Free Republic

Journalists walk on the 450-meter (1,476 feet)-high observation deck of the Tokyo Sky Tree during a press preview in Tokyo Tuesday, April 17, 2012. The world's tallest freestanding broadcast structure that stands 634-meter (2,080 feet) will open to the public in May. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

After numerous failed doomsday predictions, Family Radio founder Harold Camping announced this month that he has no plans to predict ever again the day of God's Judgment. He also issued an apology to listeners, admitting that he was wrong. "We have learned the very painful lesson that all of creation is in God's hands and He will end time in His time, not ours!" a statement on Family Radio's website reads. "We humbly recognize that God may not tell His people the date when Christ will return, any more than He tells anyone the date they will die physically." Camping,...

If a church broadcasts the word of God on TV without closed captions, it risks incurring the wrath of the FCC. Some 300 small- to medium-sized churches can expect letters from the commission within the next few days explaining why their closed captioning exemptions were lifted for TV shows like “Power in the Word” and “Producing Kingdom Citizens.” The FCC has been mailing the letters for the past few days to churches from Maine to California, explaining that the hundreds of exemptions are now rescinded and giving the programmers 90 days to reapply. The churches were granted FCC exemptions from...

Jack Coleman's picture And if you laughed at those remarks, you're a criminal too. Or at the very least, a thought criminal. Yes, you. Liberal radio host Thom Hartmann is peeved that media outlets such as Fox News and CNN are covering the so-called Occupy Wall Street movement and allegedly interviewing only the most "politically unsophisticated" protesters, after searching all of nanoseconds to find them. (audio after page break) Here's Hartmann complaining about this on his radio show yesterday after opening a segment with the all-too-apropo "Take the Money and Run" from paleo-rocker Steve Miller (audio) -- You know, this...

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- In the wake of the April 27 tornadoes, veteran television meteorologist James Spann is questioning whether too frequent tornado warnings are causing people to ignore them. "I firmly believe apathy and complacency due to a high false alarm ratio over the years led to inaction in many cases that could have cost lives," Spann wrote in a wide-ranging blog post that has generated debate among weather watchers and fellow meteorologists.

Former NAB General Counsel Erwin Krasnow says that it is time for the FCC to renounce the "discredited concept" that the public owns the airwaves, which he says is the "the main reason for broadcasting's second-class status under the First Amendment." Krasnow argues that the airwaves are no more owned by the public than is the sunlight used to grow grain or the wind used to turn a windmill.

The end of an era is at hand. Today marks the last day of BBC World Service Broadcasts to China and Russia after 70 years on the air. Voice of America (VOA) may not be far behind. VOA several years ago closed down its Russian broadcasts, and, according to the President’s 2012 budget request, broadcasts to China are soon to follow. Already shortwave service in Cantonese has been closed down, and in October, Mandarin is to follow. Next year, television as well as AM and FM radio are on the cutting block. The Chinese people have been able to rely...

Byron York offers the good news this morning that Republicans on Capitol Hill remain committed to ending subsidies for public broadcasting, including NPR and PBS. The defeat of the House budget bill in the Senate last night sets back that effort, but the high-profile meltdown at NPR and a potential embarrassment looming at PBS will keep momentum for the push: After the release of the James O’Keefe sting video Tuesday, National Public Radio officials rushed to fire NPR head Vivian Schiller in hopes of slowing Republican efforts to cut federal funding for public broadcasting. But GOP leaders in Congress are...

If these outfits can afford to pay lavish salaries to their heads, they don't need taxpayer help. When presidents of government-funded broadcasting are making more than the president of the United States, it's time to get the government out of public broadcasting. While executives at the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR) are raking in massive salaries, the organizations are participating in an aggressive lobbying effort to prevent Congress from saving hundreds of millions of dollars each year by cutting their subsidies. The so-called commercial free public airwaves have been filled with pleas for taxpayer cash. The...

Michael Wolff: CNN + CBS = Less Than Zero Michael Wolff May. 7, 2010, 10:00 AM Bill Carter, the New York Times’ hoary television reporter, in his story the other day about partnership talks between CNN and CBS, treated both networks as though they were august news organizations, instead of ruined artifacts of a former age. Carter’s is yet another an example of the illusion the news media somehow successfully maintains about itself—about its importance and permanence and, even, the awe with which it is regarded—in the face of all evidence to the contrary. As it happens, CBS—“once the home...

