Re: WEVD (was WFAN New York)

["'A. Joseph Ross'" <lawyer@world.std.com>]

On Tue, 5 Aug 1997, Dan Strassberg wrote:

> Well, Joe, you're the lawyer and I'm not, but I strenuously disagree. These
> are public airwaves we're talking about and a private company that is using
> them under federal license. 

And the public interest on the airwaves is something the FCC has been
vigorously enforcing lately, right?
 
> If a private country club, which receives no federal money, but merely opens
> its facilities to the general public on occasion, cannot legally exclude
> members on the basis of race or religion, how can your position be
> defensible? 

This is a question of a station dedicated to serving a particular
religious community being ordered to accept programs for a different
religious community.  

I agree that it would not be an open and shut case, but I think the result
would be what I have stated.  I think it would be like the St.  Patrick's
Day parade in South Boston, where the U. S. Supreme Court held that the
parade organizers' freedom of expression gave them the right to exclude
gay Irish groups. 

 
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  A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                                          617.367.0468
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