When Most of us hear "FCC" we think of FCC Censorship of our favorite programming. Back in the day of the Smothers Brothers the FCC Censors would monitor every word said and censored for political and sociable aspects they deemed unfit. For the most part the FCC is more of a regulatory agency than a censor. They still do censor shows like Howard Stern  Do any of us really know the history of the FCC?

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) LINK is an independent United States government agency. The FCC was established by the Communications Act of 1934 and is charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable. The FCC jurisdiction covers the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. possessions.

What people may not recognize is the extent to which every area of their life is intertwined with the communications technologies the FCC has the responsibility to regulate. For example, because almost all electrical and electronic equipment emits radio frequencies, FCC equipment authorization rules protect the American public.

In May 2008 the FCC choose Wilmington North Carolina to be the first community to switch to the new Digital TV Signal that the rest of the US will switch to in February 2009. Well September 8, 2008 was the day of reckoning in Wilmington has come and gone without any reports of serious problems.

According to local and national reports the event was attended by politicians to cable companies all with there fingers crossed we would imagine. The Mayor had a over sized light switch and town offices had various TVs set up with the different signals going to them.

History was made with the flip of the over sized switch and analog TV was gone 6 months before the rest of the country. The change only affects TV owners who are not connected to cable or satellite TV. The FCC courted the town of Wilmington since May to help with the change. The FCC recently said more than 36,000 local households had requested 67,000 coupons, and redeemed 25,000 of them. With the success in Wilmington as a model the FCC, local communities should feel reassured the changes in there towns should go smoothly.