To Our Loyal Listeners... We regret that Rush Limbaugh is no longer a part of the Curtis Media Family, effective, December 31st, 2009. However, please know the following true facts: 1) The decision to move Rush from WSJS was NOT ours. 2) Rather, that call was made by the programs’ syndication company, Premiere Radio Networks. We were afforded no opportunity to discuss the matter, let alone renegotiate a new deal. Instead, we were given a 90-day notice of cancellation back in September. 3) Premiere Radio Networks are controlled by Clear Channel Communications, the same company that owns five of our...

High-ranking House Democrats are urging the Treasury Department to prop up minority-owned broadcasters suffering from a lack of capital and lost advertising revenue amid the economic slump. House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) is leading an effort to convince Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to take “decisive action” by extending credit to this sector of the broadcasting industry. Clyburn and other senior members, including House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), argue that minority-owned broadcasters are sound businesses, but that the recession could undermine the government’s efforts to diversify the airwaves....

John Madden doesn't get enough credit. He's getting plenty of love, of course, on the occasion of his retirement from football broadcasting after 30 years, but the celebration of the 73-year-old's career still underestimates his influence. Fox Sports President Ed Goren describes Mr. Madden as "the No. 1 sports analyst on television," but that doesn't go far enough. Nor do his 16 Emmy Awards tell the entire story of his extraordinary impact. SNIP Mr. Madden is a transformational figure in the history of entertainment. He changed the way that we watch television and the way we think about sports. ....Using...

NEW YORK — John Madden is calling it quits. NBC said Thursday that the burly ex-coach who has been one of pro football's top broadcast analysts has decided to retire. The 73-year-old Madden has been working for the past three seasons on NBC's Sunday night NFL game. His last telecast was the Super Bowl between Arizona and Pittsburgh.

<p>Update: Team president David Montgomery says that Harry Kalas is dead at age 73.</p> <p>Bad news for Phillies fans: announcer Harry Kalas is found passed out in the press box and rushed to GW Hospital.</p> <p>Philadelphia Phillies president David Montgomery says team broadcaster Harry Kalas has been taken to a hospital after passing out in the broadcast booth before Monday's game at the Washington Nationals.</p>

WMAQ-Ch. 5 and WFLD-Ch. 32 have an opening for their Local News Service The games are the same, as are the scores. Highlights and interview sound bites vary only slightly. What differentiates the sportscast on one local newscast from another—occasionally memorable enterprise features and reporting notwithstanding—is mostly the writing, the reading and the rapport of those who bring it to us. So what would happen if one station's news operation farmed out its sports segment? What if a deal was struck with, say, Comcast SportsNet to produce and deliver that part of the newscast? If such an arrangement could get...

Mark Simone just announced on his radio show that legendary broadcaster Paul Harvey has passed away. He was 91 years old. No details yet.

“May you live in interesting times.” No one knows with certainty if this proverb is a famous Chinese curse or not. However, one can certainly accept the fact that these times are indeed interesting…meaning troubled…in many spheres including economics and international broadcasting. While the fine points of US international broadcasting are debated among a fairly small circle of interested participants and observers, the globalized financial markets appear to be poised on the brink of collapse. What’s the connection? Not long ago, a book was published with the title “Dow 36,000.” This book was authored by James Glassman, the most recent...

Coming to a radio or TV network near you - the sounds of silence, at least from conservatives like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. Same goes for Glenn Beck, Hugh Hewitt, Dennis Prager and Laura Ingraham and the rest of talk radio and TV. Whispers are growing louder that certain Democrats, a growing number of them, want to impose "balance" in broadcasting, otherwise known as the Fairness Doctrine, which was legislated into FCC law back in 1949 but dismissed in 1985 because, as Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. pointed out, it "chilled speech." It also ran counter to our First...

BBG Spreads Freedom and Democracy by: Melinda Zosh, May 20, 2008 America’s prominent news stations, CNN, Fox News, ABC, CBS, and NBC, broadcast to millions each day. But combined, none have as many viewers or as many hours of footage as the BBG—the Broadcasting Board of Governors. BBG is “the independent federal agency responsible for all U.S. government and government sponsored, non-military, international broadcasting,” according to the Broadcasting Board of Governors Web site. James K. Glassman, Chair of the BBG, said that although the BBG is telecast around the world, the organization focuses on three countries which are critical to...

RIVER FOREST, Ill. — The wife of radio legend Paul Harvey, Lynne Cooper Harvey died at her Illinois home Saturday morning after a year-long battle with leukemia, according to a statement from Harvey's office. The woman he called "Angel" was 92. Lynne developed and edited her husband's best-known feature "The Rest of the Story." A director, writer and editor, and the producer of her husband's radio program, she was the first producer ever inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame. Among her brainchilds were including news features within hard-news broadcasts, and the humorous "kicker," which became a Paul Harvey trademark....

