The Salvation of Christian Radio is at Hand!!!
by Samuel Febres
It seems like the FCC may be inadvertently smacking down Christian radio stations along with Ross Middleton, or at least making some suggestions or changes that have them shaking in their boots and I think it’s for the better.
Arstechnica has a report up about how an organization called Saved Christian Radio is, in my opinion, spreading FUD (Fear, Uncertaintly and Doubt) about a proposal brought up by the FCC.
Here’s what the FCC is suggesting:
The Federal Communications Commission (the “Commission”) today took measures to help ensure that broadcast stations offer programming responsive to the needs and interests of the communities that they are licensed to serve.
The FCC is basically asking that radio stations better serve their communities by offering programming that is relevant to the community of a station. The part that has the SCR organization with their panties in a wad is where they make a suggestion about having a local board or organization give advice to broadcasters on how to better serve their local community. Why are they afraid of this. In their own words:
That means that Christian broadcast stations could be forced to take programming advice from people whose values are at odds with the Gospel! A well organized group of atheists, abortionists or secular humanists could demand representation – and have standing to cause trouble at the FCC if they were turned away.
I think that’s laughable.
Some other lines i found humorous:
But unlike public access channels, which were created as a kind of open public forum, Christian Radio is a combination of pulpit and mission.
- I think Ross properly Smacked Down the pulpit/mission validity of Christian entertainment radio.
This one is the kicker, and I think the heart of the matter and their concerns. Like most things, I guess it all about the benjamins.
Finally, the FCC is also proposing to drive up the costs of providing Christian Broadcasting services by eliminating labour-saving technological enhancements that make it possible to operate radio stations, at least part of the time, without an employee on the premises.
Although such un-staffed operations have been the norm for years, the FCC is considering a rule to require staffing whenever a radio station is on the air – even if all the programming at that time is delivered by satellite. God’s love may be free to all, but getting the word out will become even more expensive – perhaps too expensive for some radio stations.
The writer of the Arstechnica article says it best:
Perhaps the group also dislikes these suggestions because they inconvenience a Christian broadcasting movement that has become overly dependent on remote, satellite delivered programming down linked to studios where, much of the time, not a single human being works.
So how is this FCC suggetion going to save Christian radio?
Well, as a local community, we could possibly make suggestions for the type of programming we would like to hear on a Christian radio station. We could suggest an update to that tired old playlist. We could suggest some local programming and maybe allow some local Christian artists the opportunity to air their songs on the radio and help foster a local music community using the airwaves to unite a community. Those are just some basic ideas (although the local Christian artist airplay might be a bit scary), but I think it’s a step in the right direction. The ideas is that radio stations are less local owned and now no matter where you go, you hear the same 20 songs on the radio numerous times per day. These changes will allow the community to have more input in the programming they are interested in and that makes sense to them.
I think this might just be a great idea that will save Christian radio.
I’ll end with a bit from the report:
The Report notes that, as temporary trustees of the public’s airwaves, broadcasters are obligated to operate their stations to serve the public interest, including their airing of programming responsive to the needs and issues of their station communities of license. The actions and proposals contained in the Report are intended to ensure that the nations’ broadcasters will meet this responsibility.
Further Reading: