Today, the U.S. Senate adopted two seemingly-conflicting amendments related to the Fairness Doctrine (an FCC policy that mandated fairness on the airwaves from 1949 to 1987). One amendment called the “Broadcaster Freedom Act,” which was offered by Republican Sen. Jim DeMint and passed 87-11, would basically block the FCC from reinstating the Fairness Doctrine. Another amendment, which was offered by Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin and passed 57-41, says the FCC “shall take action to encourage and promote diversity in communication media ownership,” and would basically bring back the goals of the Doctrine without reinstating it.

I don’t know how to feel about mandated fairness on the airwaves. Like the Senate, I seem to be conflicted on the issue- I like the idea of requiring more local programming but I don’t like being told what to say. All good broadcasters are already trained to seek a balance and diversity of viewpoints as a matter of self-preservation. To do anything less would be a disservice to the democracy that gives us the freedom to broadcast in the first place. But should broadcasters have sanctions hanging over their heads if they fail to provide a balance of views?

Recently my co-workers asked me about the tragic polyphony accident that I describe on my profile here on KGMI’s fine Web site; the accident that I claim rendered me permanently unable to hear diminished 13^th chords. Many of them struggled to conceive what horrible abuse of harmony could possibly leave a musician without the ability to hear a dim13. I had to confess that I can still hear dim13 chords just fine, but I haven’t blogged in a while so I decided to come up the following explanation…

It happened in a smoke-filled jazz bar back in the pre-9/11 days. I was on the stage with a surly bebop trio experimenting with avant-garde chord-combinations. I don’t remember the event very well, but the boys tell me I was hunched over my piano pouring with sweat, obsessed with finding even more radical and bizarre ways to pound the keys. After six sleepless days and nights of pushing the limits of discord, we stumbled upon what is now known as the “brown chord,” and I instantly fell on the keyboard screaming with blood pouring out of my ears. As I recovered from the accident, the doctors told me I had gained the ability to taste colors, but I would be cursed with horrible flashbacks every time I hear a diminished 13^th chord.