Tuesday, August 28, 2018
How an auction for a wireless frequency is affecting high school and amateur theaters
www.marketplace.org: About four years ago, the Federal Communications Commission decided that a specific slice of the radio spectrum would be reallocated for use in internet broadband services. The aim was to make mobile broadband services faster. The FCC then auctioned off this spectrum to a number of broadband companies that include T-Mobile, Comcast and Dish TV.
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I worked as a stage manager at Six Flags on their outdoor drum show this summer. While my show did not necessarily require a bunch of wireless mics, Six Flags has uses many radios throughout the whole park, and our other two theaters use many wireless mics. I was told offhand one day by a coworker about this situation and how our radios will be shut off any day now over the next few months. Six Flags more than likely has enough devices to utilize that loophole in the FCC policy allowing them to rent a slice of spectrum, so it is possible that this won't cause complete chaos in the coming months, but this is certainly issue for most public schools. The drama program at the middle school I went to was funded entirely from the pockets of the drama and choir teachers who volunteered their time to us. I cannot imagine how they will deal with this issue. For the most part matters like this one are handled through protest by the citizens (ie. Net Neutrality), but in this situation only a small section of the population is affected by this, and an even smaller number of people are even aware of this. People have to become more informed about this and spread that information outside their small communities in order to effect change.
It's so true that very few people are even aware of this. I work in theatre, as a Stage Manager as well, and am currently pursuing my MFA in Stage and Production Management. While I know that our University will have no problem working around this rule, many of the professional theatres that I worked for back home don't even have this kind of money to completely replenish their stock. Not even to mention high schools or community theatres. We discussed this in a sound class that I took last semester as well, and the fact that this is just another way for the government to provide less funding for the arts is repulsive to me. Already in our society there are few to no resources that encourage young people to consider a career in the arts, and when we directly cut funding to arts programs, or indirectly make these programs unable to operate (as this article is discussing), we are adding to the stigma that the arts is not a stable, viable career choice. I was lucky enough to come from a family that could support my choice to join the arts, both morally and financially. Not many people have this. When we live in a world where the arts are only realistically an option for the well-off, how do we *not* expect it to be a dying art?
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