An article in the Jan. 16th Seattle Post-Intelligencer about some proposed Federal Communications Commission regulations should send chills down the spines of radio broadcasters and lovers of the First Amendment.  (Hat tip to the radio industry website AllAccess.com and it's Net News column--membership required for access.)

The proposal emerged in a meeting of the FCC last month.  Among the items (from the FCC press release):

"Licensees should establish permanent advisory boards (including representatives of underserved community segments) in each station community of license with which to consult periodically on community needs and issues."

"Commission adoption of renewal application processing guidelines that will ensure that all broadcasters provide some locally-oriented programming."

P-I reporter Bill Virgin asks: 

But how would that obligation be fulfilled? That's where conjecture has run rampant, with suggestions that proposals might include requirements for more local news, to measuring how much "local content" in music a station carries, to having someone in the station's studios at all times when it's on the air.

Another possibility suggested in the story:

Mark Allen, president of the Washington State Association of Broadcasters, says it wasn't that long ago that many stations signed off late at night. Allen says he's heard from some members that if the FCC requires studio staffing at all hours the station is on the air, they might go back to that pattern.

There's certainly nothing wrong with local programming, until it becomes a government mandate.  The language about "underserved community segments" sounds like an invitation to PC programming and maybe even a backdoor de facto Fairness Doctrine.  And the local programming mandate might even be used to limit the amount of syndicated programs like Limbaugh, Hannity, et al., that stations may carry.

If that isn't chilling enough, here's another excerpt from the P-I story:

But FCC Commissioners Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein say it's high time the commission reasserted authority over airwaves, the use of which are granted free to private broadcasters.

.....

Adelstein said the commission needs to correct its "earlier miscalculation that market forces alone will ensure broadcasters promote quality local news, local artists and informative local political and civic affairs programming. For over a quarter century, the commission has outsourced its obligation to ensure that broadcasters will address the programming needs and interests of the people in their communities of license."

Copps and Adelstein are Democrats.  Adelstein was an advisor to Tom Daschle.

This is the kind of stuff going on under a Republican administration.  Imagine what the FCC would be like if Hillary gets to appoint its members.