Somebody in the Huckabee camp made the mistake of insulting the leader of the conservative movement in the U.S., Rush Limbaugh. Rush responded on Friday's show and basically ripped the Huckabee camp a well-deserved new one. Whoever made the original comments clearly has not been paying attention. Some are questioning whether the Huckabee campaign can survive the shellacking it got on Friday's program. Huckabee is trying to stop the bleeding: SIOUX CITY, Iowa — The best-talking Republican politician in America has a message for the best-talking conservative voice in the country: Let's talk to one another. Mike Huckabee, taking questions...

Vin Scully, the great broadcaster for the Los Angeles Dodgers, turns 80 years old today. He began his career with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1950. When the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958, Scully moved with them. 8 seasons in Brooklyn, 50 seasons in LA. 58 seasons and counting. Wow. Scully's longevity is remarkable, but even more remarkable is his unique style. It transcends just sportscasting. It is artistic broadcasting at its best. You don't have to be a sports fan to appreciate him. You can read about his style in this fine Salon article There are more articles...

The BBC has cancelled a plan for a Comic Relief-style day of programmes about environmental issues a week after it came under fire from two of its most senior news and current affairs executives over impartiality issues surrounding the TV special. Planet Relief would have highlighted concerns about global warming and encouraged viewers to take part in a mass "switch-off" to save energy. Ricky Gervais and Graham Norton were among the celebrities mooted to take part. However, it faced criticism from the BBC head of TV news, Peter Horrocks, and the Newsnight editor, Peter Barron, at the MediaGuardian Edinburgh International...

ap.org is link only.STORY

I commented below on a report that ZDF the German equivalent of the BBC was starting with programming aimed at a Muslim audience (and scroll down a small way). Now the General Secretary of the Bavarian Christian Social Union has criticised the ZDF plans.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 6, 2006 FCC ISSUES ORDER ON REMAND ADDRESSING EARLIER BROADCAST TELEVISION INDECENCY DECISIONS Washington, D.C. – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today released an Order addressing several television indecency decisions that were remanded to the Commission by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. As part of its March 15, 2006 Omnibus Indecency Order, the FCC originally found that the broadcasts of “The 2003 Billboard Music Awards,” “The Early Show,” “The 2002 Billboard Music Awards,” and several episodes of “NYPD Blue” were apparently indecent and profane. Penalties were not proposed, however, because...

BURHIZ — The voices and the faces of freedom are making their way onto the airwaves in the Diyala Province for the first time since coalition forces arrived in 2003. The Independence Radio and Television news station, an Iraqi broadcast station in Burhiz, began broadcasting television and radio programs Sept. 22. The station hopes to help build a media infrastructure ran by and for the local public. “I really do believe that (freedom of the press) is the key to a peaceful, democratic Iraq. I think they’re off to a good start here in Diyala,” said Maj. Mike Humphreys, public...

Targeting Tomlinson How the Democrats are trying to purge Bush’s conservative pick from the liberal world of public broadcasting. By Stephen Spruiell For nearly six years, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson has fought his battles mostly on his own. Earlier this month he survived a Democrat-led attempt to oust him from the Broadcasting Board of Governors after a State Department inspector general’s report criticized his conduct as chairman. But the same scurrilous charges upon which the report is based have led Republicans in the Senate to put off his re-confirmation hearing until early next year, at which point he will have to...

CBS To Air Profanity-Laden Program It is time to tell CBS and the other networks that enough is enough!. Not content with all the profanity already on TV, CBS has decided to air the profanity-laden unedited version of "9/11" on Sept. 10. The decision by CBS is a slap in the face to the FCC and Congress, which recently raised indecency fines to $325,000 per incident. "9/11," which will be shown in prime-time, contains a tremendous amount of hardcore profanity. CBS has stated they have not, and will not, make any cuts in the amount and degree of profanity. CBS...

Chandler family may actively pursue change in management (Crain’s) — Chandler Trusts, the second-largest holder of Tribune Co. stock, is calling for an independent management review after questioning the leadership abilities of the media conglomerate’s executive team. In a letter filed Wednesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Chandler family strongly recommended that the Tribune’s board of directors appoint an independent committee to evaluate management and to “promptly execute alternatives to restore and enhance stockholder value.” The Chandler family is also calling for the media company to spinoff its broadcasting properties, among other actions. Related story: Chandler family calls...

