From: Booth, Freret & Imlay, LLC
What: Rules, Regs, and the Broadcast Engineer
When: May 13, 2015 6:30 PM
Sponsor: GatesAir
Here are a few facts commonly known by broadcast engineers:
- Radio and Television stations are heavily regulated.
- These rules, regulations and policies are constantly changing.
- Broadcast engineers are typically the "go-to" experts responsible for station technical regulatory compliance.
- SBE is devoted to the advancement of broadcast engineering.
- As such, SBE amplifies the voices of broadcast engineers by speaking out on technical regulatory issues that affect how you work.
Chris Imlay, SBE's General Counsel, was our May 13 guest speaker. Along with input from various SBE committees and the SBE Executive Board, Chris has represented our interests before the FCC and other government agencies for many years. He also keeps us informed with his Legal Perspective article in the SBE publication The Signal.
During the meeting, it quickly became apparent that Mr. Imlay is a superb public speaker who always seems to have something interesting on his mind. He brought us up-to-date on a myriad of current technical regulatory topics, spectrum allocations, and broadcast auxiliary spectrum issues. Topics included possible threats to television broadcasters use of the 2 GHz (ENG) band, digital operation in 450 MHz band, and the possible loss of many FCC Field Offices throughout the United states. The presentation was interesting and informative.
Chris Imlay, Managing Member, Booth, Freret & Imlay, LLC, has practiced Federal Communications Law for the bulk of his professional career to date. His other communications clients include the American Radio Relay League, the national association of broadcast and communications technical professionals; JVC Kenwood USA Corporation; the National Football League; Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company; Robert Bosch, GmbH; Broadcast Sports, Inc.; numerous television and radio broadcast, common carrier, and private wireless licensees of the FCC; video production companies and manufacturers of communications and electronic equipment. His work for the amateur and broadcast engineering associations include preparation of materials in FCC rule making and adjudicatory proceedings, consultation with local chapters and members, extensive representation of communications users, and consulting with local counsel for those users, in connection with Federal, state and local regulation of Federally-licensed communications facilities.
Sandwiches, kindly provided by our friends at GatesAir were served at 6:30 PM. Chapter Chair Kent Kramer discussed a tiny bit of Chapter 37 business about 7:00 PM and introduced our guest speaker shortly thereafter.