What different music would be played...

different people would be interviewed ...
 
events would be "newsworthy" ?

---

You are probably one of the third of America that so-often cannot find the programming they  want on the FM dial.

You are probably getting tired of having to "make do" with spreadsheet-driven programming.

Well, that is about to change ...
 
 

Solution One: (preferable) Support "Low Power FM" and start your own Community radio station or help another nonprofit build one. On February 20th, 2000, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) voted 3-2 in favor of creating new opportunities for "The Rest Of US" not heard on the radio dial to build "Low Power FM" radio stations to serve our neighborhoods. LPFM is specifically designed by the FCC to be simple enough and affordable enough that a coalition of civic organizations, small churches and advocacy/ educational organizations could apply for them over the Internet. LPFM stations are estimated to cost less than a mid-range new car. 100 watt LPFM stations would cover a 7 mile diameter. During the first round of applications, only the 100 Watt applications will be accepted. After this first round, 10 Watt applications will be accepted. PLUS: FM radio is an established and robust technology. Just about everyone has an FM radio.  Thus LPFM's new and new local voices will help re-invigorate American's engagement with government and corporate policies. Bottom Line: If people don't feel represented by their government, do we have the will to collectively pull through the next war or national tragedy? LPFM will help re-establish a republic with room at the table for everyone's stories , culture and music. MINUS: An African Proverb comes to mind, "When the Elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers."  The "Big Dogs" , the "Elephants" of "Government radio" (National Public Radio, NPR) and the larger commercial radio groups represented by their lobbyists (National Association of Broadcasters, NAB) are opposed to Low Power FM.  If there was ever any question, the LPFM issue has demonstrated once and for all that a politician that votes purely in the public interest is rare and Congress is largely a building full of wind-vanes.  It really comes down to who blows harder, the money of the big institutional lobbyists, or you and I? MORE INFO BELOW ... Jump straight to "How Do I Start My Own Station?"  ... or if you don't have the time or inclination to go to the substantial pain the *** to do any of your own programming on your own station ...  you just want to hear some  programs that speak to your soul, "What Can little ol' I Do?"

Solution Two: (AltToFM)  Help us build the "Alternative to the FM dial 'reverse network' " This will draw off listeners until the FM stations are as devalued as the AM dial then we can move in and buy the stations at bankruptcy auctions. THEN we can get the diverse local radio we really wanted.  Here's how it works. Technology such as MP3 players and 56+kbaud Internet access has brought us to the point where your favorite new programming could be downloaded nightly to your Diamond Rio player, or  Minijam MP3 Player for your Handspring Visor Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). You could also download the MP3 files directly to your Casio PDA for play. Then again, there will soon be devices that download programming like the Internet, but without a computer or phone line ... wireless subscription services like Command Audio and Cue Corporation products. What is different this time ... Unlike other "virtual radio networks" such as Command Audio, Audible and Webactive, or for that matter the new direct audio satellite broadcast services of Sirius and XM Corporation, the Radio 4 The Rest Of US Network would provide programming that is : free to the listener ... controlled by  the listener ... downloads to your MP3 player for one-button playing the next day whether portably or on your desktop. creates a new opportunity for new and niche interest programming providers to find listeners outside the traditional networks. And is of-course a good meeting place for programmer providers to get uploaded by smaller radio stations. PLUS:  This kind of network puts an unprecedented amount of power in the hands of the listener.  This turns the traditional programming network on its head.  This is the "information revolution" brought to life "for the rest of us" ignored by the traditional networks.  MINUS:  Not everyone has a good enough computer to enjoy audio on the Internet. Not everyone has a good enough Internet connection. Not everyone has an MP3 player. Not everyone by a long ways.  This will unfortunately contribute the the further balkanization of America ... an America of those with choices and the tools to create and accept opportunity and those who are largely left out and left behind.  ALSO: There is unlikely to be any local component to this network. At least at first.  Only after MP3 players are as cheap as a simple walkman for $30 and the fast and stable Internet connections and this kind of network has been established for a while can we establish local studios that will have a significant audience for that local area.  And even then, the programming will be often delayed, not live.  Already there are some interesting efforts in that direction at the A-Infos Radio Project and at the Independent Media Center that provides an alternative to a so-called "objective" centralized press.  We hope that our effort would be more like an internet based version of Command Audio ... but unlike Command, with a broader selection of programming that is often not already available on your local FM dial.  For more information visit our AltToFM page ...  and for chuckles read Why LPFM is the best thing that ever happened to FM (for broadcasters no less!)  Gives pause for thought that the NAB and NPR opposition is not entirely a matter of cold logic alone.


