Why Buffalo Should Care About the Local Community Radio Act

As if the future of the Local Community Radio Act that is now sitting on the desks of US Senators wasn't important enough, the pending fate of the bill really hit home after a good investigative article was published in Artvoice a few weeks ago by Buck Quigley about the possible consolidation of public radio here in Buffalo. While the situation is still playing out, I am posting a link to it here because, frankly, everyone I mentioned it to in the past two weeks had no idea what I was talking about. 

The budget cuts to the community's cultural institutions, on the other hand, had everyone up in arm the past couple of weeks and rightly so. The possible merging of WBFO and WNED, however, is important, too, and it shouldn't slip by unnoticed. 

I won't repeat all the details from Quigley's article, but the point is that the passage of the Local Community Radio Act has actually become more important since the news broke that the Western New York market may lose one of the two remaining media outlets that is not controlled by for-profit (and usually non-local) entities. 

Critics will shrug off this consolidation and point out that the two stations were actually overlapping their syndicated news programming, as Quiqley did, and that both stations were next to worthless when it came to music programming for anyone under the age of 40 (something I tend to agree with).

While the above criticisms are both true, they are beside the point.  The point here is that now that the Western New York market may lose one of its two public media outlets, it is all the more important for this community to get behind the Local Community Radio Act in the same way that we spoke out for the continuation of county funding for small cultural institutions.

Here's why.

The broadcast spectrum, which is the airwaves on which radio, television, cellular phones, etc., are disseminated, is a public resource just like the national and state forests. Yet, the only "access" we have to the airwaves is through public broadcasting, which doesn't really provide us with access but does at least operate with the public's best interest at heart. Well there are two stations in WNY that represent this presence, WBFO and WNED. Criticisms on the state of public radio aside, now we may be down to a single outlet in the very near future.

This means our already scant access to the local airwaves will be one step away from being completely choked off.  

What happens when the federal government pulls the financial rug out from underneath public broadcasting the same way that county government just did to our local cultural institutions? The newly elected Republican congress that is rolling into DC with a "mandate" to slash spending is already rumbling about cutting the funding that is allocated to the left-leaning public broadcasting system. 

Just like in the cultural realm, we can no longer rely on the government to subsidize public broadcasting. Doing so will only end in disappointment, frustration, and the same feeling of betrayal that Collins will deliver to Erie County's cultural institutions when his budget cuts go through. And don't kid yourself, the cuts are going through no matter how many rallies are staged. Collins knows you people aren't voting for him anyway.  So brace yourself.

Or, you can act. 

The county's funding for cultural institutions is not a battle that can be won in this economic climate, but the community's demand for access to the airwaves is a war that is on the verge of being won right now. We just need to get over the last hump. 

The Prometheus Radio Project, a non-profit association dedicated to the democratization of the airwaves through the proliferation of non-commercial, community radio, has been doing the heavy lifting for the rest of us by shepherding the Local Community Radio Act through the slimy cesspool that is the United States capitol.  But they could use our help right now. 

Here is what you can do.  
 
Follow this link so that you can find out who to call at the capitol about helping this bill get passed in 2010. If you live in New York, call Senator Schumer. Tell him this act needs to get passed to compensate for the possible consolidation of WNED and WBFO. Tell him to pass the bill  because we should have access to our own public resources. 

Spread the word, too. This is something people don't know about. Know someone who was pissed about County Executive Collins cutting funding for the local cultural institutions? Tell them about this. This is an adjacent struggle in a lot of ways, except we actually have a chance to win here.

But we have to get the bill passed before the end of the lame duck session or else the stronger Republican Senate minority and the new incoming senators could disrupt the passing of the bill. 

What would happen if the Local Community Radio Act was passed, you ask?

An e-mail sent out by FreePress.net explains that by paving the way for local communities to gain access to the airwaves via 100-watt, community run radio stations the Local Community Radio Act would allow communities to "air shows about the issues that matter to them, instead of being subjected to channel after channel of shock jocks and predetermined playlists." In addition, "We could flip the dial to finally hear our own neighbors talking to each other about the things that affect our lives."  And from a musical standpoint, "local music could replace the endless cycle of corporate record labels pushing the same songs day after day." 

In other words, we could actually listen to the radio again like we used to do.

WTF 94.9 are already doing, except it wouldn’t be illegal and you wouldn’t have to worry about the FCC busting down your doors and taking you to jail. 

Check out FreePress.net for more info on Low Powered FM and what will happen if the bill gets passed.

Needles