LPRS SOLUTION:
Click here to discussion on how corruption and racism can destroy this opportunity if we don't act!!

Summary: The Federal Communication Commission has recently proposed to open new legal frequencies in the Greap Gaping Gaps of static between full-power radio stations; and restrict their control to new and local groups and people. This proposed new set of rules is referred to as the Low Power Radio Service (LPRS).
The LPRS could enable thousands of new and new local community, church or small business radio stations to serve those ignored by current radio stations.

A stable society is an inclusive and just society. The LPRS, is designed to encourage a diversity of cultures represented on the airwaves by encouraging a diversity of ownership/control. A diversity of people and organizations with different values and priorities will create a more inclusive media (and therefore government policy) because they will have different definitions of what is “newsworthy” and “viable” for sharing on the public’s airwaves.

Our Democratic Republic depends on a careful balance of power and an effective “free press” that is neither onerously influenced by government or
overly centralized private influence.

The LPRS could be a renaissance in American Democracy ... if We The People resist cynicism and act in our self interest.


DANGER:
The strategies, brief relevant history and arguments
of the enemies of a diverse radio dial:
The less technical arguments are presented first. Those who oppose the Low Power Radio Service would prefer to drag us into eye-glazing technical discussions rather than look at the philosophical and political reasons to oppose your opportunity to be on the air!
The opponents of the competitive opportunities provided by the LPRS prefer technical arguments because they can afford the technical experts to bury your numbed brain under an avalanche of jargon and mathematics and concepts that you may find strange or even intimidating, thus winning the argument by default.
 


Strategies:

Key Republican's*1 talk
as if they support the interests
of the average American ...
but actions say otherwise.


Follows are the ways that the small elite minority seek to profit by restricting the use of our property,
the public airwaves:

IMPORTANT FACTORS IN THE GROWTH OF COMMUNITY RADIO

 

Popular disgust with the media has caused many across the political spectrum to pursue an establishment of their own radio stations and an explosion of web pages being published.
Whether considered "left" or "right" wing, the supporters of Community Radio have one important goal in common: A desire for people to have at least a few outlets in their community for ideas that do not serve either the government or big business interests.

For as long as there has been radio, there have been radio pirates. What is different now is:

  • Radio Transmitting equipment is very affordable. You can buy a thousand watt transmitter for about $5,000 or less. A 40 Watt transmitter with a downtown-spanning 4 to 5 mile radius can cost under $500.
  • Pirate radio used to be largely a matter of vanity. The music and talk rarely challenged the status  quo and when the FCC showed up, the "hobby broadcaster" usually ceased operations and went into "legitimate" broadcasting at some small independent radio station, a shop front AM or 10 Watt college FM station.
  • Now the incredibly overinflated values (due to a merger-purchase frenzy) of radio  stations have forced single proprietorships and small organizations out of the business. The consolidation of staff has thrown thousands out of jobs.
  • Americans are less satisfied with the "melting pot" theory of what it means to be "American." Now Americans largely buy into the "Brunswick Stew" analogy where the pot of many different cultures and world-views make up a distinctive "American Stew" , yet the individual components, the Mexican peppers, the Asian Rice, the German bouillon, the Scottish potatoes ... all retain their individuality within the stew.
  • This sea-change in our political awareness sees us wanting to see ourselves reflected and represented in the media. We want those who choose the news headline, the interview source, the order of the quotes to have at least some awareness and sympathy to our worldview.
  • Americans are also becoming sensitized to the fact that we are losing control of our government. Cynicism is running rampant with "none of the above" winning elections where that choice is available.
  • Americans are realizing that radio is not just another business, but rather a vital link between those who make policy (in Big Government or Big Business that has purchased Government) and those who suffer from policy.
  • Americans are realizing that our public resources, the airwaves in this case, are being hijacked by the powerful for the further concentration of power.
  • THUS: realizing that therefore since these powerful (fewer and fewer in number) rely upon taxpayer funded government agencies such as the Federal Communication Commission to protect their positions of leisure and benefit ... and that media is designed to inform us of what government and business is doing  ...
  • Unrepresentative radio is literally taxation without representation!
    • This is a dangerous game that the forces of monopoly are playing. The lack of access to the airwaves is exactly the kind of problem that lead to the American Revolution against the British King. The problem is that Revolution often becomes a big mess, not stopping when all the original tormentor's heads have been cut off. Revolution often eats its own.

