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Announcement :: Civil & Human Rights : Elections & Legislation : Media |
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The Time is Now to Bring Low Power Community Radio to America's Cities! |
Current rating: 0 |
by Prometheus Radio Project via ML
(No verified email address) |
23 Mar 2004
|
The Federal Communications Commission has
finally made its recommendation to Congress to expand the Low Power
FM service. If they expand the service, it will reach thousands more
communities across the US. Now that that we've jumped through that hoop,
the last battle will be in Congress. They are the only people standing in
the way of the expansion of the Low Power FM community radio service. |
Senator John McCain will introduce a bill that will give community radio a
new round of licenses!
Click here -- http://www.prometheusradio.org/freeairwaves.shtml -- to
fight for Low Power FM today!
The future of low power radio has come to a critical juncture. And we're
writing to ask your help. There are hundreds of Low Power FM radio
stations on the air in rural communities across the country. Now it's
time to bring community radio to the cities! In 2000, Congress curtailed
the LPFM service. They kept thousands of potential stations off the air
in the name of 'potential interference'. 100 watt radio stations, like
the ones we build, were forbidden from going on the air across most of
this country. Why? Because of the 100,000 watt juggernauts belonging to
Clear Channel, Infinity, and Cumulus. They fretted that these new
community stations would steal their thunder.
But the claims of the big broadcasters turned out to be without merit!
After the service was curtailed, the MITRE corporation completed a
congressionally mandated study. This study proved that LPFM wouldn't
cause interference to the big boys:
http://www.prometheusradio.org/release_71303.shtml
The Federal Communications Commission (http://www.fcc.gov) has
finally made its recommendation to Congress to expand the Low Power
FM service. If they expand the service, it will reach thousands more
communities across the US. Now that that we've jumped through that hoop,
the last battle will be in Congress. They are the only people standing in
the way of the expansion of the Low Power FM community radio service.
Does your Senator know what you think about Low Power FM?
The big broadcasters are making the rounds in DC, talking to the
representatives, making their demands clear. Big broadcasters usually get
their way, because they have money to spread around. Folks think they are
too big and too rich to fight. But this time, we know we can beat them,
if we all get active! We have beaten them before. It's up to all of us
to let Congress know that their constituents want Low Power FM now. It's
up to all of us to let them know -- we want to start building stations in
our communities, large and small.
Organizations are working in Washington to bring this legislation to a
vote. Media Access Project, Free Press, the Future of Music Coalition,
the NFCB, and Prometheus have been meeting with Senate staff, and we are
getting a great reaction so far. But we can't move this new legislation
off their desks without a show of support from grassroots groups around
the country.
Ready to ask your legislators for more Low Power FM?
You'll find all the tools you need right here, at our legislative action
center:
http://www.prometheusradio.org/freeairwaves.shtml
Our legislative action center contains all the background information,
statistics, sample letters/phone scripts, and contact information you can
use to tell your elected representatives to let LPFM into your
communities. And, if you're an existing community station, it has links
to tools you can use on your station. Get your listeners to stand up for
community radio!
As always, contact us anytime for information, education, and support on
Low Power FM radio and free media, all around the world.
Best,
The Organizers of the Prometheus Radio Project
Click here -- http://www.prometheusradio.org/freeairwaves.shtml -- to
begin today!
And feel free to forward this message. |
See also:
http://www.prometheusradio.org
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Related stories on this site:
Contact Senators in Support of More LPFM
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Our Time Is Now --LPFM in C-U |
by ML
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
23 Mar 2004
|
We are one step ahead of big cities in our community. WRFU, Radio Free Urbana, was granted a construction permit by the FCC recently to build a low-power FM community radio station. We should be on the air by June 2005.
The next couple of meetings of the working group for WRFU will be April 6 and April 20 (Wednesdays) at 8pm at the IMC. Our meetings are open to the public. We will be finalizing our structure document and beginning the equipment selection process at our next meeting.
RFU will be announcing a larger meeting in the next couple of months specifically to allow those interested in going on the air to get the info they need to participate. If you'd like to help, just drop by our regular meetings, always on the first and third Tuesdays of the month at 8pm at the IMC.
You can also get involved by subscribing to our email list at http://lists.cu.groogroo.com/cgi-bin/listinfo/rfu |
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Seattle Radio Group: Target Consolidation, not Indecency; Support Community Radio |
by Reclaim the Media
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
25 Mar 2004
|
SEATTLE, WA - March 24 - In Seattle, music industry and radio professionals and media diversity advocates are calling upon federal lawmakers to recognize that concentrated media ownership is a problem which cannot be ignored in the current debate over indecency fines.
A coalition of groups including Reclaim the Media and the Pacific Northwest Chapter of the Recording Academy recently convened a community "Fixing Radio" forum to discuss radio's role in the changing media landscape. As Congress moves towards final passage of the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act, the groups are urging Congress to take three immediate steps:
. Congress should use the current bill to delay the FCC's newly relaxed media ownership rules for one year in order to study the link between consolidation and programming standards (the Senate version of the bill already includes this provision);. Congress should strike provisions in the bill which unfairly target individual performers and announcers with indecency fines, rather than the broadcast companies who set the standards and make actual programming decisions. Following the FCC's advice, Congress should enact legislation reauthorizing Low-Power FM (LPFM) radio for noncommercial community broadcasting in cities and towns across the US.
"After a year of hearings and debates on media consolidation, Congress has little to show for their efforts," said Reclaim the Media co-director Jonathan Lawson. "Now they're going after broadcast indecency with a sudden fervor. If they had their priorities straight, they'd be attacking media consolidation with the same appetite. The indecency laws already on the books are vague and subject to such wide interpretation that abusive selective enforcement is practically inevitable. The current bill doesn't address any of these problems."
"Policymakers need to acknowledge that the increasing replacement of local news with offensive shock-value programming is linked to the expansion of companies like Clear Channel, Entercom and Viacom," said David Meinert, Pacific Northwest Chapter President of the Recording Academy. "It's unfair to fine announcers simply for providing the kind of programming their bosses demand."
"Low-power FM represents a real alternative to the problems that plague national commercial radio," said Lawson. "Imagine thousands of new stations that genuinely represent community standards, with local news, local culture and expanded opportunities for regular people to decide for themselves what should be on the air. Local artists and local community voices need better access to local airwaves."
During the Fixing Radio forum on Feb. 28 and 29 in Seattle, regional commercial and noncommercial broadcasters, musicians, consumer advocates and listeners discussed the effects of radio industry consolidation and new technologies such as satellite radio. Forum participants discussed ways in which federal policy could be changed in order to improve radio's service to the public interest, and to the traditional broadcasting values of diversity, competition and local accountability. This spring, forum organizers will release a comprehensive list of the group's recommendations as the Seattle Statement on Radio.
For details on the Fixing Radio Forum and the forthcoming Seattle Statement on Radio, see www.reclaimthemedia.org and www.grammy.com/pacificnw.aspx |
