AZspot AZspot

blue bits. red rocks.
Friday 30 January 2009

The Communications Act of 1934 provided that the airwaves belong to the people, and that they can be licensed to broadcasters to serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity. Over many generations, the broadcaster have come to believe that they, not the people, own the airwaves. In the mid 1980s, Motorola campaigned to have some unused television spectrum reassigned to Land Mobile applications. This would have a huge benefit for public service workers because the television frequencies penetrate walls. The National Association of Broadcasters used its political clout to frustrate the Motorola proposal, claiming that the broadcasters needed those vacant channels in order to provide High Definition service. At that time, the NAB had no intentions of developing any form of HDTV. This was just a bluff. But it was effective in blocking Motorola. Which is a shame because fifteen years later, the heroes at the World Trade Center could have used the Motorola gear. If they had had better communications equipment, would there have been more survivors? That is a question that the broadcasters were not keen to ask. Douglas Crockford

A GNT creation ©2007–2011