NAB Asks FCC For A Level Playing Field…

Friday, November, 6, 2009 by Mel Phillips.

(Weekend Edition)

The National Association of Broadcasters stated radio’s case for a competitively viable place in a world inhabited by ever-changing technology at the FCC’s Media Ownership Workshop. I just wish the message from Jane Mago, executive vice president and general counsel of the NAB could have been stronger and more specific. Mago says radio is looking for “reasonable reform to outmoded limitations” that would “enable free, over-the-air broadcasters to compete more effectively against multichannel video and audio operators and Internet-based media providers” but she doesn’t suggest a way to reform those outmoded limitations…

Mago made a point for radio to be free to effectively “Provide a significant presence in local communities and offer costly local services such as local news.” She also added this: “Above all, broadcasters want to be able to continue to serve their local communities and audiences effectively. Reform of local ownership limitations can help local stations do just that.” In the real world, you’re not thinking that much about public service, especially if you’re a music station…

The strongest statement Mago made was that “the public interest is best served by permitting broadcasters to compete effectively in the digital multichannel marketplace.” Of course a level playing field is not possible in this electronic age we live in. Then there’s always the reality that even having a level playing field is meaningless unless you know what to do with it…   

10 Timeline Memories:

1. 1869] Tee for two: Rutgers beats Princeton 6-4 at New Brunswick (NJ) in the first college football game. There were 25 players on each side, touchdowns were worth one point and the game resembled soccer more than football (11/6)…
2. 1923] A patented shave: Colonel Jacob Schick patents the first electric shaver (11/6)…
3. 1935] The birth of FM: Edwin H. Armstrong announces the development of FM broadcasting. Bless you Edwin H. Armstrong (11/6). This is a 1954 clip of a broadcast on experimental FM station KE2XCC in Alpine (NJ)…
4. 1960] Election Daze: Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy defeats Richard Nixon for the presidency. The age of Camelot dawns (11/8)…
5. 1962] I get no kicks from champagne: Nixon who fails in his bid to become Governor of California tells reporters: “You won’t have me to kick around anymore” (11/7)…
6. 1965] Premiered on this date: The Pillsbury Dough Boy debuts (11/8)…1967] Phil Donahue begins his TV talk show in Dayton (OH) and stays on the air for over 25 years with it (11/6). Here’s a clip of Donahue and Oprah giving Phil an award…
7. 1970] Record Breaker: New Orleans placekicker Tom Dempsey, born without toes on his kicking foot, kicks a record-setting 63-yard field goal (11/8). In 1998 Jason Elam of the Denver Broncos ties Dempsey with his 63-yard boot, no doubt aided by Denver’s mile-high altitude…
8. 1973] Body snatcher: Singer Gram Parsons’ manager Phil Kaufman is fined $300 for stealing Parsons’ body from LAX. Kaufman claims it was Parsons wish to be cremated (11/6). Keith Richards and Parsons collaborated on the Stones hit, “Wild Horses“..
9. 1995] Banned in Cleveland: Browns’ owner Art Modell announces a plan to move the team to Baltimore. It gets worse when the Baltimore Ravens win the Super Bowl (11/6)…
10. 2002] Gotcha: A jury in Beverly Hills convicts Winona Ryder of stealing $5,500 worth of merchandise from Saks Fifth Avenue. Winona is placed on probation for 3 years (11/6). Here’s Winona with Conan O’Brien…

Music Memories:

• 1961] Number One on this date: “Big Bad John” - Jimmy Dean (11/7)…1972] “I Can See Clearly Now” - Johnny Nash (11/7)…
• 1965] Premiered on this date: Bill Graham opens Fillmore West in San Francisco with Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead opening the original venue (11/6)…
• 1965] Released on this date: “It’s My Life” - Animals (11/6)…
• 1965] Live on ‘Shindig’: The Rolling Stones, Fontella Bass and the Strangeloves (11/6)…

“Happy Birthday…happy birthday“: (11/6) Rebecca Romijn (37), Ethan Hawke (39), Maria Shriver (54), Glenn Frey (61), Sally Field (63), P.J. Proby (71), Eugene Pitt (72), Stonewall Jackson (77) and Mike Nichols (78)…(11/7) Keith Lockhart (50), David Petraeus (57), Joni Mitchell (66), Johnny Rivers (67), Joan Sutherland (83) and Reverend Billy Graham (91)…(11/8) Chef Gordon Ramsay (43), Rickie Lee Jones (55), Alfre Woodard (57), Jerry Remy (57), Mary Hart (59), Bonnie Raitt (60), Angel Cordero Jr. (67), Morley Safer (78), Bobby Bowden (80), Patti Page (82), Norman Lloyd (95) and June Havoc (96)…

Timeline Countdown: 20 days until Thanksgiving, 35 days until Hanukah, 46 days until winter and 49 days until Christmas…

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