Washington Beat

The Celebration of Service to America Awards, presented by Bonneville International and Hearst Television, is part of the Foundation’s mission to bring national attention to the vital work being done by local broadcasters. New this year is a podcast category.

Three landlords in the Empire State have been given fair warning from the FCC to do what they can to silence unlicensed FM radio station operations originating from buildings they own.

The Media Bureau of the FCC this week released an Order that extends an existing waiver of a rule that would require broadcast TV stations to provide an aural representation of visual, non-textual emergency information that is displayed during non-newscast programming.

There were less commercially licensed radio stations — regardless of band — at the end of Q1 2026 than there were at the end of 2025. That's one key takeaway from the latest Broadcast Station Totals courtesy of the FCC.

The Director of Communications and Social Media and Communications Coordinator at the NAB now have a VP of Communications as part of their team, and she's inbound from Alexandria, Va.-based bipartisan reputation management PR firm Purple Strategies.

One of two FCC cybersecurity workshops placed on the calendar for mid-May is specifically designed to educate radio and television station owners, and will feature speakers from the Commission, federal partners and industry experts.

The Cumulus Media-owned conservative-leaning spoken word FM serving the National Capital Area has selected its next Operations Manager. And he'll be taking the role after moving from California, starting May 4.

The CEO of a major American automaker publicly suggested cutting all radio from entry-level vehicles at the 2026 New York International Auto Show this past week, raising fresh alarms for broadcasters still waiting on Congress to act on saving the AM band, let alone FM.

The president's FY 2027 budget has been released, and it includes no dollars for local public television stations — even after a loss in a D.C. district court this week for his Executive Order which ended “taxpayer subsidization of biased media” by ending federal funding of both NPR and PBS. APTS's head responded.

An informal objection to the license renewal of a Greenwood, Miss., radio station filed by Larry Fuss has been denied, clearing the way for the licensee to obtain that important authorization. For that to happen, however, a Consent Decree between the station owner and the Commission was signed.

There's a new Chief Information Officer at the Commission, and it sees the former Chief Digital Officer at the Food & Drug Administration take responsibilities for setting and overseeing the overall technical vision of the agency led by Brendan Carr.

The FCC's decision not to pursue a petition to deny WTXF "FOX 29" in Philadelphia's license renewal hasn't stopped the Media and Democracy Project and Frequency Forward, from continuing the fight — this time in response to a Media Bureau docket focused on sports broadcasting practices and marketplace developments. 

Participants will have an opportunity to obtain a permanent position in the federal government after successfully completing one year of employment.  The application window to apply is now open through April 30 for eligible recent graduates, as well as current students who will graduate in May 2026. 

FCC Commissioner Olivia Trusty recently took a trip to Utah and Kansas to highlight the "golden age of communications," and she took time to visit the Gray Media-owned CBS affiliate in Kansas' state capital and the headquarters of Bonneville International Corp. in Salt Lake City.

Activists organized by Free Press gathered outside of the FCC's L Street headquarters to condemn Chairman Brendan Carr for his record on "media consolidation and threats to press freedom." A billboard on wheels accompanied the five protestors.