Radiation Poisoning

WHRB has once again been threatened with suspension by the Federal Communications Commission. It seems that our unfortunate brethren have been "over-radiating," a radio term for sending out a signal more powerful than the FCC allows. Under a law passed in 1932, the FCC is given power to order any guilty station off the air, even if, as in WHRB's case, it is doing no appreciable harm.

The idea behind the regulation was to prevent one station's signal from encroaching on the signal of any other. Admittedly, this is a good law, and many stations guilty of this trespassing have rightly been ordered to stop broadcasting. But WHRB is not bothering anyone. It is located at the very bottom of the dial, and other stations have never complained of its signal.

In 1950, WHRB was forced to close down because of "over-radiating;" for the FCC to suspend it again because of its signal has been stronger than the rule book allows would needlessly inconvenience an entire College community. If WHRB were infringing on another's rights, suspension would be justified. But under the present circumstances the suspension represents not praiseworthy alertness in execution of the law, but merely a bureaucratic nuisance.