 

RESOURCES: More on what is Low Power FM?   Why are claims by the Big Broadcasters that LPFM will cause interference is misleading?   Why is NPR's claim that the reading services for the blind will be disrupted by the LPFM stations is misleading?   Give your favorite broadcaster (if you have any in your area)  our essay, "Why LPFM is the best thing that ever happened to FM" (for broadcasters no less!) OTHER VOICES: About.com center on Free Radio. Excellent overall resource, plus one of the only search engines (other than google) that actually listed us when requested.   Americans for Radio Diversity. Good collation of LPFM in the news.   Amherst Alliance: These folks started the whole process at the FCC over three years ago. Go here and see history.   Free Radio Network. Hosts an excellent chat board under messages, click on the LPFM Grapevine.   Media Access Project Public interest lawyers representing the United Church of Christ which has a Microradio Implementation Project.   Microradio Empowerment Coalition. Very optimistic and responsive. Not a "beltway insider" yet have the professional legal and technical perspective as well.   Prometheus Tour may come to your town and show you how to set up a radio station.   Radio4All.com and .net that carry the pirate perspective. News is no longer updated but the historic links are extensive! The A-Infos web site is the beginning of the kind of 'reverse network" that we will need to create competition for NPR and Pacifica as they become more and more like the commercial networks. Virginia Center for the Public Press testified with Amherst Alliance for LPFM in the HR3439 hearings. This testimony preceeded by one week the now famous reply by the FCC that the NAB and NPR 's testimony was misleading. In other words, citizen action created room for sympathetic bureaucracy to move forward.

"Elephants" oppose "grass"(roots) creating alternative to their centralized FM radio networks:
 
 

African Proverb: "When Elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers."

The Big Broadcasters represented by the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and National Public Radio (NPR) don't want the competition and are pressuring Congress with misleading testimony! 
 

Their contention: 

That you receiver will not be able to separate the signal from their multi-thousand watt stations and our little 100 watt stations. 
 

The only problem with this testimony: 

If this were going to be a problem, it would already have been  a problem for over 30 years!
 
 

FAQ What Does All This  Jargon Mean? FAQ

There are already existing hundreds of hugely powerful "Short Spaced" stations that have been transmitting for 30 years spaced the same (and sometimes even less) distance apart as the LPFM stations would be. There has been no substantial problem for these 20,000 and 50,000 watt stations … there won't be for our 100 watt stations either.

Similarly, NPR is contending that the "Subcarrier" based Reading Services for the Blind will be disrupted by LPFM stations. Again, if that were true, then it would already be a problem. It is not and if it were, you can bet the companies that serve business services over the "subcarrier" channels would also be strongly opposing LPFM. 

They are not. 

The big broadcasters claim that they are simply serving the marketplace and if your story, your music and culture, your values are not reflected on the radio dial, it is because there are not enough of you to justify creation of programming. 

That is true only because the big broadcasters are lazy and have created and are now trying to enforce an artificial scarcity of channels that would have created competition on the radio dial.
 

Bottom line: This struggle makes it all the clearer that if you want your story and cultural values to be heard on your local radio dial you'll have to do it yourself.

The National LPFM Applicants Committee (NLPFMAC) is formed to provide a group and a collection point for resources for those of us who have decided to address the lack of diversity and representation on the radio dial by jumping through all the many hoops that are required for a legal radio station. Luckily, the FCC has really tried quite hard to make this process under the LPFM application quite doable for smaller civic and educational volunteer organizations.

The NLPFMAC also exists to provide a place where policy recommendations and critiques of policies can be created that are presented from their perspective of those who are trying to work with the system ... yet do not accept the current status quo in radio.
 

