Washington Beat

Arizona and Florida have significant numbers of Hispanic voters. With 2020 Democratic presidential primaries on their way to those states, Telemundo has released the results of a pair of surveys they conducted with Latino voters in those states who are likely to vote. The information could prove interesting to Spanish-language radio and TV C-Suiters.

In February, TVB commissioned Dynata to conduct a study of registered Democratic voters in Michigan to gain an understanding of media usage, and attitudes toward traditional and digital platforms. Over 950 respondents were surveyed and to qualify, each respondent had to be a registered voter and had to have been exposed to any of over 20 media sources in the prior 24-hour period.

Media Information Bureau featured columnist Ken Benner tells us that many, many classic examples of very questionable FCC fines, fees, forfeitures and legal expenses exist. And, apparently not even death is a defense against such charges.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone Jr. and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Mike Doyle are putting the final plans together for a Subcommittee markup of 11 bills scheduled for Tuesday. Media diversity legislation is on the docket.

The Radio Television Digital News Foundation last week honored journalism professionals dedicated to defending the First Amendment. There were seven nominees in all, and we have their names.

In a purely precautionary move, the association representing small and independently owned MVPDs is postponing its annual summit in Washington, D.C., over coronavirus-fueled COVID-19 concerns. ACA Connects confirms the event will go ahead at a future date.

The Commission has taken preventive steps to protect the health of its staff. It will continue to monitor developments and will implement additional precautions (or relax current precautions) should circumstances warrant. Travel of FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is being evaluated in the long-term, with no changes presently being considered.

Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi is the Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the FCC. On March 11, he will hold a nomination hearing that will consider individuals for posts at the Department of Transportation, Commerce Department and the Commission. Who is the person President Trump thinks should have a Commission post?

From Day One in 1995, Ken Benner believed it was essential to document all of the items involved with conducting "mock" broadcast inspections. There are two very important reasons for this. "First was to protect myself from efforts to discredit my performance," Benner says. "The second was to evaluate suggested improvements to the program I offered."

New York Festivals will honor the National Press Club with its Lifetime Achievement Award on Tuesday, April 21 at the inaugural NYF Storytellers gala. It is set to take place at the 2020 NAB Show in Las Vegas, which remains on schedule.

About one-fifth of Americans in each party (20% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents and 18% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents) get political and election news in a given week only from outlets whose audiences align with them politically. That's according to a new analysis of data from Pew Research Center's Election News Pathways project. 

In May 2019, a major player in the Raleigh-Durham market acquired an FM translator covering much of Raleigh. By June, it began simulcasting a Class D AM, but then suddenly shifted to a different originating station. The FCC responded with a Notice of Apparent Liability for failing to tell the Commission the translator changed its primary station. Now, a final decision has been made.

Wilkinson Barker Knauer has a new partner in its Washington, D.C., office, and it is an individual who has spent nearly three decades at the FCC, most recently having served as Deputy Chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.

The FCC on Friday approved a proposal that brings forth targeted changes to its "White Space" device rules — a move the agency believes will pave the way for greatly improved broadband coverage for rural Americans.  The Commission also wants input on methods it could use to allow higher power operation by White Space devices when adjacent TV channels are occupied.