Tell Congress to Support Low Power FM Bill
Carrie McLaren is a guest blogger at Boing Boing and coauthor of Ad Nauseam: A Survivor's Guide to American Consumer Culture. She lives in Brooklyn, the former home of her now defunct Stay Free! magazine.
For you commies who support low-power community radio, today is Call Your Congressperson and Plea for Low Power FM Day. Prometheus Radio is behind an effort to pass the Local Community Radio Act (HR 1247/S592), which could open the airwaves to tens of thousands of new community radio stations across the country. It only takes a minute or two:
(Photo: Yaldabaoth)
For you commies who support low-power community radio, today is Call Your Congressperson and Plea for Low Power FM Day. Prometheus Radio is behind an effort to pass the Local Community Radio Act (HR 1247/S592), which could open the airwaves to tens of thousands of new community radio stations across the country. It only takes a minute or two:
Info: Prometheus Radio
- Look up your Congressional Representative at Congress.org
- Find out if they have already supported the Local Community Radio Act. See a list of cosponsors at govtrack.us and search for Bill number HR 1147.
- Call the Congressional Switchboard at: (202) 224-3121 and ask to be connected to your Representative's office.
* If your representative is not a cosponsor tell him/her to support expanding Low Power FM all across the country and cosponsor the bill.
* If your representative is a cosponsor ask him/her to reach out to Congressional Leadership to let them know that this is an important priority around the county.
(Photo: Yaldabaoth)
the latest
latest episodes
opencongress link:
http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h1147/show
Only contact your congressperson if you love the thought of 10,000 religious channels causing interference with the channel you'd prefer to hear because that is who will be taking advantage of low power fm - just like they took advantage of low power tv when that opened up.
I think that the possibility of snake handlers interrupting my KMOJ, which is a weak station anyway, is enough for me to lobby against this crap bill.
I'm all for independent voices being heard, but aren't our airwaves clogged enough? Even my local, major stations experience considerable interference right now.
Anonymous, you are parroting the lies of the National Association of Broadcasters. The idea that tiny LPFM stations below 100 watts will interfere with larger stations just does not make sense on its face and is backed up by the science of the MITRE study. You are just wrong.
You are right that the religious sorts do take advantage every time the the FCC opens up any frequencies. But you and I also can apply for LPFM stations. We should be encouraging more good non-profit groups to compete with them, rather than parroting NAB lies and throwing up our hands and giving up.
Please help pass this bill!
The bill discusses transmitters with an Effective Radiated Power of 250 Watts, and it once referred to third channel separation (two empty "channels" between boradcasters, if there is a station on 101.5 MHz, the closest an LPFM station could be would be 102.1 or 100.9 (200 KHz separation between "channels"), assuming intervening "channels" are empty in the market the LPFm hopes to serve).
If this comes to be, assuming the radio station oversight requirement isn't too tough, I'd likely sign up for a station license where I live (and maybe at my lakeside vacation home)... I'm sure I could find kids to run the place for minimal $/work experience...
I don't understand. Why does she only want support from communists? Is she hoping to suppress the influence of people with different political views, or is she under the mistaken impression that only communists could support low-power FM?
As a non-communist that already supported the cause, I can't help but be a little off-put, and think that she's potentially hurting herself more than helping.
as an electrical engineer, i can say that the NAB's claims of interference are completely bunk. the only real static is the pungent, thick layer of commercial garbage layered over the public airwaves.
do you really want to hear the same 300 songs for another 40 years? NO!
check out http://www.freepress.net/lpfm/ for more information, and call your congressperson!
Neat little widget here where you can just type in your zip code and find out if your rep supports local radio: http://www.freepress.net/lpfm/cosponsors
Anonymous #4, I'm agree with Anonymous #2 and #3.
I've been in Florida since 2004 (just in time for all those hurricanes) and I mostly listen to WMFE the NPR station in Orlando and during time the signal has been stepped on numerous times by religious broadcasts. I don't like it when I'm trying to listen to All Things Considered or Wait Wait Don't Tell Me and this crap cuts in instead.
Perhaps outside urbanized areas LPFM remains a good idea, but the only thing more disappointing than the pollution Full-Power FM is the absence of programming and self-absorption of LPFM as it exists today.
This is just another license for the God Squad to do their thing. Realizing this is a total waste of resources, I support it. Literally anything which contributes to the demise of religion is worthy of support.
The argument against religious broadcasters is stupid. Religious broadcasters have always had fm translators (essentially low power stations that don't originate content) to do their bidding. LPFM would actually make good radio happen and is a worthwhile cause. It's been successful before.
(Disclaimer: I used to work with prometheus and I think they're great.)