--House panel backs budget reductions-- WASHINGTON -- House Republicans yesterday revived their efforts to slash funding for public broadcasting, as a key committee approved a $115 million reduction in the budget for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting that could force the elimination of some popular PBS and NPR programs. On a party-line vote, the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees health and education funding approved the cut to the budget for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes money to the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio. It would reduce the corporation's budget by 23 percent next year, to $380...

Democratic Party Chair Howard Dean has contradicted his party’s platform and infuriated gay rights advocates by saying the party’s platform states “marriage is between a man and a woman.” “Howard Dean puts his foot in his mouth so often that he should open a pedicure wing in the DNC during his tenure,” Log Cabin Republicans President Patrick Guerriero said Wednesday. “Howard Dean’s positions on LGBT issues have changed more often than the weather in New England, where he’s from.” National Gay & Lesbian (Socialist) Task Force... Foreman said in response to Dean’s “pandering and insulting interview” with the Christian Broadcasting...

This past Monday, CBS, otherwise known as See? BS!, Al-Jazeera West, and the Corrupt Broadcasting System, proved once again that it is nothing but a shameless propaganda tool of the Democrat party, by releasing the results of a poll it rigged... uh... conducted recently showing that President Bush's popularity rating has plummeted to an all-time low of 34 percent. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/02/27/opinion/polls/main1350874.shtml

A ripple of indignation spread across the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park yesterday over news that its student-run radio station, which has been broadcasting since 1937, might be unceremoniously forced off the air by a more powerful station in Baltimore.

It is no secret that America's international-broadcasting institutions have been sadly lacking in strategic vision for years. In fact, such institutions are among Washington's most dysfunctional. Efforts to make them more efficient in the "war for hearts and minds" inevitably get stymied by political infighting, tight budgets and internecine warfare among the organizations. News last week suggests that the U.S. government is again about to shoot itself in the foot in this vital front of the public diplomacy in war against terrorism by eliminating Voice of America's English-language service. Not all the news is bad, though. The good news...

I found it rather ironic that, on the very day of President Bush's State of the Union address, in which he said that the US is "addicted to oil", we learned that US government international broadcasts are cutting about 90,000 transmitter hours per year. High-powered international broadcast transmitters need a lot of fuel, and in most cases it's oil. The two are not directly connected, of course, but it's a coincidence that reminds us just how energy-inefficient broadcasting, and especially international broadcasting, can be. I was a shortwave listener and DXer for many years before coming to work at Radio...

The cable network's Headline News outlet is poised to give a primetime slot to radio talk-show host Glenn Beck. He goes against everything that CNN has claimed to stand for -- a first-rate pedigree, a non-biased point of view and understated excellence. Beck's chief qualification is that he personifies controversy. Then again, who do I think I'm kidding with this high-minded blather? OF COURSE, controversy alone is enough. In fact, it's PLENTY. If Beck catches on with his own unique audience, he'll get a shot to go on CNN. Then CNN will reckon that Bill O'Reilly will no longer be...

Turkey and Denmark clash over press freedom Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan boycotted a joint press conference with the Danish leader in protest at the presence of a Kurdish TV station on Tuesday (15 November), highlighting European values on free speech. "There is a fundamental difference between Turkey and Denmark in matters of freedom of expression," the Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at the press conference his Turkish counterpart avoided. The Turkish prime minister was visiting the Danish capital Copenhagen as the first stop in a tour around EU capitals to discuss the prospects of Turkey's EU membership....

In one of talk radio's oddest recent moves, the syndicated "Savage Nation" host has made a public call for several new "sidekicks" and even a possible co-host. What in the world would possess Savage to do this, the Radio Equalizer can't imagine. From Savage's Paul Revere Society website:........ (snip) ......As part of its "C-SPAN 25 Years- Viewer Call-ins" series, Air America's Randi Rhodes was teamed up with Salem's Janet Parshall to debate talk radio's influence. Airing Saturday afternoon, it was initially tame. Parshall made a few basic points, while Rhodes had great difficulty getting into the conversation's flow. In terms...

A nun in full By George Weigel Three years ago, when Raymond Arroyo told me that he was going to write the biography of Mother Angelica, the formidable foundress of EWTN, I had to admit to some skepticism. Was there enough of a story there to warrant a full-scale biography? Could an EWTN employee tell the story frankly, fairly, and without premature hagiography? This past April, in Rome, Raymond gave me a copy of the proofs of his book. Five nights of reading later, my initial skepticism had completely abated. Mother Angelica: The Remarkable Story of a Nun, Her Nerve,...

