[CW] Fwd: Important Announcement from the FCC

[Anthony W. DePrato]

Sam a good friend of mine sent me this. Sam was in radio and tv for years. 
and has a wall full of awards showing his outstanding work.
73 Tony


>An Editorial by WA4IUM:
>
>In lieu of the FCC killing the CW requirement for FCC licenses, I have 
>some thoughts about how the FCC has sold out.  Perhaps Tony the Tiger 
>could be our new spokesperson for amateur radio, as we peddle licenses on 
>corn flake boxes.  "It's Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrreat!" An amateur radio license 
>used to be a hard-earned badge of honor. Now it's almost mail order over 
>the internet.
>
>First, it was FCC Commissioner Michael Powell taking numerous questionable 
>junkets given by radio corporations and conglomerates, and pushing the 
>deregulation of the commercial radio industry. That all but totally 
>destroyed the locality of radio ,and they inadvertently shot themselves in 
>the foot.  Remember Michael Douglas' Academy Award winning performance in 
>"Wall Street"? He played a greedy Wall Street lizard. "Greed its good," he 
>told the stockholders.
>
>Clear Channel just unloaded the largest radio conglomerate in the United 
>States. This, after they downsized and consolidated everything from news 
>departments to programming and formats. Commerical radio will never be the 
>same. Some say it's now destroyed. Career veterans were eliminated. 
>Consultants developed "Jack" and "Earl" formats. I call it McDonald's 
>franchised radio. You want fries with that? The listeners responded by 
>tuning them out in droves.  Ratings dropped. More heads rolled.
>
>Then came Citadel. Their stock just plunged 30%, not knowing how to 
>respond to commercial free satellite radio... But, yes, the suits made 
>their million dollar bonuses while the stockholders and loyal listeners 
>suffered in disgust.
>
>Now the FCC is messing with amateur radio. The CW requirement is zapped. 
>BPL is ready to blast our receivers with noise. What's next? Do they not 
>remember who invented this stuff? A sense of history and respect is what's 
>needed these days, in my opinion.
>
>Thanks for letting me share some thoughts. Have a very Merry Christmas and 
>enjoy CW before it TOTALLY dies out. We now have no support from the FCC. 
>There's really no one left to carry it on but US.
>
>Sam WA4IUM
>