    So rather than being radical, the Low Power Radio Service that would open opportunities for the unheard to get on the FM dial is a mitigating force. Those who take the side of concentrated power do so at the risk of the nation.

    "I'm too poor to vote Republican" goes the bumper snicker. If only they would stick to fiscal responsibility as a theme, the Republicans could get a lot of support.

    Then the Republicans turn around and let their true colors show: Pro Concentrated Power. Oh, and if the Democrats think they are off the hook, forget it. Most of the worst offenses of government have required a bi-partisan sell-out.

    Liberals used to depend on Big Government to protect them from the excesses of Big Business. Conservatives used to rely on Big Business to protect them from the "social engineering" of the Big Government. Well, now Big Business purchased Big Government and they are kicking both of us to the gutter! As with any attempt to consolidate power, you must prevent your victims from joining forces and communicating their similarities and coming up with tactics.
     

  • First: A key cornerstone to the Republican "Contract On America" was the 1996 Telecommunications Act that allowed those corporations that would own multiple radio stations to start gobbling every station and each other. While the press covered the 1996 Telecom Act as a way to cheapen phone rates and provide neat new phone services, very little has happened for phone competition. Conversely, in the much-ignored (until recently) area of radio mergers the 1996 Telecom Act has revolutionized American electronic media. This Act would never have made it without President Clinton's signature.
  • Second: When the 1992 Oil, er "Gulf" War erupted and the press rolled over for Col. Shwartz like the good lapdog it usually is for its defense-contractor-owners ... thousands of disgruntled Americans took to the airwaves on legal community radio stations and illegal "pirate" radio stations.
  • Third: The FCC is goaded by the National Association of Broadcasters to begin cracking down on the pirate radio operators. The claim is that the pirates are going to cause planes to fall from the sky, the firemen won't be able to communicate. The only problem is, its the NAB complaining and not the Federal Aviation Administration! Indeed, these pirate operators are typically less powerful than a common hairdryer, the damage caused by mega-watt legal operations are far more apparent than from a 40 watt pirate transmitter. There are two pirate radio operators in the Richmond area, neither of which are interfering with any other station on any of the receivers checked. WCVE 88.9FM regularly stomps reception of half the stations for a mile radius around their tower (co-located on the Channel 6 tower), in spite of being lower power than several other commercial radio stations! WRXL102 and WRVQ 94.5FM, while more powerful, do not stomp stations like WCVE88.9FM does. The records speak for themselves, it is human nature to procrastinate and goof off until a crisis occurs.  So given the same amount of laziness they accuse pirate radio operators of, the huge power output of a blowtorch like WCVE causes more damage.

    •  
  • The stations chosen for the crack-downs are almost always the ones carrying anti-establishment messages and solutions outside the marketplace system provided by Big-Businovernment. When 15 stations in Miami are busted, 13 of them were Techno radio stations. The corporate-chain NAB radio stations could have put these pirates out of business ... by playing techno ... but they would rather use taxpayer funded agencies such as the FCC and the Federal Marshalls to avoid serving a market they are not sympathetic to. They would rather carve up the Baby Boomer "oldies" market eight different ways and fight toothe and claw over leftovers than serve a market (techno) that makes up some one fifth of pop music sales.

    • Techno is the underground music for the 90s and 21st century as Jazz was in the 1930s, Rock was in the 1950s and 1960s. In spite of Techno backing up auto commercials, sneaker ads and sport drink collages ... commercial radio is so antagonistic to the Techno culture that they will pass up an audience that makes up an estimated 20% of pop music sales. The kicker is that the NAB corporate chain radio stations won't serve the Techno culture but they don't want street level entrepreneurs with 40 to 400 watt stations to serve them either!


    WHY DO "THEY" GET AWAY WITH IT?

    The Republicans such as Tauzin are bold in their corruption because they are so sure that the mainstream media will not alert the public to the selling of their resources, the airwaves, for personal gain.

