Washington Beat

Where the Outerbelt meets East Broad Street is Mt. Carmel East Hospital and Columbus Country Club, due east of downtown Columbus, Ohio. It's also home to the tower for a 100-watt FM offering up traditional jazz programming. Or, is it? This LPFM has been warned by the FCC for its operation from an unauthorized site.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies has recommended $515 million in advance funding for public broadcasting in 2023. This was met with applause from America's Public Television Stations, the nonprofit organization "ensuring a strong and financially sound public television system."

A Northern Virginia-based business and network engineering consulting services firm that works closely with the broadcasting industry has just launched a new practice division. As Widelity Corporation describes it, the division is "one that could save radio and television stations thousands of dollars in FCC fines." Really? Doubters should listen to this podcast. LISTEN HERE

A Wilkinson Barker Knauer Partner who serves as Director of Social Responsibility at the Washington communications law firm has formally started her term as President of the Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA).

New Pew Research Center analysis finds that among five key sources of COVID-19 information asked about, U.S. adults give the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other public health organizations the highest rating when it comes to getting the facts about the pandemic right.

The FCC has adopted an Order extending through August 31 a previous waiver of sponsorship identification requirements to promote the airing of COVID-19 public service announcements.

The owner/operator of a low-power TV station in West Virginia was unsuccessful in getting the nation's two Direct Broadcast Satellite service providers to add the station to their respective local market lineups. So, he went to the Commission to see a declaratory ruling requiring DirecTV and Dish to carry the property, as a local cable company did. That didn't work.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has upped its Director of Content, an individual who first joined CPB's radio department in 2005, to the role of VP/Radio. In her new role, she'll be charged with developing and implementing strategies "to strengthen the ability of public radio stations to create high-quality, multiplatform content and to grow their audiences."

A July 3 deadline for the transition of a Cox Media Group-owned UHF facility in Florida to a new channel as part of the FCC's post-incentive auction broadcast transition won't be made. That's OK: The Commission has voted unanimously to grant the station a "brief" extension, due to "circumstances beyond the station's control."

Since the COVID-19 pandemic led the FCC to shift nearly all of its staff to home offices and convert its monthly Commissioner meeting to an online format, it's been rare to have Chairman Ajit Pai, and the four Commissioners, gathered in one physical space. While distancing measures are likely, this will take place on June 24 — in the Russell Senate Office Building.

A new analysts by the NALEO Educational Fund, in partnership with NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, shows that self-response rates in states with large Latino populations are lagging behind the rest of the U.S. As a result, NALEO and Telemundo are teaming up to increase the Latino Census count.

A collection of groups representing rural and agricultural interests have written to Congressional leaders asking that existing federal agency advertising funds be directed to local broadcasters and news publishers. As such, they argue the lawmakers should appropriate additional federal advertising funding in future appropriations bills to local media, ensuring their financial health.

America’s Public Television Stations (APTS) and the NAB late Friday filed a response to the FCC's NPRM on potential changes to the Commission’s rules governing Distributed Transmission Systems (DTS) that commends them for moving forward "expeditiously" in the proceeding. Now, the groups hope that swift pace doesn't ebb.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker has teamed with John Thune, head of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet, in authoring a letter to FCC Chairman Ajit Pai that encourages the agency "to move swiftly" to clear C-Band spectrum so it may meet its planned auction timeline on December 8.