4 ms·

I would love to see AM radio opened up to private citizens. Take podcasting and move it to AM radio, where a person can pay or subscribe to a frequency and broa

• msla 4y ago
  The problem is the FCC. Here's the handbook for KFGM, the local community radio station in Missoula, MT: https://www.1015kfgm.org/_files/ugd/7578a3_dcafddc8fa53435d93d0d3bef48eaad3.pdf https://www.1015kfgm.org/_files/ugd/7578a3_dcafddc8fa53435d9... And the relevant quote: > U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens explained the attitude of the FCC, in his opinion, in a 1978 decision on George Carlin's famous "Filthy Language" piece about the seven dirty words: > “Patently offensive, indecent material presented over the airwaves confronts the citizen, not only in public, but also in the privacy of the home, where the individual's right to be let alone plainly outweighs the First Amendment rights of an intruder.” The handbook goes on in detail about what the station will accept and what it won't, but the point is simple: The airwaves are not as free as the Internet, and giving the broadcast booth to the average person is legally dangerous to the station. Getting the average person to understand copyright is one thing, especially since most of the oiks insist it's about plagiarism and attribution, but allowing someone who thinks Carlin's Seven Words are a good starting point to broadcast without a filter is going to get the station shut down.