire season .. how close the wildfires are to their village... if their town is at risk of a flood during break up

(weve had towns in our region flooded at break up, weve had wildfires get very very close to communities)

Several stations here would be completely eliminated.... the other bigger stations would likely lose nearly all their news staff and some of their on air/production staff.

Congress needs to hear stories like yours, I doubt they're aware.

 

[Cold Coffee]

I may be in a red state. But NPR stations are very highly rated here. And we need to hear different views.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

Congress needs to hear stories like yours, I doubt they're aware. care

 

[gr8oldies]

True. Tell them anyway.

 

[Theater of My Mind]

BTW... anyone who thinks CPB and by extension, NPR member stations arent due this money.. come talk to me.

I will tell you our story. Elimination of funding from CPB would force us off the air, not just all national programming..... our transmitters would go off.

That would be the intention of those executing Project 2025 plans, yes.

You would deny over 1200 people any source of local programming, including safety information like the very recent and very rare earthquake just 10 miles away.

You would deny people access to life saving information during wildfire season .. how close the wildfires are to their village... if their town is at risk of a flood during break up

They only care about eliminating news outlets that expose and oppose their agenda.

Several stations here would be completely eliminated.... the other bigger stations would likely lose nearly all their news staff and some of their on air/production staff.

Yep, you've got it.

 

[KilowattKat]

BTW... anyone who thinks CPB and by extension, NPR member stations arent due this money.. come talk to me.

I will tell you our story. Elimination of funding from CPB would force us off the air, not just all national programming..... our transmitters would go off.

You would deny over 1200 people any source of local programming, including safety information like the very recent and very rare earthquake just 10 miles away.

You would deny people access to life saving information during wildfire season .. how close the wildfires are to their village... if their town is at risk of a flood during break up

(weve had towns in our region flooded at break up, weve had wildfires get very very close to communities)

Several stations here would be completely eliminated.... the other bigger stations would likely lose nearly all their news staff and some of their on air/production staff.

Everything you just wrote, needs to be sent to this guy. Politicians, believe it or not, will listen. You just need to reach out to them.

Home | U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska

The Official U.S. Senate website of Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska

www.sullivan.senate.gov

 

[TheBigA]

The new investigation comes at the request of Sen. Blackburn (R-TN), who is a co-sponsor of the FAIR act. Proponents of the FAIR act dispute any promotional value to radio airplay. Yet in her complaint, Sen. Blackburn now says there is a promotional value. Which is it? It can't be both.

Today the FCC enforcement bureau sent a warning to radio stations about the payola policy:

FCC Issues Warning To Radio After Blackburn Payola Complaint - Radio Ink

Following payola accusations from Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), the FCC Enforcement Bureau has issued an Advisory for radio stations.

radioink.com

No mention of an actual investigation on the subject.

 

[TheBigA]

Public broadcasting is also under assault by some red state governments. The state of South Dakota wants to cut $3.6 million from the state public broadcasting authority. So a group of citizens held a protest at the state capital:

Busloads of public broadcasting supporters make case to avoid $3.6 million state budget cut • South Dakota Searchlight

Supporters of South Dakota Public Broadcasting made their pitch to avoid a $3.6 million budget cut that they said would undermine public safety, government transparency, education, high school activities and local storytelling.

southdakotasearchlight.com

These South Dakota stations also receive over $2 million in federal aid from CPB. Put those two cuts together, and that's a big chunk of their budget.

He estimated that the combined effect of the lost state, federal and privately raised money would shrink the organization’s total budget from $11 million to $4 million, and reduce its workforce from 76 to 26.

So it's not just service that's lost. But it's also jobs lost. Jobs that won't be absorbed by profit-making stations. These people just become unemployed. That means taxes lost because those people are no longer employed.

 

[AbrahamJSimpson]

Everything you just wrote, needs to be sent to this guy. Politicians, believe it or not, will listen. You just need to reach out to them.

Which ones? Because they seem few and far between in a best case scenario.

 

[b-turner]

I've looked at likely 20-30 annual financial reports. Not only is commercial radio struggling, non-commercial FMs are hurting for Underwriting. Since Covid, about 1/3rd of Underwriting Revenue has vanished. Fortunately listener support is almost what it was pre-Covid, a sold improvement from 2022.

So at a time stations are hurting, radio is being examined. I'm okay with random checks on compliance but this is spending part of their budget to try to find something to justify the investigation. It's a witch hunt and unfortunately radio is being kicked when we're down.

 

[TheBigA]

So at a time stations are hurting, radio is being examined. I'm okay with random checks on compliance but this is spending part of their budget to try to find something to justify the investigation. It's a witch hunt and unfortunately radio is being kicked when we're down.

As I've said, Brendan Carr is not Ajit Pai. He's not doing this to make radio more profitable. They're telling you why they're doing this. Because these radio stations are not serving the president's agenda. To be clear, it's not ALL of radio that's being examined. Just certain stations.

 

[TheBigA]

There has been a question within the FCC since the Chevron decision if the agency is authorized to levy fines or similar penalties on radio stations. Commissioner Symington has used the Supreme Court's Chevron decision to dissent when the FCC has issued decisions. Today the president signed an executive order that says any agency decisions must be approved by him or the attorney general. From NBC News:

It requires that departments "submit for review all proposed and final significant regulatory actions" to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs before those actions are published in the Federal Register. The order further empowers the Office of Management and Budget director "to review independent regulatory agencies’ obligations for consistency with the President’s policies and priorities."

It also bars executive branch employees from advancing "an interpretation of the law as the position of the United States that contravenes the President or the Attorney General’s opinion on a matter of law, including but not limited to the issuance of regulations, guidance, and positions advanced in litigation, unless authorized to do so by the President or in writing by the Attorney General."

That last sentence is interesting. Under this order, the law is what the president says it is. I wonder what the courts will say to that.

It's not unusual for private companies to operate this way. But it is unusual for the government, since the constitution sets up three equal branches of government. The president doesn't have that power in his article.

 

[bigdonho]

I'm afraid it's all going to come crashing down. How long will it take us to dig our way out of this mess?