Re: What Govt Act Bugs You Most?

Seth David Schoen (schoen@uclink4.Berkeley.EDU)
4 Nov 1997 02:36:00 GMT 

Kevin Peterson writes:

>(Incidentally, stations may be /required/ to play these.  I'm not sure, but I
>think there is a public service anouncement clause in the license from the
>FCC)

There is a PSA requirement for all licensed stations.  On the other hand,
noncommercial stations, at least, have considerable lattitude in what the
content of the PSAs can be.  The government doesn't actually provide
official PSA content, but just mandates that a certain proportion of
on-air time be dedicated to it.  Government agencies, and many foundations,
supply 

Amazingly, as a DJ and board member of my high school's radio station, I
was privileged to see the following topics, for example, offered to us as
possible PSAs by government, private charities, and industry:

- Anti-smoking and anti-drug messages, both Mass. Department of Public
Health and in-house
- Anti-abortion messages
- Thinly-veiled generic religious proselytizing
- A reminder to sign up for Selective Service
- Encouragements to enlist in the United States Armed Forces
- Encouragements to defend the environment
- Encouragements to have sympathy for blind and disabled people
- General in-house motivational PSAs
- An encouragement to eat more fiber (from General Mills)

I firmly believe that the institution of PSAs gets widely abused.  In
fact, it's almost the opposite of the government telling you exactly
what to play -- the guidelines and criteria seem to be extremely loose,
but I think many DJs are looking for something innocuous, simple, and
unoffensive to a majority of listeners.

Interestingly (sorry if this is repeating myself from elsewhere, once again;
I think I mentioned it at a meeting) it appears that with the old EBS
system, all radio stations were _mandated_ to give a weekly test with a
standardized introduction beginning:

"This is a test.  In voluntary co-operation with local, state, and Federal
authorities, this station will conduct a test of the emergency broadcast
system..."

I was the person assigned to do the weekly EBS test for my high school
radio station, and I enjoyed reading the message, but I always found that
word "voluntary" interesting.  :-)

-- 
   Seth David Schoen L&S '01 (undeclared) / schoen@uclink4.berkeley.edu
Magna dis immortalibus habenda est atque huic ipsi Iovi Statori, antiquissimo
custodi huius urbis, gratia, quod hanc tam taetram, tam horribilem tamque
infestam rei publicae pestem totiens iam effugimus.  -- Cicero, in Catilinam I