And Prometheus Kicks Up Its Grassroots Campaign to Expand Low Power FM in Congress!

Hello, grassroots low-power FM radio campaigners past, present and future! In 2000, when the National Association of Broadcasters and National Public Radio tried to convince the nation that our radio stations would interfere with full power broadcasters, we never believed them for a minute. Six years later, radio organizers have made a huge impact on the movement to expand low power FM radio to your town, and around the country. With a 2.2 million dollar study by the MITRE corporation on hand, proving that there's plenty of room for our radio stations in smaller towns, and in America's big cities, we've come closer than ever to bringing potentially thousands more stations to communities across America!

On this website, you'll find all the tools you need to take your interest and belief in the need for a viable low-power FM radio service to the people who can make it a reality -- your local Congressional representatives and Senators. Get ready to make calls, write letters, and let your allies know -- the sooner we act, the sooner our chances to build community radio stations will arrive!

How can we expand low power FM radio in Congress?
In this Congressional session, there are two bills that would bring low power FM to thousands more American communities, if passed. Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) have proposed legislation, Senate Bill 312, that would expand the Low Power FM service! We need to tell our other Senators that now is the time to expand Low Power FM radio. Congresswoman Louise Slaughter also introduced a bil, House Bill 373l that would bring thousands more community radio stations to our towns and cities!

How can I act on this right now?
Great question! Here's how you can call your Senators and Congressmembers right away. Now is the time to contact your Senators and your Congresspeople, by mail, email, phone, or in person. Now, and as 2006 winds to a close, our legislators will be trying to push through a huge piece of communications legislation that would weaken the control our families have over our media system. In asking our legislators to expand low power FM radio, we're telling them that we want community-controlled media back in our communities, and on the legislative schedule for the Congress in 2007! Follow the steps below so we can help you get a station in your town, and for every town in the USA. If you'd like to read some more background first, click here before you get to work!

		Some Tools for You to Use!
		Below, please find some tools for you to use as you contact your Congresspeople. Print out these documents, and pass them along to friends and neighbors who are willing to help fight for this great service! 1 -- Find out who my Senators and Congresspeople are! Use the tool to the right or click here to find the phone numbers and addresses of your Senators and Congresspeople. They're the ones you're callin' and writin'! Many thanks to Free Press for the use of this tool! 2 -- Write or call my letter to my Senators and Congresspeople! Click here for an example letter you can adapt to send to your elected officials. And check out this briefing to learn more about the issue. You could even print out this brief (on S312) or or these talking points (on HR 3731) to send to your Congresspeople and Senators! These links include information you can use to prepare yourself for a phonecall, or even for a personal visit. We're told that phonecalls are more powerful than letters, so give a phonecall to your Senators and Congresspeople if you can. 3 -- Let us know you've contacted your elected officials! And, sign up at the same time to be at the forefront of the movement for more community radio. We'll keep you posted on how to be the first person on your block with a shiny new LPFM, when the time comes! 4 -- Get the word out! Click the button below to tell a friend about this page. 5 -- Keep getting that word out! Prometheus has developed Public Service Announcements that you can play on your Low Power FM station, your internet station, or just for yourself and your friends! Use radio to make more radio, that's what I always say. Click here -- http://www.prometheusradio.org/sound for all the PSAs you'll need for your station, in English and Spanish!

Background!

Why Congress? Why Now?

As you probably know, the Prometheus Radio Project has been fighting for Low Power FM for a long time, using a wide variety of tools, skills, and tactics. We use our flexibility and energies for different priorities at different times. Building stations is always essential, as is giving support to Low Power broadcasters and applicants. But now -- for the first time since we all won the service in 2000 -- everyone in the office, our full board, and as many allies and friends as we can corral into the effort are trying to convince congress to expand the Low Power FM Service.

The Federal Communications Commission, the regulatory organization responsible for determining who gets to use our airwaves, just recommended to Congress that they finally expand the Low Power FM service. That means that the power to bring more Low Power stations to your communities, as well as to the cities that lost out big the first time 'round, is back in the hands of our elected officials.

What is Congress Going to Do, Exactly?

Good question. Is there legislation this second that your Senator or Congressperson could co-sponsor or endorse? The answer is YES! Senator John McCain promised to present such legislation, and did it, in partnership with Senators Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Maria Cantwell of Washington, on February 8th! Read the legislation here. And Louise Slaughter of New York has introduced LPFM legislation in the House of Representatives, too! Read this legislation, the Expand and Protect Community Radio Act of 2005, here.

A Grassroots Victory

To recap -- the Low Power FM radio service, formed in 2000, was a response to the work of Prometheus organizers and people like you! To date, hundreds of new radio stations are on the air, transmitting vibrant local programming to towns and countrysides that need it. But only twenty percent of the original license applications were even allowed to be considered, because powerful lobbying groups argued that these new stations would cause interference with existing signals.

However, a congressionally-mandated testing program designed to assess the probability of interference from low-power FM stations has been completed and the resulting study has found that interference is not an issue! According to the study, released July 13 by the MITRE Corporation, there is only an infinitesimal chance that the signals from FCC licensed low-power stations will interfere with bigger, full power radio stations.

Act to Expand Low Power Radio

So, as we've said, now that we have this study, we need those Congresspeople who stood up for low-power FM radio in 2000 to stand up again, and fight for the licenses that were taken away last time! And, we need new allies in our legislature to join the fight -- allies who understand that low-power FM is a concrete way to build local, diverse media in an increasingly consolidated, corporate media environment.

Best Hope For A Low Power
Future For Urban Community Radio

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. Then, when Congress passed its exorbitant protection rule, most of those communities lost out. If our legislature expands the Low Power FM Radio service, these cities, from Phoenix to Peoria, will have a chance to get amazing local stations to serve their diverse communities!

Expanding the service would create thousands more community radio stations, especially in the cities that have gone without them for so long.

Ready to win more radio stations for everyone across America? Click the big red button right below!

Meet Some of the Low-Power FM Stations
Already Contributing to Communities Around the Country

KHEN, 106.9
Low-power radio stations give voice to diversity
Salida Colorado

KOCZ 103.7 FM
Southern Development Foundation
Opelousas, Louisiana