[Seattle-editorial] FI: Low Powered Community Radio!

[sheri at speakeasy.org]

-----Original Message-----
From: hannahjs at babel.serve.com [mailto:hannahjs at babel.serve.com]
Sent: Monday, May 3, 2004 04:13 PM
To: prometheusdelivered at mail.serve.com
Subject: Prometheus in the Halls of Power!

(please forward!)

Greetings from the Prometheus Radio Project!  Below, please find a report 
from our Technical Director, Pete Tridish, on Prometheus' and allies' 
visits to the halls of power in Washington, DC.  This note should give you 
some good background on how -you- can push for Low Power FM in your 
Senators' office, with your letters, phonecalls, and visits!  The time to 
push is now.  You can find all the tools you'll need to make a call, plan 
a visit, or start a letter-writing campaign by calling Jaclyn Ford or Pete 
Tridish at 215.727.9620.  You can also find these tools online, at 
http://www.prometheusradio.org/freeairwaves.shtml -- thanks for reading, 
and fighting to bring Low Power FM radio to thousands more communities 
across the United States!

* * * * *

In late February, the FCC released a report to Congress that recommended
that Low Power FM radio get a second chance in the major American cities.

A loose coalition of allied Low Power FM radio advocates spent several
intensive days lobbying the Commerce Committee.  These groups included the
Prometheus Radio Project, Free Press, the Media Access Project, the United
Church of Christ, the National Catholic Conference, and the Future of
Music Coalition.  Representatives of the various groups -- plus Low Power
FM radio station operators John Gerbracht of the Edinboro Early School and
Mike Shay of the South Arundel Citizens for Responsible Development,
visited dozens of offices over the past weeks.

On February 20th, the FCC made its recommendations to Congress to remove
the third-adjacency protection standard -- that unnecessary buffer which
keeps America's cities from building Low Power FM radio stations.  That 
same day, Senator John McCain announced he would introduce a bill that 
would reverse the Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act of 2000, the bill 
that put the buffer in place.  If passed, this legislation will allow 
thousands more LPFMs on the air, particularly in metropolitan areas.  
The bill is expected to be introduced within the coming weeks, making now 
the decisive time to contact the Senate.  

On the meetings themselves -- the meetings at the Senate were really very
promising.  They were actually pretty fun, depending how broadly you like
to stretch that term.  Most Senate staff are young and thoughtful and
open-minded, and especially enjoy hearing stories about the new stations.  
Low Power FM radio advocates who visit their Senators with a positive
story to tell -- or an amazing dream of what they could do with a station
-- serve as a welcome break from all the people that come to them with
terrible problems and self-interested business requests.  Several of the
Senate staffers, when presented with the independent findings of the MITRE
Corporation vindicating LPFM, indicated that they thought that the Senator
may be interested in changing sides on the issue and even co-sponsoring
legislation!  We were met with enthusiastic interest from Republicans and
Democrats alike, many of whom were completely unfamiliar with the issue.

One of the most exciting parts of the effort is that former FCC
Commissioner Gloria Tristani, who is now the director of the
Communications Office of the United Church of Christ, also joined several
of the meetings to lend her support.  Tristani was very supportive of Low
Power FM during her tenure as a commissioner.  Now that the issue of
interference has been put to bed by the MITRE study and the FCC, our
representatives must be made to understand the ways in which LPFM affects
community, public channels of discussion and the democratic worth of our
institutions.  For more information on how to lobby for low power FM call
the Prometheus office (215-727-9620) and ask to speak to Jaclyn Ford. She
can coach you and help you set up meetings, in DC or in your home
district.