It featured clips from South Park and SNL and Family Guy and Ron Burgandy (Will Ferrell), among others. In an apparent shout out to broadband, the video was about folks panicking because their internet, rather than broadcast service, had been interrupted. The chairman’s speech was the usual mix of zingers, in this case aimed at industry, government, public interest groups and himself, aided by several videos including a lengthy one billed as what the FCC was planning to air in the first iteration of last month’s test of the emergency alert system, which was cut back from a couple of minutes to 30 seconds. So loud was the din in the room that when those delicate NBC-like chimes hotels use to gently nudge the assemblage failed to move the throng from the reception to the dining room, a large gong was clanged repeatedly because, well, it was not loud enough in that room already. Such was the cacophony Thursday night as members of the Federal Communications Bar Association mixed and schmoozed at the Washington Hilton Hotel at the annual chairman’s dinner, which salutes the reigning FCC chief by those whose fortunes are tied to the decisions he does and doesn’t make. The decibel level in a roomful of lawyers is akin to that on the tarmac of a major airport.

Julius genachowski