Senate committee says yes to Low-Power FM

The United States Senate Commerce Committee voted on Oct. 30 to substantially expand the number of community media outlets in the United States. In a consensus vote, the Committee moved to report Senate Bill 1675, the Local Community Radio Act of 2007, to the full Senate -- and opened the door for thousands of new community radio stations to be built in America's largest cities, and smaller communities across the nation.
"Low Power FM radio was limited back in 2000, when the big broadcasters tried to convince America that 100-watt community radio stations would interfere with the biggest stations in America's biggest cities," said Prometheus technical director Pete Tridish. "At Congress' demand, the FCC proved that there was plenty of room for low power FM radio. With today's vote, and with the growing momentum to expand low power FM radio in the House of Representatives, communities across the country have a reason to celebrate." (more)

Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird

30 years ago today, the Lynyrd Skynyrd Plane went down. Several members of the band died in the plane crash that occurred on October 20, 1977, three days after the release of Street Survivors. A chartered Convair 240 carrying the band between shows from Greenville, South Carolina to LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana crashed near a forest in McComb, Mississippi. The crash killed singer/songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist/vocalist Steve Gaines, vocalist Cassie Gaines, assistant road manager Dean Kilpatrick, pilot Walter McCreary and co-pilot William Gray. Other band members were injured, some seriously.

DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN

Plan Would Ease Limits on Media Owners

By STEPHEN LABATON
N.Y. Times

WASHINGTON, Oct. 17 — The head of the Federal Communications Commission has circulated an ambitious plan to relax the decades-old media ownership rules, including repealing a rule that forbids a company to own both a newspaper and a television or radio station in the same city.

Kevin J. Martin, chairman of the commission, wants to repeal the rule in the next two months — a plan that, if successful, would be a big victory for some executives of media conglomerates.

Among them are Samuel Zell, the Chicago investor who is seeking to complete a buyout of the Tribune Company, and Rupert Murdoch, who has lobbied against the rule for years so that he can continue controlling both The New York Post and a Fox television station in New York.

The proposal appears to have the support of a majority of the five commission members, agency officials said, although it is not clear that Mr. Martin would proceed with a sweeping deregulatory approach on a vote of 3 to 2 — something his predecessor tried without success. In interviews on Wednesday, the agency’s two Democratic members raised questions about Mr. Martin’s approach. (MORE)

RIFF2 Programming Chief, Mark Pennington receives NAB HD Radio Multicast Award from NAB CEO David K. Rehr.

WHY CAN'T I GET TICKETS TO THE CONCERT?

The fact that tickets to popular events sell out so quickly — and that brokers and online resellers obtain them with such velocity — is clouding the business, many in the music industry say. It is enough, some longtime concertgoers say, to make them long for the days when all they had to do to obtain tickets was camp out overnight.

Joseph Freeman, the assistant general counsel for Ticketmaster, said that in some cases, demand for tickets simply exceeded the supply. Even in large arenas, a certain number of tickets are reserved by the artist, the promoter and the concert site and some may also be set aside for fan clubs or presales, like ones frequently held by American Express or Visa. But thousands of tickets are still typically left to be sold to the general public.

While some fans just quietly give up, others have complained to government officials, particularly after they found tickets to the same concerts or sporting events available — sometimes at many times the face value — on secondary sellers like Stubhub.com and TicketsNow minutes after the public sale began. (MORE)

Happy Birthday to the Beav

50 YEARS AGO TODAY.
Happy Birthday to the Beav.

TWO BLOGS THAT SATISFY

Reading Dave Martin's Blog, N=1, is like getting a degree in Marketing and Broadcasting all rolled into one. Dave is one of the great radio minds of our day. If you haven't already, check it out here.

Another Blog that is always informative and a daily read for me is Dan Kelley's Classic Rock FM. Check it out here.