[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re:WGBH

At 01:50 PM 6/8/2002, brian anastasi wrote:

>"Aaron [Bishop] Read" <aread@speakeasy.net>
>wrote on Friday, June 07, 2002 4:41 PM
>
>
> > For WGBH I can't say for sure off the top of my head if the move to
> > Needham/Wellesley/FM-128 cluster is really worth it...they are gaining a
> > LOT of height (remember that HAAT is, in a lot of ways, a meaningless
> > number) a least a few hundred feet.   And they still will have a ton of
>power <snip>
>
>Will I still be able to get WGBH like a local out here in Amherst, which is
>92 miles west of Boston?  And when is this move going to happen (or has it
>already)?
>
>Brian Anastasi

The answer to question #1 is "likely yes" as I believe they are not 
changing their contours at all (although signal contours are, in a lot of 
ways, meaningless to what is receivable in various locations).

Question #2 is "not anytime soon"...the FCC has had a freeze on new FM 
allocations and all FM major changes and it's not lifting until they figure 
out a way to deal with the allocations issue.  Congress mandated that they 
use an auction process but the courts have agreed with the FCC that 
auctions are inappropriate for non-comm licenses.  Since the old way of 
case-by-case analysis of serving the public good based on rather vapid 
standards is not going to come back (thank God!) the only solution is a 
"point system" and the FCC is taking its sweet time creating it - and 
everyone imaginable is challenging the FCC's point suggestions as "invalid" 
because - of course - the points aren't always favorable to them.

At some point the FCC is going to have to put their foot down and say "this 
is the system, shut up and deal with it" at which point the lobbyists will 
hit Congress and then we'll wait another year or two until Congress comes 
up with some asinine system that doesn't actually work but somehow favors 
those applicants with the most money.

Our tax dollars at work, folks...


____________________________________________
Aaron "Bishop" Read     aread@speakeasy.net
FriedBagels.com Technical Consulting
www.friedbagels.com   AOL-IM: ReadAaron