By David Oxenford on Posted in Emergency Communications,FCC Fines,General FCCIt’s that time again. If you are planning any on-air pranks on Monday for April Fools’ Day, think twice. As we do every year about this time, we need to play our role as attorneys and ruin the fun by repeating our reminder that broadcasters need to be careful with any on-air pranks, jokes or other… Continue Reading
By David Oxenford on Posted in General FCC,Programming Regulations,Public Interest Obligations/LocalismThis is the 75th anniversary of the Mercury Players broadcast of the Orson Welles production of the War of the Worlds – a radio broadcast that seemingly scared many Americans into thinking that the country was under attack by Martians, that my home state of New Jersey had been overrun, and that the rest of the… Continue Reading
By David Oxenford on Posted in FCC Fines,General FCC,Programming RegulationsWith April Fool’s Day only a few short days away, and with many articles running in the trade press about what stations should and shouldn’t do on that day, we thought that we would weigh in with our own legal reminder – no matter what you do, be careful not to violate the FCC’s rule… Continue Reading
