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What are the early Sunday morning public service programs?
- Thread starter thezak
- Start date
Perhaps David Eduardo or someone with more knowledge than I have should answer this, but, IIRC, the requirement for a station to devote a certain amount of programming, especially in the early hours of a Sunday morning, disappeared when the FCC's Fairness Doctrine went out of currency. When the latter occurred, conservative AM talk radio really took off like wildfire, since the stations no longer had to provide "equal time for opposing views from responsible spokesmen".
However, some - very few - stations still see a civic responsibility and have carried on the tradition of weekly public service programming.
But if it weren't the Fairness Doctrine's expiration, then it may have been the enaction of the Telecommunications Acts of 1992 and/or 1996.
The Fairness Doctrine covered balance and opposing viewpoints.
The requirement to run certain percentages of News, Public Affairs and Other programming was and is not related to the Fairness Doctrine. It is related to the belief that goes back nearly 90 years that radio stations should operate in the public interest. That has always been interpreted to mean that a percentage of programming must be "more" than entertainment.
The FCC did and does not mandate running the public interest blocks on Sundays. Stations decided on that time as the ratings and common sense dictated that those hours were the least damaging to a station's goal of holding a large audience. While the FCC did not, ever, recognize that people can not be forced to listen to what they don't want to hear, stations got it completely.
That is indeed the effect of the removal of the Fairness Doctrine rules. But it did not change the public affairs requirement, which still exists although not as quantified and far less of a burden on stations; the larger requirement today is to put a regular summary of "community issues and programs" in the Public File for compliance.
Actually, all stations have an obligation but the ways of satisfying the requirement are less. In the 60's and 60's, the sum of News, PA and Other for an AM needed to be around 8%, with 6% for an FM... or you would get your renewal application set aside for review.
The changes have been mostly part of the FCC's general relaxation of the more absurd rules over the years. In part, this has come about due to the huge increase in station counts (due in a great part to Docket 80-90) which made the FCC consider that there were now plenty of voices in every community, reducing the need for each station to be "fair and balanced" individually.
(Probably more than you wanted to know...
)
The Fairness Doctrine covered balance and opposing viewpoints.
The requirement to run certain percentages of News, Public Affairs and Other programming was and is not related to the Fairness Doctrine. It is related to the belief that goes back nearly 90 years that radio stations should operate in the public interest. That has always been interpreted to mean that a percentage of programming must be "more" than entertainment.
The FCC did and does not mandate running the public interest blocks on Sundays. Stations decided on that time as the ratings and common sense dictated that those hours were the least damaging to a station's goal of holding a large audience. While the FCC did not, ever, recognize that people can not be forced to listen to what they don't want to hear, stations got it completely.
That is indeed the effect of the removal of the Fairness Doctrine rules. But it did not change the public affairs requirement, which still exists although not as quantified and far less of a burden on stations; the larger requirement today is to put a regular summary of "community issues and programs" in the Public File for compliance.
Actually, all stations have an obligation but the ways of satisfying the requirement are less. In the 60's and 60's, the sum of News, PA and Other for an AM needed to be around 8%, with 6% for an FM... or you would get your renewal application set aside for review.
The changes have been mostly part of the FCC's general relaxation of the more absurd rules over the years. In part, this has come about due to the huge increase in station counts (due in a great part to Docket 80-90) which made the FCC consider that there were now plenty of voices in every community, reducing the need for each station to be "fair and balanced" individually.
(Probably more than you wanted to know...
David,
You have definitely provided not only the OP but also a whole lot more of us with some very helpful insight into broadcast history and practice. Thank you!
Although neither of you have actually answered the original question
And I doubt that a complete list could even be approximated, as stations don't even for the most part mention these shows on their web pages or promote them much.
You might get some indication by looking at the online Public File for each station under the so-called "problems / programs" list. Or, perhaps, by emailing the station manager or PD... but I'd bet that 75% won't even answer.
Conclusion: monitor the stations you are interested in knowing about.
I think WUMB has had a show called Commonwealth Journal for years. "Commonwealth Journal is an award-winning weekly, half-hour public and cultural affairs talk show that airs Sunday mornings at 7:30 a.m. on WUMB 91.9 FM and on more than two dozen radio stations across Massachusetts. ... Commonwealth Journal is produced by WUMB Radio and UMass Boston ..."
Years ago WMWM ran half hour public affairs reel to reel tapes weekdays at 2:30.One was Voices of our World from Maryknoll Missionaries.
Bob Bittner's WJIB very occasionally had talk show Let's Talk About Radio and there was some kind of half hour public affairs show just before it.
Years ago WMWM ran half hour public affairs reel to reel tapes weekdays at 2:30.One was Voices of our World from Maryknoll Missionaries.
Bob Bittner's WJIB very occasionally had talk show Let's Talk About Radio and there was some kind of half hour public affairs show just before it.
WLYN and WAZN air a simulcast of Commonwealth Journal, a program produced by WUMB at UMass, Boston.
It is currently heard Sunday mornings, from 3am to 5am.
It is currently heard Sunday mornings, from 3am to 5am.
Most stations use Radio Health Journal and Viewpoints. Some clusters have local interview segments recorded during the week (Entercom does I believe) WNTN has “1550 Today” 7-8AM Saturday mornings.
Ones that do not tend to have other forms public service features during the week to fill the requirement.
Ones that do not tend to have other forms public service features during the week to fill the requirement.
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