Support Non-Commercial Micro-Radio!
Doug Schuler
douglas
Thu Jul 8 11:40:55 PDT 1999
Micro-radio offers a new opportunity for public media space. Please
take the time to write the FCC on this issue. Thanks!
-- Doug
From: Sheri Herndon <SHerndon at gsblaw.com>
To: Sheri Herndon <SHerndon at gsblaw.com>
Subject: Chomsky/ Zinn/ Mumia Lettter on Microradio Legalization
Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 11:19:52 -0700
PLEASE FORWARD AND DISTRIBUTE WIDELY
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Greg Ruggiero [SMTP:gregruggiero at earthlink.net]
> Sent: Thursday, July 08, 1999 11:00 AM
> To: media-l at tao.ca
> Subject: Chomsky/ Zinn/ Mumia Lettter on Micro
>
> July 8, 1999
>
> It's coming down to wire on the micro issue here in the U.S.
>
> We've got three weeks left to pound the FCC and our Reps with pro-micro
> letters-- August 2 is the deadline to submit comments on the FCC's
> proposal
> to begin licensing low power community stations.
>
> To help mobilize greater grassroots response, today the
> Microradio Empowerment Coalition is releasing a pro-microradio
> letter written by Robert W. McChesney and signed by a host of
> activists, educators, and organizers, including Noam Chomsky,
> Dee Dee Halleck, Howard Zinn, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and many others.
>
> Because many people who don't have time to show support *will*
> show support if doing so is quick and easy, we've set up two web sites
> where folks can "sign and send" the letter with a click of the mouse.
>
> These sites are:
>
> http://www.nlgcdc.org/mec/mec.html
>
> and
>
> http://artcon.rutgers.edu/mec.html
>
>
> We hope you will help circulate this letter and link
> your web pages to one of the above sites.
>
> La Lucha Sigue.
>
> Free Airwaves in 99!,
>
> Greg Ruggiero
> Microradio Empowerment Coalition
>
> -----------------------------
>
> To: The Honorable Chairman William E. Kennard ,
> Commissioner Gloria Tristani,
> Commissioner Michael Powell,
> Commissioner Susan Ness,
> Commissioner Harold Furchgott-Roth,
> Federal Communications Commission
> The Portals
> 455 Twelfth Street S.W.
> Washington, DC 20554
>
> cc: Vice President Al Gore, Bill Bradley, George Bush, Jr.
>
> Dear Honorable Chairman Kennard:
>
> We are writing to commend you and the Federal Communications
> Commission for taking action on an issue of great importance to us --
> ending the 21-year ban on community access to the airwaves. We have become
> increasingly concerned about the growing concentration of the media in our
> country and are pleased that the Commission is responding to public outcry
> to increase opportunities for local communities to use our radio airwaves.
>
> One of the fundamental tenets of our democracy is to ensure that
> diverse interests have opportunities to express themselves, not merely to
> be the recipients of what a handful of other people tell them. It is a
> nonnegotiable component of our right to a free press and free speech.
>
> Radio is perhaps the most qualified of any media outlet to provide
> community access. It is a relatively inexpensive medium to produce and is
> well-suited to cover community issues and local culture. Unfortunately,
> over the past three years the U.S. radio broadcasting industry has
> experienced an unprecedented wave of consolidation and mergers. As a
> result, the electronic medium best suited to inexpensive, local
> programming
> has become arguably the most regimented and centralized of our major
> media.
> Even a multimillionaire would have trouble entering the radio broadcasting
> industry today, because economies of scale (permitted by deregulation)
> demand that a firm own numerous stations in several markets to be even
> remotely competitive. As for the person of average means, their lot is
> limited to being a passive consumer of an increasingly monopolistic
> industry that has less and less competitive pressure to heed the diverse,
> local needs of listeners. And, for poor people and others who are
> considered unimportant to the advertising community, radio increasingly
> has
> little to offer. Again, the great tragedy of this situation is that radio
> is the ideal medium to provide an accessible local service for democratic
> communications of interest and value to the entire population.
>
> Awarding licenses for new low power FM radio stations would empower
> local communities with a new public forum to express its many voices,
> cultures, ideas, and needs. Low power radio stations would create much
> needed public fora for a variety of groups -- including community
> activists, youth, ethnic and linguistic minorities, the religious
> community, local artists and cultural associations -- and provide a forum
> for dialogue and debate about important local and public interest issues.
> These kinds of stations would strengthen community identity in urban
> neighborhoods, rural towns and other communities which are currently too
> small to win attention from "mainstream," profit-driven media.
>
> The strong interest in independent radio stations shows that the
> creation of low power radio service would have wide public support. The
> tremendous demand for microradio is demonstrated by the emergence of a
> national Free Radio Movement, widespread civil disobedience,
> constitutional
> challenges of the Commission's aggressively enforced 21-year ban, as well
> as the proliferation of unlicensed community radio stations supported by
> local
> government, whose operators broadcast at the risk of financial losses,
> seizure
> of property, arrest, and in some cases, imprisonment.
>
> In addition, the Commission has stated that in the last year
> alone, 13,000
> people inquired regarding the possibility of obtaining a license for low
> power
> broadcasting in their communities.
