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In June 2006, I started writing the Broadcast Law Blog, discussing issues like the broadcast ownership rules, music licensing issues, FCC filing windows for new broadcast stations, AM radio improvements, political broadcasting issues, and an upcoming technology transition for digital television.  It is funny how these same issues, or ones very close to these issues, are still what we are writing about 20 years later.  And they are keeping us busy so that, somehow, with all that is going on in the media world right now, and with a heavy June schedule of speaking at broadcaster’s conventions around the country, I missed noting the 20th anniversary of our first post on June 11, 2006. 

20 years ago, we promised to try to give our take on the important news of the day for broadcasters – and noted that our comments would go beyond traditional broadcasting to cover other media issues saying:

Broadcasting is no longer an island unto itself. Instead, each day it becomes more and more clear that the world that traditional broadcasting inhabits is one that goes far beyond those narrow areas that the FCC has traditionally defined as a broadcast service. Thus, we will be pointing out developments and legal decisions that impact not only traditional over-the-air radio and television stations, but also those in the myriad “new media” that are now so crucial to any understanding of the broadcast industry. Media “convergence,” which has for so long been nothing more than a buzz word thrown around to make it seem like we’re thinking about the future, is finally here, and cannot be ignored in a discussion of the broadcast industry.

Continue Reading We Missed Our Anniversary! – 20 Years of the Broadcast Law Blog

We are celebrating our birthday.  Last week marked 15 years since the first short articles were published on this blog, with an official welcome being posted once we decided that we really could find something to regularly write about – that welcome posted 15 years ago Friday.  Here we are, a decade and a half and almost 2,500 articles later, and there still is no shortage of topics to cover.

In the 15 years that the blog has been active, our audience has grown dramatically.  In fact, I’m amazed by all the different groups of readers – broadcasters and employees of digital media companies, attorneys and members of the financial community, journalists, regulators, and even students and teachers.  Because of all the encouragement that I have received, I’ve kept going, hopefully providing you all with some valuable information along the way.  If you are interested, I recently discussed the blog with the LexBlog’s This Week in Legal Blogging (the video can be accessed here), telling many stories about unusual interactions with readers of our articles.
Continue Reading Celebrating 15 Years of the Broadcast Law Blog

Yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of my first post welcoming readers to this Blog.  I’d like to thank all of you who read the blog, and the many of you who have had nice words to say about its contents over the years.  In the ten years that the blog has been active, our audience has grown dramatically.  In fact, I’m amazed by all the different groups of readers – broadcasters and employees of digital media companies, attorneys and members of the financial community, journalists, regulators and even students and teachers. The blog was recently profiled on Lexblog Leaders, relaying some of the stories about readers that I have discovered, and I have many more such stories.  Because of all the encouragement that I have received, I’ve keep going, hopefully providing you all with some valuable information along the way.

I want to thank those who have supported me in being able to bring this blog to you.  My old firm, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP helped me get this started (and graciously allowed me to take the blog with me when I moved to my current firm four years ago).  My new firm, Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP, has also been very supportive, and I particularly want to thanks several attorneys at the firm (especially Rosemary Harold, David O’Connor and Kelly Donohue) who help catch, on short notice, my typos and slips in analysis for articles that I usually get around to finishing shortly before my publishing deadline.  I’ve also published a number of articles written by my colleagues, and I hope that they will continue with their valuable contributions in the future.  Thanks, also, to my friendly competitors at the other law firms that have taken up publishing blogs on communications and media legal issues since I launched mine – you all do a great job with your own take on the issues, and you inspire me to try to keep up with you all. 
Continue Reading It’s Our Anniversary – A Decade of the Broadcast Law Blog

About 6 years ago, I started the Broadcast Law Blog, with a colleague now at the FCC, while at the law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.  I want to thank that firm for the support that they gave to me and the Blog, which has allowed its readership to grow to heights that I…

Almost every day, something happens that affects the broadcast world. In our office, we are constantly running back and forth across the hall, or shooting each other emails, about news stories or regulatory actions that we think are important or interesting – and about which we need to keep informed to serve our clients. Often, we’ll pass some stories on to clients to whom we think that they might be relevant. When we see something of major significance, we often incorporate it into a bulletin or advisory that goes to all of our clients. 

But we don’t always get every important or interesting story to every client. So we’ve decided to try this blog – to give our take on some of the events that we see that are relevant to the world of the broadcaster. Obviously, we write as lawyers, and our focus will be on legal issues. But we will try to reach beyond the legal issues, to point at trends and developments that we see as affecting the industry. And we’ll report on those things that we see that simply are interesting or amusing to those in the broadcast industry. And we’ll look for your responses to our thoughts and observations, and hopefully have a dialog on these issues.Continue Reading Welcome to Our Blog