Even the government is asking "What's the frequency Kenneth?" to the rather meek bidding in the second round of the sell-off of valuable wireless spectrum in the 700MHz band. The FCC was hoping for a $10 billion pay day but after two rounds, they've only received $2 billion in bids. You could start your own wireless company with licenses in all 50 states with the valuable C block yet only $1.24 billion has been bid so far. The D block, which has been designated as a public safety channel by the FCC has about $1.3 billion in bids...
There are those who wonder if all the talk of recession is dampening the enthusiasm displayed a year ago when the FCC announced the sale of the spectrum. The bidding will continue through as many rounds as necessary until no further bids are received and it's likely that it won't be complete for a month or so. The bidders identities won't be revealed until after the auction ends...
Will this just be a case of the rich getting richer? The highest bidders are likely to be the numbers one and two carriers, Verizon Wireless and AT&T. As long as our Verizon bills don't go any higher, I don't care what they or AT&T do, do you? What those two companies can do is 'warehouse' the spectrum rather than spend the money to build expensive new networks and tier them with their existing services. Should Google win a bid, they might actually build a network. Do the riches ever end? 'Fair and equal' was never a part of this auction...
10 Timeline Memories:
- 1915] Can you hear me now?: In New York, Alexander Graham Bell speaks to an assistant in San Francisco inaugurating the first transcontinental phone service. Long distance is born (1/25)...
- 1926] Radio with pictures: Scottish inventor, John Baird holds the world's first demonstration of a true television set in London (1/27). Baird had improved the scan rate to 12.5 pictures a second in TV. In 1928 he demonstrates the first color TV. True, you could look it up in Wikipedia...
- 1927] Networking: United Broadcasters, Inc. starts a radio network of 16 stations. The company will later be renamed, the Columbia Broadcasting System or CBS (1/27)...
- 1927] Wedding Bells: Jack Benny marries Sadye Marks who changes her name to Mary Livingstone. The legendary comedy couple will be married 47 years, until Benny's death (1/25)...
- 1947] 'Happy Trails': Public enemy no. 1, Al Capone, dies at 48 of cardiac arrest possibly associated with 3rd stage syphilis (1/25)...1979] Former VP and New York Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller dies of a heart attack at 70. He was at home with a 25-year old female aide at the time, leading to speculation about the cause of the heart attack (1/26)...1983] Legendary Alabama football coach, Bear Bryant dies from a heart attack at 69 just 41 days after retiring (1/26)...1997] Astrologer Jeane Dixon passes away from cardiopulmonary arrest at 93 (1/25)...
- 1948] Wired: The Wire Recording Corporation of America displays the first magnetic tape recorder. The 'Wireway' with a built-in oscillator sold for $149.50 (1/27). Don't know if this is a 'Wireway' but it is a wire recorder and it's for sale: http://youtube.com/watch?v=QXMekjnPHOw ...
- 1967] Down in flames: A flash fire aboard Apollo I during a test kills astronauts Virgil I. 'Gus' Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee. The fire is caused by faulty wiring (1/27)...
- 1987] Super Bowl Sunday: Neil Diamond sings the national anthem, the Beach Boys perform at halftime and the Giants win their first SB, 39-20 over Denver (1/25)...1991] Whitney Houston sings the definitive version of our national anthem and Scott Norwood kicks 'wide right'. The Giants win their second and final SB, 20-19 over Buffalo (1/27)...1997] The Patriots reach the SB but lose to the Packers 35-21. They haven't lost one since (1/26)...1998] After a career of trying, Denver QB John Elway wins his first SB, 31-24 over Green Bay (1/25). They'll make it two in a row the following year...
- 1998] Who's that lady?: Bill Clinton makes his famous speech about "that woman, Miss Lewinsky?" (1/26): http://youtube.com/watch?v=KiIP_KDQmXs ...1998] The next day, Hillary Clinton tells the "Today Show" about a 'vast right-wing conspiracy' against her hubby (1/27)...
- 1999] Flying on empty: The NTSB concludes that John Denver's 1997 fatal light-plane crash was caused by too little fuel in the tank at take-off (1/26)...
Music Memories:
- 1956] Released on this date: "Heartbreak Hotel" - Elvis Presley (1/27)...1962] "Twistin' the Night Away" - Sam Cooke (1/25)...1968] "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" - Otis Redding (1/27)...
- 1961] Number One on this date: "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" - Elvis (1/26)... 1973] "Superstition" - Stevie Wonder (1/25) in the studio: http://youtube.com/watch?v=wDZFf0pm0SE ...1973] "I Can't Go For That" - Hall & Oates (1/25)...
- 1970] Written & recorded on this date: "Instant Karma" - John Lennon (1/26) in the studio: http://youtube.com/watch?v=MieDFkhlByo ...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
(1/25) Alicia Keys (27), Etta James (70 at last): http://youtube.com/watch?v=csoMt1CiP04 , Corazon "Shoes" Aquino (77), Dean Jones (77), Edwin Newman (89) and Ernie Harwell (90)...
(1/26) Emily Hughes (19), Wayne Gretzky (47), Ellen DeGeneres (50), Eddie Van Halen (51), David Strathairn (60), Jean Knight (65), Bob Uecker (73), Huey "Piano" Smith (74 don't you just know it): http://youtube.com/watch?v=4Q59mawORsE&feature=related , Paul Newman (83) and Anne Jeffreys (85)...
(1/27) Rebecca Jayne Vettor (1), Bridget Fonda (44), Chris Collinsworth (49), Keith Olbermann (49), Mimi Rogers (52), Mikhail Baryshnikov (60), Nedra (Ronettes) Talley (62) and Bobby "Blue" Bland (78) in action: http://youtube.com/watch?v=DrTxP3JV1AU ...
Timeline Countdown for Sunday, January 27, 2008: 7 days until Super Bowl XLII, 18 down and 1 to go for the Patriots and 18 days until pitchers & catchers report voluntarily...
