Washington Beat

A 2016 communiqué to the incoming Trump Administration from the MMTC suggested the creation of a “Glide Path” for AM radio station owners that preserves minority ownership following AM's end. Is the MMTC crafting a similar letter outlining "imperative actions" the White House must consider come 2025?

The FCC, through the Enforcement Bureau, convened government partners from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the U.K. to discuss emerging security and enforcement trends in the communications sector related to national security, data protection, cybersecurity, and transnational fraud.

The first 50 public media stations from across the U.S. have been selected to participate in a second phase of the Digital Transformation Program delivered by the Poynter Institute. The program educates, assists, and coaches public media senior leaders and their staff on the best strategies and tactics to transform their organization’s digital operations and culture to meet the needs of local audiences.

A formal proceeding launched Wednesday by the Commission will offer a "QC" checkup, if you will, of the customer service providers of cable, broadband, satellite TV, and voice services give their customers. A new Notice of Inquiry seeks information on current customer service practices and is designed to benefit consumers.

Public media stations in Hawaii, Kentucky, Missouri, and South Dakota will receive a total of up to $1.7 million from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to upgrade their equipment to provide enhanced emergency alerting. With these grants, CPB has awarded funding to 35 public media stations in 19 states via the NGWS grant program.

The FCC’s Privacy and Data Protection Task Force has unveiled additional partnerships between the agency’s Enforcement Bureau and state partners on privacy, data protection, and cybersecurity enforcement matters. 

An Arkansas Christian institution offering bachelor's and master's degrees with a focus on faith is agreeing to purchase a silent Class A radio station that will celebrate its 35th birthday with a forthcoming resurrection. It is a property the father of Rep. Steve Womack silenced in June due to his declining health.

It says it is the radio operation "with the power of heaven" and holds four construction permits for new noncommercial FMs across Nevada, California and Utah, respectively. Two of those CPs are mutually exclusive, and the FCC was asked to resolve the matter. The result? Three of the remaining four CPs are going to Remanente Broadcasting Network.

Huntley, Mont., a community near the city of Billings, is getting its first local service. At the same time, a license modification of another FM is transpiring. Call it a win for Matthew Wesolowski.

The FCC has formally unveiled the tentative selectees from 93 groups of mutually exclusive applications for new low-power FM station construction permits filed during a December 2023 window.

The NAB has again addressed a FCC plan that would impose political AI disclosure rules on broadcasters by claiming the NPRM’s loudest supporters’ arguments are “inapposite or nonsensical.” The voice of radio and TV in Washington also has support from every state broadcasters association, and the top radio station ownership groups.

The Commission has started to accept applications from graduating law students, recent law school graduates, and current judicial clerks for its Fall 2025 Attorney Honors Program. The application window closes on Thursday, November 21.

Amid broad discussions on AI's impact on media and journalism, NPR is the first major broadcast organization to submit reply comments to the FCC's proposed rules on disclosure of AI-generated content in political advertising.

A Class A FM radio station serving Allegan County, Mich., has entered into a Consent Decree with the FCC to settle violations associated with a switch in the board members of the noncommercial radio station's licensee — done without FCC authorization to make the change. There's more, and it involves a "ride" that should have never been taken.

The Chairwoman of the FCC on Thursday issued a statement in response to a second call by former President Trump to revoke the license of a broadcast station for what she views are political reasons. At issue: CBS's signature "60 Minutes," and how the former leader viewed an interview conducted with Kamala Harris.