Since the beginning of police radios, broadcasters have relied on “scanners” to learn about police activity in their communities. With scanners, broadcasters can send reporters to cover live events involving law enforcement and inform the community of dangerous situations.
Today, NYPD and police departments across the country are deploying new encrypted digital radios, which render the scanners useless. Moreover, they are not allowing broadcast journalists access to their communications in real time. NYSBA has been actively involved in trying to convince NYPD and the NYC Mayor to allow broadcasters to maintain access to certain police communications.
Dan Shelly, President and CEO of the Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA), will be hosting a webinar on all the issues surrounding this issue. Dan has been a strong ally on this issue in New York and also across the country. He is a seasoned broadcast veteran, serving previously as Senior Vice President of Digital Content Strategy for iHeartMedia. Prior to joining iHeartMedia, Dan was a Senior Vice President at Interactive One, part of the Radio One (now Urban One) family of companies. Before joining Urban One, Dan was Director of Digital Media at WCBS-TV, New York, the flagship station of the CBS Television Stations Group. He also served as an executive producer for WCBS-TV News.
In conjunction with the Kansas Association of Broadcasters, NYSBA is offering its members access to an important webinar discussing these issues. The webinar is free for NYSBA members in good standing.
The webinar will be held on February 20th at 2 PM Eastern (1 PM Central). You can register for it here.