    Tauzin and crowd knows that if they expect to get reelected, they must purchase advertising on Television.
    People like Tauzin rarely stay in office when people know they are corrupt.
    They cannot afford to upset the Big Boy Broadcasters who have the ultimate in welfare:
    The worse job the reporters do covering a political campaign, the more the need for TV ads to get the candidate's points across.
    TV ads cost huge stinking piles of blood money meaning that they must prostitute themselves to people and institutions with deep pockets.
    And finally, frankly, most candidates of major parties are far more comfortable hob nobbing with Archer Daniels Midland company execs on their jets as they go on privately funded "fact-finding" missions than they do visiting you at some greasy spoon restaurant for your measly $100 or less.
    Then they can slap themselves on the back that really they deserve to be in this position of power, after all, they know they are right; the proof is that God loves them because they are Rich, they are Rich because God loves them.
    If you are not rich, that means God does not love you, and if we are going to have paradise, well, you'll just have to go.

    Micropower Community Radio threatens to upset this nice applecart they have arranged, and with radio stations with regular people doing the shows, there is always the chance that someone might really come up with a unique solution to a problem that they don't have any control over nor ability to profit from.
    (Follow this link, scroll down to the bottom and you will see why a network of Community radio stations is so vital to Democracy ... and why some are so opposed to it.
     
     

    To Reiterate: What we need:


    FOOTNOTES:
    NOTE1:] The following information might suggest that only the Republicans have laid themselves wide open to the accusation of shilling for Wall Street. Notably, the key law that started this whole mess was signed by President Clinton, so much of this mess would not exist without a bipartisan sell-out.
    NOTE2:] The Low Power Radio Service (LPRS) is a proposal to change the regulations that the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) uses to enforce law set down by  Congress.
    Regulation is always a matter of interpretation of the law's intention and therefore political, not technical as many might have  you believe.
    Certain key Republicans have further politicized the process of setting regulation by
    a) Demanding that debates over the  regulation occur in Congressional Committees that are sympathetic to Big Boy Broadcasters and
    b) Openly threatening the FCC with  "restructuring" during the 1999 "Reauthorization Hearings" if the FCC insists on hearing out the public on our desire for access to radio opportunities.
    What we need from our Senators/Representatives is public support for the FCC to move forward with a historic proposal to open airwaves to those "outside the club" of the elite that currently control almost all access points on the FM dial ... via the LPRS.
    Our Congressmen and Senators can show support by writing a public letter to the FCC supporting the LPRS.
    Note3:] Interesting that a very conservative Congressman is now so comfortable with what some people have referred to as the "Corporation for Petroleum Broadcasting". Indeed, this shows how far NPR has come from its roots as a channel for minority and nonmainstream "voices that might otherwise be unheard" and universally reviled by Nixon and crowd.


    ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE LPRS:

    Argument: "you'll have to prove there's a relationship between diversity of ownership and diversity of viewpoints."

    Argument: "It won't help those it is intended to help anyway." Argument: "The LPRS will allow skin heads to get stations and threaten struggling public radio stations.", "Billy" Tauzin (R-LA and Chair of the House Telecom Subcommittee).


    Argument: "We don't need all these little [LPRS] radio stations, I've had about all the diversity I can stand!", Conrad Burns (R-Mont and Chair of the Senate Telecom Subcommittee).

    Argument: What possible purpose would creating new stations in a transitional market serve?", Senator McCain.


    Argument: If the FCC passes the LPRS, those stations will use the space that the full-power broadcasters need to progress to a digital radio format.


    Argument: The LPRS stations will cause interference with the existing (analog) stations.
    NOTE:] Those who profit from the current concentration of control of the radio dial would prefer to distract you with an eye-glazing technical discussion. The real problem, to quote Senator Conrad Burns (R-Mont, Chair of the Senate Telecom Subcmte) is that "We don't need all these little [LPRS] stations, I've had about all the diversity I can stand!"
    CLICK HERE FOR MORE ON THE POLITICAL MOTIVATIONS OF LPRS OPPONENTS


    What is needed: A press release or letter from our Congressmen and Senators publicly mailed to the Federal Communication Commission stating that their constituency wish to expand opportunities for diverse ownership and programming on the airwaves via the Low Power Radio Service with strong local ownership provisions.
     

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