FCC’S NASHVILLE MEDIA HEARING NOW UNDERWAY

The FCC is holding a public hearing on media ownership at Belmont University in Nashville today—the second of six the FCC will be holding around the country to inform its decision on whether to ease current ownership restrictions on broadcast stations and major daily newspapers.

Comprising two panels and an open mike for the public, today’s hearing began at 2 p.m. ET and is being streamed on the Web by StopBigMedia.com. Click here to watch the proceedings.

Commercial TV will be represented at the hearing on the second panel by Deborah McDermott, president of Young Broadcasting, the owner of ABC affiliate WKRN, and a Nashville resident; Elden Hale, general manager of WSMV, the Meredith-owned NBC affiliate; and Deborah Turner, general manager of WTVF, the Landmark-owned CBS affiliate.

The first afternoon panel will address how media ownership affects the recording industry. It includes:

• Harold Bradley, International Vice President of American Federation of Musicians; Country Music Hall of Fame inductee
• Big Kenny and John Rich, recording artists/songwriters, and member, Recording Artist’s Coalition
• Rick Carnes, songwriter and president of the Songwriters Guild of America
• Luke M. Froeb, William C. and Margaret W. Oehmig, associate professor in entrepreneurship and free enterprise, Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University
• Dobie Gray, singer, songwriter
• George Jones, recording artist and member of AFTRA
• Naomi Judd, Grammy Award Winning singer and songwriter
• Sharon Kay, general manager, WFSK Nashville (Fisk University)
• Jenny Toomey, singer, songwriter and executive director of the Future of Music Coalition
• Porter Wagoner, singer, songwriter and Country Music Hall of Fame inductee
• Bud Walters, president, Cromwell Radio
• Craig Wiseman, songwriter and publisher, Big Loud Shirt Industries, and member, AFTRA and NSAI
• Christopher S. Yoo, professor of law and director, Program on Technology and Entertainment Law, Vanderbilt University Law School

Joining the commercial broadcasters on the second panel at 6:30 p.m. ET:

• Gary W. Cunningham, publisher and president, GCA  Publishing, and member, AFCP; Nashville Community Newspapers
• Bob D’Andrea, Founder and President, Christian Television Network
• Alex Jones, director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Business
• John Heidelberg, president of Heidelberg Broadcasting and owner of WVOL-AM
• Gene Kimmelman, VP, federal and international affairs, Consumer Union
• Ellen Leifeld, publisher and president, The Tennessean
• Terry Pefanis, COO, Big Idea Inc.
• Wendell Rawls, investigative reporter and editor
• Ginny Welsch, co-founder and executive director of WRFN-LPFM Radio Free Nashville
• James Wolfe, former radio station and production and radio label executive