In this letter to the editor, the author responds to the story “Should We Kick the FCC to the Curb?” Radio World welcomes letters to the editor on this or any story. Email radioworld@futurenet.com.

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I stand four square opposed to the major tenets of Dr. Jamison’s thesis of disbanding the Federal Communications Commission.

The venerable institution is already wracked with the debilitating disease of deregulation with its predictable negative effects on the public which, it must be emphasized, owns the U.S. spectrum.

In contradistinction to all other media which can proliferate without limit, the RF spectrum is a limited and precious resource. That the public is viewed as tepid about OTA radio is spurious and obviously wishful thinking by non-OTA interests.

The most egregious abandonment of technical responsibility occurred with the reduction in field engineering offices and engineering personnel.

We technical practitioners witness commonplace cynicism with regard to the FCC rules and regulations as mere suggestions to be ignored if inconvenient to obey, in AM and FM broadcasting as well as land mobile and marine frequencies.

The reason?

Identical to the effects of “defunding the police” resulting in increase in crime. Fewer cops yields more criminals. Intuitively obvious except to some.

In earlier times, operating a broadcasting station involved adherence to the notion of public interest, convenience and necessity as justification for licensure.

Stations served their communities of license with valuable news and information as well as entertainment and commercials.

The Local Studio Rule gave the public access to their air waves for a variety of purposes. Both now gone; many stations thumb their noses at their COL but wonder why their shunned and disowned audience fled to other more friendly media.

Sharp limits on multiple station ownership ensured a variety of content and political viewpoints on the radio.

Loosening those restrictions resulted in group conglomerates airing homogenized voice tracked plastic pap, devoid of any semblance of “live-and-local” flavor which once endeared listeners to those stations.

Currently the call is going out for total freedom of station aggregation, while the two big players contemplate or re-enter bankruptcy.

Dr. Jamison’s most egregious recommendation is to fragment the numerous functional entities of the FCC and distributing them among other existing federal agencies. It would appear he fails to realize the need for unit cohesion within the ranks.

Having those functions under one umbrella provides the opportunities for cross-pollinating of thoughts and ideas contributing to problem resolution, et.al., facilitated by simple physical relatedness within one facility. In contrast, federal agencies are notoriously indifferent or downright hostile to extra-departmental influences.

In conclusion: I recommend fortifying the FCC with sharper focus on its core missions of fair licensure; prosecuting flagrant rules violators; streamlining online reporting applications which seem to grind to a halt at deadline time; maintaining language and image censorship rules, etc.

Furthermore, I recommend reintroducing PICN as fundamental to retaining licensure; reintroducing the Local Studio Rule; retaining present ownership limits; hiring more engineers and fewer lawyers; and focusing more on RF OTA than wired media.

More cops mean better rules compliance when it’s understood that big brother is watching. Big brother has been asleep for a while.

A strong FCC is more needed today than anytime in history.

— James B. Potter, owner, Cutting Edge Engineering of Missouri 

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