For eons, the right has tried to take away federal funds for PBS, NPR and their stations, but Trump's new FCC chairman Brendan Carr is claiming that underwriting messages on PBS and NPR and their stations are crossing the line into commercials:
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/30/nx-s1-5281162/fcc-npr-pbs-investigation The federal laws say that non-commercial stations can run underwriting announcements as long as they don't contain price information, comparisons or, most notably, a "call to action" ("Try Krunchie-Wunchies today--they're flavortastic!"). Since the underwriting laws were changed 35 years ago, some pubcaster supporters have complained about them, mostly on general principles and usually from either the far left about anything representing Evil Corporate Capitalist AmeriKKKa (even if the announcements on most radio stations, especially in small markets, are from local small businesses) or classical music hardcores who don't want their Bach and Beethoven sullied by "advertising" between pieces. Still, at least 90 percent of non-commercial stations run them (the exceptions being the few college stations that are totally funded by the school and fundraising and "community" stations like the eternally struggling Pacifica group). And one would think that the right would be totally in favor of anything that reduces government funding (and where the Bible-thumping noncoms are usually the ones playing fast and loose with the regulations)--oh, that's right, they want PBS and NPR out of business and all of those frequencies taken over by EMF (the "K-Love" people) or Rev. Billy Bob's Cathedral of Faith Healing and Snake Handling. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tvornottv/581326ee-6a7d-4d7a-a5dd-997abe080c90n%40googlegroups.com.
