Ed De La Hunt of Kelliher, Minn.’s Bemidji Radio Inc. has added a dissenting voice in his comments on the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.
Although he agrees with some of the commission’s suggestions, he has his doubts about the benefits of relaxing the Ratchet Rule. De La Hunt is concerned that relaxing these regulations without also altering the “Night Sky-wave protection requirements” will have a negative impact on stations that have been playing by the FCC’s old rules.
De La Hunt is also not so hot on the idea of modifying AM antenna efficiency standards, casting doubt on whether this is as “noble” an approach as it may first seem. He is concerned that new antennas would be inefficient, therefore causing as many problems as they hoped to solve.
In his comments, De La Hunt writes, “This is not an AM revitalization and/or improvement; this is setting a broadcaster up for poor/limited service objectives, which will result in failure.”
Watch our page radioworld.com/amcomments for summaries of other comments to the FCC NPRM.