>
> In support with the efforts of the Microradio Empowerment
> Coalition (http://www.nlgcdc.org/mec/index.html), we urge you to
> legalize microradio in order to benefit non-commercial community
> groups whose interest in microradio is to communicate, to educate, and
> to inform, not to make money. We are confident you agree that broad
> citizen
> access to information and culture is at the heart of a democratic society.
>
> To support this vision, we urge you to legalize microradio
> with the following
> concerns in mind:
>
> 1. Microradio licenses should be awarded for non-commercial use
> only.
> The current radio spectrum is dominated by commercial media. LPFM
> licenses should
> go to non-commercial community groups who want to use radio to communicate
> with
> their neighbors, not make profit from them.
>
> 2. Licenses should be held locally, be non-transferable, affordable
> to
> all communities, easy to apply for and limited to one per license holder;
> they should NOT be businesses.
>
> 3. Power levels should be up to 100 watts in urban areas and up to
> 250
> watts in rural areas.
>
> 4. The Commission should NOT diminish new low-power stations to
> "secondary status." It would be a tragedy to take away licenses from
> low-power
> community stations just because the Commission subsequently granted
> a power increase to a
> pre-existing station or granted a new high power license somewhere
> nearby.
>
> 5. The Commission should grant full amnesty for the
> microbroadcast pioneers
> who have suffered government seizure and fines. Their property should be
> returned. They should be granted equal opportunity in applying for
> and receiving
> new licenses.
>
> 6. Problems, technical or otherwise, should be referred to the local
> voluntary micropower organization for assistance or mediation (e.g. the
> Ham
> radio model). The FCC should be the forum of last resort.
>
> 7. LPFM must be protected and maintained in the future as
> radio makes the
> transition from analog to digital broadcasting.
>
> 8. If the FCC intends to license some commercial stations, they must
> be
> licensed last. In this instance, there should be a 2 year "headstart" for
> non-commercial licenses. The right of citizens to communicate is protected
> by the Constitution and the FCC's mandate. The right to make money through
> local radio is not a protection under the FCC's mandate.
>
> 9. Stations should be locally programmed. However recorded materials
> such as music, poetry, documentaries, features etc. may be used. Sharing
> of
> program materials and resources among micro and community stations is
> strongly encouraged. No more than 20% of air time from off-site feeds or
> syndicated tapes.
>
> 10. Licenses should be awarded to unincorporated non-commercial
> associations, and non-profit organizations.
>
> 11. Within two years new spectrum space (including any future
> digital spectrum space) should be allocated for continued expansion
> of microradio
> broadcasters so that any community group that wishes to broadcast has
> access to
> available spectrum space (frequencies). Further, all manufacturers of
> consumer radio
> receivers for sale in the United States should be required to include
> this spectrum set
> aside for microradio broadcasters.
>
> 12. Licensing fees should be affordable to all communities.
>
> Again, we commend Chairman Kennard and the Commission for your
> willingness to address these issues. We are hopeful that the creation
> of a new class of
> low power FM radio licensing becomes a reality during the Chairman's
> present term. We look forward to working on making the airwaves more
> accessible for our local communities.
>
> Signed,
>
> MEC Honorary Chair:
> Robert W. McChesney, Madison
>
> MEC Steering Committee:
> Sara Zia Ebrahimi, Philadelphia
> Diane Fleming, Philadelphia
> Peter Franck, San Francisco
> Amanda Huron, Washington, D.C.
> Alan Korn, San Francisco
> Greg Ruggiero, New York City
>
> Noam Chomsky--Massachusetts Institute of Technology
> Howard Zinn--Professor Emeritus, Boston University
> Nancy Kranich--Librarian
> Ron Daniels--Executive Director,Center for Constitutional Rights
> George Gerbner--Founder, Cultural Environment Movement
> Edward Herman--Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
> Janine Jackson--Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
> Mark Crispin Miller--New York University
> Laura Flanders--national producer for Pacifica Radio
> David Barsamian--Director, Alternative Radio
> Elaine Bernard--Harvard Trade Union Program
> Al Lewis--Organizer ("Grandpa" from the Munsters)
> Dee Dee Halleck--Deep Dish TV
> Ben Bagdikian--University of California, Berkeley
> Loretta Ross--Executive Director, National Center for Human Rights
> Education
> Carl Jensen--Founder, Project Censored
> Ellen Braune--Publicist
> Jamie Love--Director, Consumer Project on Technology
> Dan Simon--Founder, Seven Stories Press
> Stuart Ewen--Author
> Juliet Schor--Harvard University
> Herbert Schiller--Professor Emeritus, University of California, San Diego
> Barbara Ehrenreich--Author
> Gloria Steinem--Ms.
> Mumia Abu-Jamal--Journalist
> Kurt Vonnegut-- Author
>
> # # #
>
> ******************************************************
>
> < < <M I C R O R A D I O> > >
> EMPOWERMENT
> COALITION
> 2-12 Seaman Ave, #5K
> New York, New York 10034
>
> email: mec at tao.ca
> voicemail: 212. 942. 8899
> Coalition website: http://www.nlgcdc.org/mec/index.html
> CDC Comments on the NPRM: http://www.nlgcdc.org/99-25.htm
>
> *******************************************************
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