[BC] The Public (interest extortionists) & Broadcasting

[Jay Braswell]

  Very responsible! Guess you gave no thought to the
  public your station(s) is dedicated to serve. What
  about those who have never been in a broadcast station
  before? Those who have questions about the service?
  What is in the Public File which stations must
  maintain?

  Tom Osenkowsky, CPBE


You know, Tom...broadcasters that think like you really give me a headache.

I'm not a 'CPBE', but with nearly FORTY years in this business, I have yet to have a TRUE member of the public come into a radio station I owned or was working at/with/for. Oh, I've had some troublemakers...competitors or others who were looking for something to create a problem with. And, of course, there was the occasional FCC inspection.

The whole idea of a "Public File" is pure bullshit. It's just there for a bunch of damned lazy government employees to justify their phony-baloney jobs...and to generate revenue for Uncle Sugar through fines.

If it's a "public" radio station...one that operates from grants and fundraisers...fine. A commercial radio station is a business...a business that its owners have invested hundred of thousands (and millions) of dollars in. Following reasonable rules and regulations are fine. Having to jump through hoops over nonsensical things is ridiculous. Like the $3,000.00 I've got to find to pay a friggin' environmental consultant for the study required to build a tower a little, go-to-hell AM station in a micro-market. What a crock!

If your radio station(s) has the budget for someone to keep track of all that stuff...go on and do it 'till you're satisfied. Just don't lecture to the rest of us, as we have much more important stuff to do...like generating the revenue to keep the electricity turned on, so we can serve the "public's interest, convenience and necessity".