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Radio News: FCC ending telegram regulations, main studio rule

Oct 22, 2017 10:32 pm
Reuters reports that the Federal Communications Commission is ending rules on telegraphs Nov. 20. In the United States, the final Western Union telegram was delivered in 2006, and the FCC stopped enforcing telegram rules in 2013. India's telegram service, the last in the world, shut down in 2013. The FCC said it was removing “outmoded regulations” on telegraphs to, “further our goals of reducing regulatory burdens, eliminating unnecessary rule provisions, and making the agency as efficient and effective as possible.” Next week, the FCC will vote to end a 1939 requirement that each AM, FM, and television broadcast station maintain a main studio located in or near its community of license. This will allow more computerized programming from afar, and less public access to the public airwaves. The rule was to, “ensure that stations would be accessible and responsive to their communities. However, a local main studio is no longer needed to fulfill these purposes,” the FCC now says.