If I were king of the FCC, one of the ar…

If I were king of the FCC, one of the areas I would clean up is abusers of “Stay Silent” permissions. There are a group of radio stations where the “owner” has no intention of ever operating a radio station – they file for permission to stay silent… when the year is up at which point they would automatically forfeit the license, they take a temporary transmitter out in the field, turn it on for a day, and then refile for another year of staying silent. These are typically wheeler dealers who speculate and trade in licenses, but serviing the public interest is about the last thing on their mind. It’s pretty darn hard to lose your FCC license – unless you’re a religious broadcaster and don’t keep accurate EAS logs.