Janet Jackson was just a few years ahead of her time. The partial federal government shutdown has sent “non-essential” federal workers home, and the Federal Communications evidently deems scanning the airwaves for offenses against its standards non-essential.
The FCC has posted a notice that due to the shutdown, it is “limited to performing duties that are immediately necessary for the safety or life or the protection of property.” If that means what it sounds like it means, the airwaves across the fruited plains could get very sketchy.
I called the FCC’s headquarters in Washington for comment, pressed 1 to continue in English, and got a pre-recorded message that there is no one around to take my non-emergency call.
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