Future of Music Coalition's Statement on the Passing of the Local Community Radio Act

Legislation paves the way for more Low Power FM stations in American towns and cities

 

December 18, 2010

WASHINGTON, DC—Today, Congressional champions joined with grassroots advocates and public interest groups — ranging from civil rights, environmental, arts, and religious organizations — to secure a pivotal victory in the effort to expand the diversity of views and voices on American radio.

The Local Community Radio Act passed the House of Representatives and Senate, thanks to the bipartisan leadership of Representatives Mike Doyle (D-PA) and Lee Terry (R-NE) and Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and John McCain (R-AZ). The bill now awaits the President’s signature.

The addition of more Low Power FM (LPFM) stations will increase local civic engagement, diversify the airwaves, support local music and culture, assist during emergencies, expand religious expression and provide a platform for the voices of underrepresented communities to be heard.

The following statement is attributed to Michael Bracy, Policy Director for Future of Music Coalition (FMC), a national non-profit research, education and advocacy organization for musicians that has championed the expansion of community radio opportunities for a decade.

“The need to expand and protect non-commercial radio was a key driver in the creation of the Future of Music Coalition over ten years ago. We could not be more appreciative of the years and years of hard work by Senator Maria Cantwell, Senator John McCain, Representative Mike Doyle and Representative Lee Terry and their staffs to get to this point. Today’s passage is a historic milestone in the effort to provide local communities with greater opportunities for local, independent and niche music on the FM airwaves.

“Our sincere gratitude goes to these Congressional champions, as well as the musicians and media reform activists who have made this victory possible.”

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

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.  

Local Community Radio Act Bill Stalled in Senate

I figure now is the perfect time to slip in a post on politics while everyone is in the midst of maintaining their "I'm politically informed" charade for the next 48 hours or so. At least before they revert back into their natural politically oblivious state (until 2012, that is). 

Besides, most people are probably running out of re-usable talking points to spew on their friends and family. So here is one that they can use that will make them sound real smart!

This news comes courtesy of the Radio Survivor blog. It has to do with the Local Community Radio Act Bill in that is currently stalled in the Senate. Obviously an area of concern for The Soundscape and all of us over at WTF 94.9 Buffalo Free Radio. 

Tick, tick, tick. LPFM expansion bill languishes due to Senatorial nonsense

October 26th, 2010 by Paul Riismandel in LPFM, community radio, politix

Like comedy, democracy ain’t pretty. It’s been more than a year since the House passed the Local Community Radio Act, but the companion bill in the Senate seems to be jammed up in the sausage grinder.

Although the expansion of LPFM apparently enjoys broad bipartisan support, according to Politico Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso has put a hold on the bill “because he wants to ensure it includes language that distinguishes full-power FM stations from low-power FM stations.”



Let me be entirely honest and clear: I have no idea what it means to “distinguish full-power FM stations from low-power FM stations.” My best guess is that Barrasso wants to be sure that LPFM stations are treated as a secondary service, which means they have to give way if a full-power station wants to move or increase. However, this is already true, baked into the LPFM service from the very start. In which case I can only conclude that Barraso is looking for any excuse–no matter how lame–to keep the bill from a vote until the end of this Congressional session. This is the third hold the bill has been subjected to.

The Prometheus Radio Project is doing its best to unjam things, urging Wyoming residents to give their senator a call to politely urge him to let the Local Community Radio Act have a fair and democratic hearing on the Senate floor.