Repeal of Smith-Mundt Act?

[ChrisSmolinski]

From the Engineering Radio Blog

In a somewhat surprising development, the Broadcasting Board of Governors, who oversees the operations of the Voice of America would like to repeal some parts of the 1948 Smith-Mundt act, which prohibits them from broadcasting domestically.  Does this mean that the VOA will become a government broadcaster like the BBC and CBC?  I don’t rightly know.  The BBG is also proposing to greatly curtail HF (AKA Shortwave) transmissions, favoring a combination of Satellite to FM and IP network delivery methods.  The BBG is also proposing defederalizing the VOA (AKA privatization).  Perhaps one of the current large broadcasters, e.g. Clear Channel or Cumulus will be interested in purchasing the VOA brand name.

With the repeal of the Smith-Mundt act, does this open the door for some form of domestic shortwave service?  I have commented several times on the ability of HF radio to cover large distances with moderate power levels.  The 1,000 watt non-directional CFRX on 6070 KHz is good example of this.  Most hours of the day, it is listenable at my location, some 300 miles distant from the transmitter.  I enjoy listening to Toronto news and talk as much as any other.  Lower frequencies and moderate power levels would be an interesting experiment.

http://www.engineeringradio.us/blog/2011/11/trends-in-terrestrial-broadcasting/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EngineeringRadio+%28Engineering+Radio%29

[cmradio]

LPSW makes sense to reach sparsely populated areas effectively. There's vast areas of the southwestern states that could be efficiently served with LPSW

Peace!

*edit*

IMO, CBC should spend less on redundant transmitters in metro areas and more on LPSW for the northern territories for example...