It's time for the FCC to license more community-based, noncommercial low-power FM stations.

After hurricanes Katrina and Rita ripped through the Gulf Coast, volunteers from a local radio station trudged through floodwaters, scaled a 130-foot tower and risked their safety to keep WQRZ-LP on the air.

A low-power, noncommercial radio station owned and operated by residents of the community, WQRZ became residents' only link to the outside world after the storm destroyed the broadcast abilities of most commercial radio stations in the area.

During the long weeks of cleanup, this low-power FM station broadcast essential local advisories, such as points of distribution for food, water and ice, as well as information residents were desperate to hear about missing family and friends.

Now, policymakers in Washington are considering opening up more airwaves in Maine to stations just like WQRZ -- low-power, community-run radio stations that air news, information, arts and culture that keep neighbors connected.

However, the National Association of Broadcasters opposes giving communities access to the airwaves. They're fighting to keep you off the air.

Low-power FM stations are community-based, noncommercial radio stations that operate at 100 watts or less, broadcasting within a 3- to 5-mile radius. In contrast to most commercial radio stations that pipe in deejays who pre-record their shows out of state and report little or no local news, these FM stations directly serve their communities.

You might already know WJZP 105.1 Portland, WJZF 97.1 Standish and WRFR 93.3 Rockland and 99.3 Camden -- Maine's low-power FM stations. If you don't, you may want to familiarize yourself with them. These may be your lifeline if we are hit with another ice storm or similar disaster.

Low-power FM, or LPFM, licenses are granted to high schools, labor unions, nonprofits, civic organizations and churches that understand the needs of their local communities.

On some of the existing LPFM stations licensed in the United States, listeners can hear Christian music provided by local churches, news and information in indigenous languages for farm workers in the area, and tunes from local musicians who can't get airplay on the commercial dial.

LPFM stations also help increase the diversity of voices on our airwaves, sorely needed in today's radio marketplace. According to a new study, minorities own just 7.7 percent of all full-power AM and FM stations, yet make up 33 percent of the U.S. population. Women make up 51 percent of the U.S. population, but own just 6 percent of all radio stations.

Creating more LPFM stations will give more women and minorities an opportunity to get on the air.

But, of the more than 3,200 organizations that have applied for LPFM licenses since 2000, about 2,400 have been denied by the Federal Communications Commission. That's largely because Congress, under pressure from commercial radio station owners, limited low-power FM service to America's most rural communities.

The broadcasters -- who fear competition for listeners -- convinced congressional leaders that LPFM stations would cause interference with their signals. But that's been proven untrue by a congressionally mandated study, released by the FCC in 2003, which showed no evidence that LPFM stations cause interference in big cities.

Full-power commercial radio and low-power community stations can coexist.

In fact, quality programming on low-power stations could even lead commercial broadcasters to do a better job in meeting community needs in order to keep up with the competition. At a time when just a few corporations own the majority of what you hear on the radio, that kind of competition is sorely needed.

That's exactly the message that groups as varied as the conservative Christian Coalition and the progressive United Church of Christ have sent to congressional leaders.

It's time for Congress to give back to the FCC the ability to license more community radio stations, and allow our diverse communities onto the dial.