Click here to see the Video of Low Power FM Leadership Days- three days of action, advocacy, training, and strategizing to bring pass the Local Community Radio Act and bring Low Power FM Radio to towns and cities across the country.
This month, the Prometheus Radio Project launched our new e-newsletter, the Prometheus Radio Broadcast. The first issue featured articles about the NAB vs. FCC lawsuit, women in Low Power FM, and job announcements at Prometheus. You can read it in our Broadcast Archive.
As a subscriber to the Prometheus Radio Broadcast you will receive an email once or twice a month letting you know what's happening in radio policy land, what new stations just went on the air, what exciting station handbooks we have released, and so on.
Should
Low Power Stations Fill Out An Ownership Form With The Race and
Gender of Their Board?
By
Jade Meshesha
On April 8, 2009, the Federal
Communications Commission announced that they have adopted several
new measures to more accurately assess minority and female
broadcasting ownership, and are currently seeking comments regarding
Low Power FM and Non Commercial broadcaster ownership filing
regulations. The Commission adopted changes to form 323, which must
be filed by full power stations, requiring information on race,
gender, and ethnicity, and is considering adopting similar rules for
form 323-E, which is currently filed by non-commercial stations. It
is also considering requiring Low Power FM stations to file an
Ownership Report in order to accurately assess, and hence promote
media diversity.
Last week, from April 22-24, 2009, Prometheus wrapped up our third Low Power FM Leadership days in DC. It was a great trip; we made significant headway on our campaign to expand low power FM, traded stories with allies from around the country, and made (radio)waves with our giant corporate robot street theater piece!
Over 50 people, representing diverse communities ranging from farmworkers from Florida and Oregon, artists and musicians from Chicago to New Jersey, media activists and youth organizers from Atlanta to Detroit, low-wage workers from Baltimore, members of the faith community from rural North Carolina and radio programmers from Idaho to New York City, gathered in Washington DC to demand more Low Power FM radio through the passage of the Local Community Radio Act. Watch the You tube video, check out the photos, or listen to Free Speech Radio News story on the events.
Backers Of Low-Power Radio Bill Dial Up Their Optimism
Friday, April 24, 2009
by Katie Sanders Congressional Quarterly
Rep. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., assured supporters of his renewed effort to expand low-power, noncommercial FM radio stations that bipartisan legislation reintroduced in February is likely to become law this year, saying there are no valid arguments for not taking action.
Low Power FM radio may not be high on your radar, but Congressional legislation introduced in late February could bring one of these small stations to you, broadcasting loud, clear and local.
Already there are about 800 Low Power FMs on the air, mostly in small towns and rural areas. Many are community stations, adding a welcome breath of participatory local radio to the airwaves.
The Local Community Radio Act, (HR 1147) introduced by Mike Doyle, D-PA, and Lee Terry, R-NE, would lift restrictions on Low Power FM, opening up frequencies for these small local outlets around the country. There's lots of space in rural areas for Low Power FM, and with this bill's passage, there would be even more.
Today, the Federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is hearing oral arguments in a lawsuit brought by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The lawsuit alleges that the FCC defied the Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act when it granted waivers to keep low power radio (LPFM) on the air. Were the FCC not to intervene, these low power stations would be forced off the air by full power stations wanting to change their broadcasting location.
Prometheus Radio Project, represented by Media Access Project attorney Parul Desai, is an intervenor in the case on behalf of the FCC and the threatened LPFM stations.
Two Senators are introducing a bill today that would greatly expand access to the radio airwaves. It would allow the creation of hundreds of low power FM stations on the radio dial. Supporters say this year, the appetite is right for passage. FSRN’s Leigh Ann Caldwell reports.
Ever get the feeling that a terrible Celine Dion song is stalking you via the radio? Every time you scan the dial there it is taunting your heart to "go on and on... forever."
You're not being paranoid.
Commercial radio stations everywhere have been swallowed up by a handful of giant corporations, playlists have shrunk, and local and independent acts have been drowned out, as Big Radio soaks listeners in a mind-numbing concoction of saccharine and aspartame.
The good news is that your rescue is at hand. On Tuesday, Reps. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) and Lee Terry (R-Neb.) introduced a bipartisan bill that would pry open our radio airwaves for thousands of new stations, bringing independent acts like Animal Collective, Rebel Diaz and Bunny's a Swine -- or your favorite local band -- to the audiences they deserve.
Unleashing Radio's Potential
The Local Community Radio Act would unleash the potential of new music for millions of listeners across the country. The bill tasks Washington with licensing thousands of Low Power FM radio stations (known in radio geekdom as LPFM).
Listen to the 30-minute Call featuring Reps. Mike Doyle
and Lee Terry as well as Michael Bracy (FOM), Ben Scott (Free Press),
Cory Fischer-Hoffman (Prometheus Radio Project), and Shawn Campbell (CHIRP).
The Local Community Radio Act (HR1147) was introduced yesterday by Reps.
Mike Doyle (PA) and Lee Terry (NE).
On a Press Teleconference Rep. Doyle stated that this bill would "serve
the needs and interests of local communities." Rep. Doyle was echoed
clearly by Rep. Terry who noted that "low-power FM really is the essence
of localism." Michael Bracy from the Future of Music Coalition (FMC) and
Ben Scott from Free Press joined the call to show continued support for
Local Community Radio from the musician and media reform community.
Shawn Campbell from the Chicago Independent Radio Project (CHIRP) spoke
passionately about the need for more local community radio, especially
as the national economic crisis "has absolutely decimated local media"
in Chicago, as radio programing and newspapers have cut content.
Describing CHIRP's advocacy, she went on to state that "community radio
absolutely can help fill these holes" in local media.
Cory Fischer-Hoffman, of the Prometheus Radio Project insisted that now
is the time that we act to pass HR 1147. “Numerous public safety
officials have supported low-power FM radio because it has played a
crucial role in times of emergency, especially following Hurricane
Katrina and Hurricane Rita," she noted.
Following introduction of the Local Community Radio Act, Free Press has
launched their TAKE ACTION page. Click here to write a letter to your
Congressperson in support of Expanding Low Power FM Radio.
