Local News

FCC Considers Eliminating Old Rules Regarding Site Sharing

Let’s say you got in early–1949 perhaps–and you now own a highly-regarded communications site on a prominent location where no one else can develop a similar site. Let’s set as a random example, Mt. Soledad in La Jolla, California.

FCC Logo

Should you be required by law to share that site with your competitors?

The FCC said so at the end of World War II, 1945, and that rule has remained in effect. And now they’re asking for comments on eliminating it.

Should they? On one hand, there are many more communications sites now to choose from. The likes of American Tower, Crown Castle, InSite, and Vertical Bridge are ready and waiting for you.

On the other hand, sites like Mt. Soledad will remain, as the FCC terms it, “peculiarly suitable for broadcasting.” What’s to keep Scripps and Tegna from excluding Entercom and iHeart from their sites at the end of their leases once the rules are changed?

If you would like to comment on the change, check out the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking FCC 19-106.

Meetings

October 16 Meeting: Laguna Designs

Designing and building well-regarded audio-video furniture requires a disciplined combination of form, function, and craftsmanship. We are privileged to have just up the freeway in Laguna Niguel one of the greats of building both for broadcast radio and post-production television. Mitch Strohman of Laguna Designs will visit this month to show us some design considerations and ideas that he’s turned into functional art.

On Wednesday, October 16 at iHeartMedia in San Diego, Mitch Strohman gave a well-narrated slide show of some of their contemporary control room furniture designs. He emphasized the evolution toward minimalist furniture using extruded aluminum support and pre-manufactured laminated MDF surface since monitors are now flat and controls are often virtual. They do a lot of sophisticated multiscreen monitor walls now, as you might imagine.

About Mitch

Mitch Strohman started Laguna Designs Inc. in 2002 as a premier, solutions provider for Broadcast and Post Production technical millwork. “Having 20 years of design and project management experience as well as an entrepreneurial flair, we recognized the need for the specialized demands of the entertainment industry. We are a boutique shop that remains entirely focused on a relatively small market niche. We strive to provide personalized and innovative solutions with focused expertise.”

National

EAS Update

Stations: Confirm Your Station is Compliant with EAS Updates

By Larry Wilkins, Chair, SBE EAS Advisory Group

The FCC and FEMA are in the process of making changes in the EAS and CAP system. Most of these changes concern security issues. To aid stations in understanding these changes and what will be required to keep your EAS units compliant, we have put together the following information.

Continue reading EAS Update →
Local News, National

FCC Okays Nexstar Purchase of Tribune Media

The FCC today announced the approval of Nexstar Broadcasting Group’s acquisition of Tribune Media. Nexstar will become the largest owner of TV stations with more than 200 outlets nationwide.

Nexstar will have to divest 21 stations in markets where their outlets will put the company over FCC station count limits. They’ve planned to sell off those excess stations to the Tegna, Scripps, and Circle City groups.

In San Diego, Tribune has operated KSWB-TV, known locally as “Fox 5,” that the group purchased in a bankruptcy sale in 1995 for $70-million.

Tribune Media owned the San Diego Union-Tribune from May 2015 until it was purchased by Patrick Soon-Shiong in February 2018.

Society of Broadcast Engineers