Clear Channel, Entercom and Local Independent Stations Combine Resources to Provide Continuous Information to New Orleans and the Surrounding Area New Orleans, LA – September 2, 2005 – In response to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the radio groups serving New Orleans and the surrounding area have come together to form the United Radio Broadcasters of New Orleans. The United Radio Broadcasters of New Orleans is a joint effort to provide the region with the most complete, reliable and consistent radio broadcast of emergency recovery and relief information. It is comprised of stations operated by Clear Channel Radio (NYSE: CCU),...

Let's not give the CBC any credit for its commentary-free football broadcasts, basically because they were born out of the kind of desperation that arises when you lock out your staff. But the network might inadvertently help revolutionize sports broadcasting. That doesn't mean other networks will air games without announcers, not even after they calculate the cost savings. But we can hope that somebody might learn from this; mainly that the public wants less talk. One of the fascinating things that came out of last Saturday's announcer-free game was the number of viewers who praised the lack of verbiage. A...

ANGST AND NETWORK news go together like — oh, like Simon and Garfunkel, whose popularity peaked around the same time that Walter Cronkite was signing off with the comforting fiction "that’s the way it is." For more than a quarter of a century, the audience for the three evening network newscasts has been both shrinking and aging — leading to widespread speculation that, someday, television news as we know it will cease to exist. Lately, though, angst has given way to full-scale, hyperventilating, stampede-the-exit-doors panic. SNIP Thus, more than 50 years into the television era, television news is at a...

Cindy Sheehan, Rush Limbaugh, and CBSIt isn't Cindy Sheehan - she's no more significant than I am. The problem is the broadcasters who get her to stand on her son's coffin and use it for a soapbox. And it isn't even the broadcasters, but the sheeple who would take offense at the idea that the broadcasters should lose their priveldge - not their right, but their privilege - to transmit at particular frequencies at particular places. And the reason they should lose their privileges is that those privileges - denied to you and me but given to the government's pets...

WHETHER it is to do the dishes, clean the car or vacuum the living room, men now have an answer to their wife's war cry that they never listen: it's not me, darling, it's my brain. Scientists now have discovered that women's voices are more difficult for men to listen to, and process information from, than the voices of other men. Researchers at the University of Sheffield tracked activity in the brains of 12 men while playing recordings of different voices. The results showed that there were startling differences in the way the brain responded to male and female sounds....

The pro-terrorist Al-Jazeera International will debut early next year as a 24-hour English-language news network headquartered in the Middle East. And efforts to bring the network to the U.S. have been "very interesting and extremely encouraging," according to Commercial Director Lindsey Oliver. At launch the network will have a staff of "hundreds," said Oliver, a former director of CNBC Europe. The advertising-supported network will operate out of four broadcast centers – Washington, London, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia - and Doha, Qatar, its headquarters. The international version of Al-Jazeera, which has been accused by Washington of having an anti-American, pro-terrorist bias,...

Congress is once again debating the budget for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which partially funds the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR). Public broadcasting doesn’t require fine-tuning. Like most other remnants of the Great Society, it needs to be killed. Much of the discussion centers on the question of public broadcasting’s bias. That question was settled long ago. PBS’ and NPR’s programming has had an obvious leftist tilt since their inception. In 1969, PBS carried a documentary on the ongoing struggle in Vietnam. The program was produced in - surprise, surprise - Communist North Vietnam. A...

Many commented on the fact that, on the day of the London bombings, the BBC referred over and over again to these acts as terrorism and to the perpetrators as terrorists. This was in striking contrast to its refusal to use the term terrorist when reporting terrorism in Israel. When a bus full of innocent people was blown up in Bloomsbury, it seemed, the perpetrator was a terrorist but when a bus full of innocent people was blown up in Jerusalem the perpetrator was a ‘militant’ or even ‘fighter’. Now, however, it seems that the BBC has had second thoughts...

Opening a new battle with the White House, Senate Democrats on Wednesday abruptly blocked the approval of President Bush's nominee for a top public diplomacy job, charging that the administration had injected partisan politics into the drive to improve the United States' image overseas. The nominee, Dina Powell, the White House personnel director, had been expected to win broad approval to become deputy under secretary of state for public diplomacy, to be the second-in-command to Karen P. Hughes in charge of repairing the United States' reputation, especially in the Muslim world. But in what was to have been a routine...