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Local Community Radio Act Reintroduced

The Local Community Radio Act has been reintroduced in the House as H.R. 1147. The bill was reintroduced on February 24th with 19 co-sponsors. Tell your Congressperson to Open Up the Radio Dial and pass the Local Community Radio Act.

2009 City Council Resolutions Campaign

Prometheus is coordinating a nationwide effort to get City Councils to pass resolutions in support of expanded low-power radio access. Check out our City Council Resolution Toolkit for a guide on how to pass a resolution in your city or town.

Get involved with the campaign!

If you'd like to receive email 'Action Alerts from the Expand Low Power FM Radio Campaign, write to expand-LPFM-action-subscribe@googlegroups.com

If you just have a minute, email your representatives and ask them to co-sponsor the Local Community Radio Act--which will make room for hundreds, if not thousands, more local radio stations, even in our biggest cities!

Check out our legislative resources page here.

2008 Wrap Up

In 2008 we were closer than ever to expanding low power FM radio in Congress and at the FCC. The Local Community Radio Act (House Bill 2802 and Senate Bill 1675)would lift the third adjacency restrictions on LPFM, and the FCC just introduced new measures that will also expand and protect low power FM. In the House of Representatives the bill received 100 co-sponsors!

When LPFM service was first introduced back in 2000, thousands of applications were blocked because commercial broadcasters convinced Congress that low power radio stations would interfere with their signals. After a $2.2 million engineering study by the MITRE Corporation, an independent firm, they've been proven wrong. According to FCC statistics developed in 1999, many major urban areas of the United States were on track to get Low Power FM radio stations. When Congress passed its exorbitant protection rule, most of those communities lost out. If we expand LPFM to its original service parameters, these cities, from Phoenix to Peoria, will have a chance to get amazing local stations to serve their diverse communities!

Now, there's legislation in Congress that would repeal the unnecessary limitations on LPFM and open the airwaves to community groups in cities and towns across the country. If you've ever dreamed of having a radio station in YOUR community, this is your best chance to get one--we've been meeting with legislators in DC, and they want to hear from YOU--their constituents--on this issue.

Don't know how best to phrase your letter? Personal stories about low power radio and what it does, or what it could do, for your community, are most effective. We've provided templates for calls and letters to representatives and senators.

There are hundreds of low power stations on the air, serving communities all across the country with unique, local, and diverse programming. Can you get local news when you most need it? Or is your information piped in from hundreds of miles away, geared towards a different market? WQRZ-LP in Bay St Louis, MS provided critical emergency communications during and after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and WRIR-LP in Richmond, VA is the official emergency broadcast outlet for a city of 300,000. Download our 'LPFM and Emergency Response sheet to learn more about the life-saving roles low-power radio have played during natural disasters.

Follow the links below for more background on LPFM, the Mitre study, and details of the Local Community Radio Act to help you craft your letter or phone call to your representative. And let us know when you've contacted Congress, so that we can follow up!