great, simple petition to sign and share, and a link to the new Low Power FM Facebook. Sign up today!
This is the first bill introduced on low power FM in the House of Representatives in many years. A companion bill has come out from Senators John McCain and Maria Cantwell in the Senate -- Senate Bill 1675 -- and together, we'll be ready for our national push to bring community radio to millions more people, and thousands of communities, in the United States!
Low power FM was limited -- kept from America's cities, but with proof from FCC and a $2.2 million dollar study, the time is now to expand low power FM.
Many groups came together to support this essential legislation, including the Alliance for Community Media, the United Methodist Office of Communications, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Future of Music Coalition, the Media Access Project, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, Free Press, the United States Public Interest Research Group, the Christian Coalition, the United Church of Christ, Office of Communication, Inc., Consumers Union, and many more organizations.
You have a chance -this week- to help your Congressmembers support legislation that could bring new, local, accountable, independent community radio to your community and to communities across the nation! Read below to learn how.
In 2000, the Federal Communications Commission established the Low Power FM (LPFM) radio service -- noncommercial, local, low-powered radio that schools, community groups, churches, and any nonprofit could use to broadcast local information to their local community. There are about 800 LPFM stations on air all across the country – but
groups in big cities who applied for these great new stations all lost out. Why?
Because the big broadcasters -- represented by the National Association of Broadcasters -- convinced Congress to limit low power FM to the most rural areas, claiming that little LPFM stations would interfere with big radio stations in big cities -- making the radio dial unlistenable.
In the law that Congress passed (the Radio Broadcast Preservation Act of 2000), they also asked the FCC to study whether or not LPFM stations would really cause interference. The FCC hired a big, independent engineering firm -- the MITRE corporation -- to study this potential interference -- and $2.2 million later, they proved that LPFM was a great idea in big cities as well as small communities.
Congressmembers Lee Terry and Mike Doyle, along with Senators John McCain and Maria Cantwell, just introduced their legislation that would bring LPFM to most of America's big cities and to thousands of other small communities. Can you educate your legislators and let them know that new community radio in your town is one great step to building and strengthening communities across the nation?
You can find your Congressmember's information at http://www.congress.org, or by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.
And when the staff for the office picks up, you can say something like:
"Hi, my name is ______________, and I'm a constituent of Congressmember _______ and Senators _____ and ______. We need access to more local media to support workers, families, and communities across our area and across the state. Senators John McCain and Maria Cantwell, and Congressman Doyle and Congressman Terry, just introduced legislation to expand Low Power FM radio to our area and to many of America's biggest cities. I ask Congressmember _________ and Senators ______ and _______ to cosponsor this bill, the Local Community radio Act of 2007 -- House Bill 2802, and Senate Bill 1675. Thank you!"
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