Local Community Radio Act Update

Last week I posted a link to the Radio Survivor's blog which detailed how the Local Community Radio Act -- which is striving to open up the FM airwaves to local communities -- has hit yet another wall in the US Senate. 

More info on what exactly is holding the bill up has surfaced via an article by Jesse Walker at Reason.com, titled "The Great Radio Blockade."  

Apparently, Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming put an anonymous hold on the bill (something that Senator's are allowed to do) because he is demanding that it first establish "greater certainty that existing broadcast channels will be protected" if the airwaves open up to LPFM broadcasters. 

Yes...let's make sure that the thousands of Clear Channel-type owned radio stations that are polluting our airwaves with audio garbage across the country are protected from the competition that non-commercial 100-watt community radio stations will bring. 

But you know what? 

The Republican Senator from Wyoming is right to be concerned. Because while the brain dead and the deaf may still actually listen to commercial radio these days, once community radio stations start popping up across the U.S. landscape, which the passage of the Local Community Radio Act will hopefully enable, these commercial radio stations are going to be in big trouble. 

"Local" stations like 103.3 The Edge and 97 Rock, which are dime-a-dozen across the country, cannot possibly compete with the sense of community that citizen-run stations inevitably foster. It is impossible for these outside, profit-driven entities to inspire the civic pride that comes with listening to and supporting a locally owned and operated radio station that puts its people before its profits.   

But I digress. . .

I'll have more info later about why Western New Yorkers specifically should care about the Local Community Radio Act, especially in light of the possible WBFO/WNED merger that was reported by Buck Quigley in Artvoice, along with the controversial cultural cuts that are being handed down by County Executive Collins.

Stay Tuned.