[Lapg] Fwd: [IMC-Audio] Low Power Radio Triumphs over Big Broadcasters in Washington: Local Community Radio Act Sweeps House Subcommittee in 15 to 1 vote]

[CURTIS BLANKINSHIP]

I know this streches the envelope for permaculture but It empowers
community.
Watts property rented. Camping in 29 palms on my property.

Curtis

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Anabel Khoo <ak.sans.frontieres at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 11:49 AM
Subject: [IMC-Audio] Low Power Radio Triumphs over Big Broadcasters in
Washington: Local Community Radio Act Sweeps House Subcommittee in 15 to 1
vote]
To: imc-audio at lists.indymedia.org


NEWS ALERT

October 8, 2009

Contact: Cory Fischer-Hoffman
Campaign Director
Prometheus Radio Project
610-761-5414
coryfh at prometheusradio.org


*Low Power Radio Triumphs over Big Broadcasters in Washington
Local Community Radio Act Sweeps House Subcommittee in 15 to 1 vote
*

The Local Community Radio Act was passed out of the House Subcommittee on
Communications, Technology and the Internet this morning in a sweeping 15 to
1 vote. The Act would allow for the creation of hundreds of new, low power
FM (LPFM) radio stations that would broadcast community news and local
perspectives to neighborhoods across the country.

“All I can say is, it's about time,” said Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), a
co-sponsor of the bill. “It was absurd and ridiculous that broadcasters went
to such great lengths to block the public from having some small measure of
access to the airwaves, and disgraceful that we had to spend more two
million dollars to prove what the FCC already had shown—that LPFM would not
interfere with full power stations.”

Big broadcasters have historically opposed the Local Community Radio Act,
claiming that LPFM could cause interference to full power stations, a
concern later disproven by a Congressionally mandated study. But with
unanimous FCC support, strong bipartisan co-sponsorship, and grassroots
momentum, even industry news is now predicting a win. “We do not expect that
there is any stopping it at this point,” the *Radio Business Report *commented
this morning.

“The bill still has a long way to go in the legislative process, but I am
optimistic that by the end of the year the Local Community Radio Act will be
signed into law,” said Congressman Doyle (D-PA), lead co-sponsor of the bill
with Congressman Lee Terry (R-NE).

The bill gained the support of former doubters of LPFM, including Rep. Cliff
Stearns (R-FL), a former lead co-sponsor of anti-LPFM legislation and
ranking Republican on the subcommittee, Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR), the only
former broadcaster in Congress, and Rep. John Dingell (D-MI), who called for
the study of LPFM interference in 2000.

“Today’s vote signals a policy shift towards more local and diverse media,”
said Cory Fischer-Hoffman, Campaign Director for the Prometheus Radio
Project. “We need to use this momentum to push for full passage of the Local
Community Radio Act so groups working tirelessly to have a voice in their
communities can start building stations.”

Hundreds of groups—including schools, churches, and emergency
responders—were denied licenses in 2000 after Congress blocked the FCC from
handing them out in crowded media markets.

Advocates point to the successes of existing low power FM stations to prove
their value to communities. “When Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf, low power
radio was the only source of emergency information in a number of counties.
Residents in East Texas tuned their battery-operated radios to KZQX-LP while
they waited a week for power to be restored,” said Andalusia Knoll,
Community Station Director at the Prometheus Radio Project. “In Louisiana,
KOCZ-LP has proven essential to the cultural survival of Zydeco music, which
is rarely heard on the airwaves. And low power station WRYR-LP hosts public
debate about the environmental impacts of development on the Chesapeake
Bay.”

“Congress should act swiftly to pass LPFM and support the families, workers,
and places of worship that serve as the anchors in our communities,” said
Joel Kelsey, Policy Analyst at Consumers Union.

Nancy Zirkin of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights added, “In an era
of mass media consolidation, we in the civil rights community believe that
it is critical to promote diverse ownership and diverse viewpoints over the
public airwaves, and we look forward to the passage of this bill into law.”

The Local Community Radio Act is now poised to move to the full Energy and
Commerce Committee, chaired by longtime LPFM supporter Rep. Henry Waxman
(D-CA).


*The Prometheus Radio Project is a Philadelphia based non-profit that
advocates for greater public access to the airwaves through the licensing of
low power radio stations. *www.prometheusradio.org

###



------------------------------

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Staff mailing listStaff at lists.prometheusradio.orghttp://lists.prometheusradio.org/listinfo.cgi/staff-prometheusradio.org


-- 
Andalusia Knoll
Community Station Organizer
(215) 727-9620 x 506andalusia at prometheusradio.org

Prometheus Radio Projectwww.prometheusradio.org

"Radio is one sided when it should be two. It is purely an apparatus
for distribution, for mere sharing out.  So here is a positive
suggestion: change this apparatus over from distribution to
communication.  The radio would be the finest possible communication
apparatus in public life, a vast network of pipes. That is to say, it
would be if it knew how to receive as well as transmit, how to let the
listener speak as well as hear, how to bring someone into a
relationship instead of isolating them."  Bertolt Brecht




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