DickCarroll wrote:

"Frank Dresser" wrote in message
...
"DickCarroll" wrote in message
om...
"Frank Dresser" analogdial@worldnet




Hey Frank, where'd you ever get the idea that radio *isn't* open to
the public?
I never knew anyone whatever who wanted a ham radio license who was
barred from getting one. There is a small matter of qualifying for it,
of course, as there is in every endeavor where others can and will be
impacted when the licensee knows not which way is up. But it has
always been open to all comers.


OK, amateur radio is open to the public. But nearly all amateur radio
activity is either contacts between hams or some sort of test. I'm under
the impression that amatuers broadcasting what might be considered
entertainment programming to the public is banned. Am I wrong about that?




No, sounds accurate to me.



Now if you're talking "open" like CB is open, that's a horse of an
entirely different color.

Dick

More like pirate radio. I've heard some very entertaining stuff, and I hope
to hear alot more. I know that time can be bought on an independent
broadcaster, but I'd really like to know why what Alan Maxwell and the other
do is illegal. I think hobby broadcasting would bring alot of positive
interest to SW radio.


As always,it's a $$$$$ thing, of course.

The National Association of Broadcasters has lobbied hard to keep hobby
broadcasting illegal, even on SW. They say that the AM and FM bands are
too crowded, and that's true, but SW is wide open. Of course they're
really concerned about innovative programming taking over market share.
If hobbyists were allowed on SW the radios would fly off shelves because
there'd finally be an alternative to automated corporate programming. (I
know for a fact that Clear Channel controls six or seven radio stations
in the San Francisco market, each carefully programmed as not to compete
with each other.)