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FCC Closed for Business 

Due to a lack of Congressionally-approved funding, the Federal Communications Commission and other government agencies have suspended activities. According to TV Technology magazine, most filing deadlines that fall during the shutdown will be extended with submissions due the next business day after the FCC resumes normal operations. “Although the FCC website will remain up, it will not be updated except for matters related to spectrum auction activities and threats to life and property.”

The FCC issued a Public Notice on Tuesday, September 30, indicating that it would suspend most operations following a shutdown. “Aside from a few emergency and auction filing systems, all other Commission electronic filing systems will be unavailable to the public until normal agency operations resume,” said the FCC Notice.

The FCC Notice indicates that the CORES registration system will remain available to the public and will not be affected by the shutdown. The FCC’s Universal Licensing System (ULS) databases are currently unavailable to the public. ULS and related systems (like the License Manager, License Search, Application Search, etc.) are not accessible during the shutdown. Users cannot file applications with the FCC, or access license data, including address information.

New Chapter 36 Sponsor – GatesAir

Many thanks to GatesAir and their regional sales rep, Ron Lane, for helping to support SBE Chapter 36 activities. It was great to see Ron at our September meeting. Ron, a veteran broadcaster himself from KKOS Carlsbad, had worked for Pacific Research & Engineering before the company was acquired by Harris, that later split into two companies, one of which is today’s GatesAir. 

DoD Ends SBE 2 GHz ENG Frequency Coordination

Robert “RJ” Russell, SBE National Frequency Coordination Manager, sent the following bulletin this week to local coordinators:

“On November 18, 2024, the SBE was informed by the office of the Chief Information Officer, Department of Defense, that the SBE’s frequency coordination services in the 2GHz band would no longer be required. The SBE’s services end on January 31, 2025.

Continue reading DoD Ends SBE 2 GHz ENG Frequency Coordination

LA Fires Displace Three Broadcast Engineers

[From an SBE Chapter 47 bulletin written by Matthew Anderson]

Its been an intense few weeks with all the fires raging in our beloved Los Angeles area. Our hearts go out to each and every person affected by these awful events. We are very grateful to all of the firefighters and first responders who have been valiantly battling the fires.

We’ve heard of 3 LA engineers who unfortunately lost their homes. We will be making a contribution to their Go Fund Me pages and encourage our members and friends to do the same. If you are able to help in any way, please consider donating to the links listed below.

The three engineers and their families have active GoFundMe pages. Michael Kealing, manager of engineering at Trinity Broadcasting Network, Charlina “Liz” Johnson, senior studio/transmitter engineer at Univision Communications and Maurice Mischook, a broadcast engineer at iHeartMedia, all suffered losses in the Eaton Fire.

We thank you for your continued support of Los Angeles radio and television and hope everyone stays safe.