WBZ should hang it's head in shame

[Garrett Wollman]

<<On Mon, 04 Jun 2012 23:28:58 -0400, A Joseph Ross <joe@attorneyross.com> said:

> On 6/1/2012 2:08 AM, Don wrote:
>> The biggest blow the "public interest" happenned after the Telcom Act, 
>> which,  BTW...was passed under Bill Clinton(D) and our local 
>> Congressman Markey(D) (Although there is/was plenty of blame to go 
>> around in both parties.)

> And Newt Gingerich and a Republican Congress.

Or even Newt Gingrich and a Republican Congress.

Truth is, nobody in Washington knew or cared anything about
broadcasting regulation, so the industry lobbyists got essentially
what they wanted.  The same has often been true on the FCC;
administrations of all stripes have in recent years appointed
primarily telco lawyers and political hacks to the FCC rather than
people who actually knew something about broadcasting.  (This has been
the case since the FCC was established, although there were occasional
bright spots when someone who knew what an integral sign meant were
appointed.  Two of the most highly regarded commissioners of the WW2
period were T.A.M. Craven and E.K. Jett, both of whom had been chief
engineer of the FCC before their respective appointments.)

True story: one of the original Republican commissioners was Norman
S. Case, the former governor of Rhode Island, who had lost a
bitterly-contested race to T.F. Green.  When Green was later elected
to the Senate, he let it be known that he was opposed to Case's
reappointment, and Roosevelt instead appointed William H. Wills, the
former governor of Vermont (also a Republican, as were all New England
governors at this time).  Wills died a few years into his term while
presiding over a hearing in Brockton.

-GAWollman