RESOURCES: In the US House of Representatives, bill number HR3439, "Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act of 1999" has only one purpose ... to cripple LPFM and thereby to "preserve" the status quo in radio where 30% of America is ignored. The Senate version of the "Broadcasting Preservation Act" is SB2068.  On 4/13/00 just under 2/3rds of the US House of Representatives voted for HR3439, the "Broadcast Preservation Act" based on the misleading testimony of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and National Public Radio (NPR). President Clinton has publicly declared he "strongly opposes" the Broadcast Preservation Acts that the Senate (Bill # S2068) is expected to be considering in May. HR3439 reduces the number of LPFM stations from over 400 to about 70 (and none in major cities) by unfairly disallowing LPFMs fair use of the same spacing rules allowed hundreds of existing "Short Spaced" full powered stations. In the Senate, The Senate version of the "Broadcast Preservation Act", S2068 outlaws LPFM entirely.  Codifying into law this favoritism to the big broadcasters violates the 14th Amendment that guarantees equal treatment for all.  ALSO IN THE SENATE: the latest move was to introduce a "compromise" called the "FM Radio Act of 2000" that would essentially require that anyone alleging an LPFM is causing interference must bury that LPFM under lawsuits. This is not to be required of Full Power Broadcasters alleged to cause interference and thus is once again a violation of the 14th Amendment that guarantees us all equal treatment under the law.

In order to claim an opportunity to create free airtime, you must spread the word and persuade your Senator and Congressmen you will support them if they support you. The larger broadcasters are working to persuade your Senator or Congressman to kill your opportunity to be on the air. The broadcasters have the money and the space on public property, the FM dial, but you have the vote!

"Broadcast Preservation" has picked up a substantial number of co-sponsors and without your help getting the word out, LPFM may be just a barely remembered dream.


TACTICS: TO GET YOUR OWN STATION:

 
1. CONTACT PRESIDENT CLINTON ... ask him to follow up on his threat to veto the "Broadcast Preservation Acts" and also ask for Clinton to Veto the "FM Radio Act of 2000" as well.

 
2. CONTACT YOUR SENATORS ... ask that they vote NO on "Broadcast Preservation Act" (SB2068) and "FM Radio Act of 2000" (SB2518) as well.

 
3. CONTACT YOUR CONGRESSCRITTER ... ask that they vote NO on HR3439, the "Broadcast Preservation Act" in the US House of Representatives when the bill comes back from a Veto for another vote. If your Congresscritter already stood up for freedom by voting NO on HR3439 the first time through ... THANK THEM!!!!

 
4. Please fill out our partner's Letter of Intention form now. We along with New Horizon's Radio and thousands of others need your support to help secure the future of the Low Power FM (LPFM) Radio Service that will enable millions of Americans to hear thousands of new free radio stations  This Letter of Intention will be packaged with our request to the President of the United States and Members of Congress to indicate need for this type of community service. 

 
5. Leave us your email. Tell us what state and town you live in and what organization you work with. We can then tailor our response to your area. BE SURE TO LEAVE YOUR PHONE NUMBER.

 

 

Ask us to mail you our videotape to play on your Cable Public Access Channel. A local version of this ran in Richmond Virginia and brought 60 hits a day to that website! The tape consists of an MS Powerpoint slideshow on the visual portion that discusses LPFM and related issues and  provides viewers with phone numbers and web resources to gain more information and places to take action such as writing to their Senator and the President. Then you put whatever soundtrack you want on the audio portion of this tape. You can re-submit the tape to the Cable Public Access station with a new audio content, a kind of "radio on your TV" as often as you can arrange with your Cable station. The Richmond version had both local content as well as examples of other community radio programs downloaded over the Internet or passed along by tape. This was the single most effective education tool we have found yet.
We can insert a video page with your local contact information as well.
 

6. Join other organizations in your area so you can influence the FCC to give you the license as well as prove to your elected officials that they should support you. The Low Power FM service is designed by the FCC for nonprofits. In order to win the stiff competition you will need to form a coalition of groups in your area. You will need to show the FCC that you have Letters Of Intent from your neighboring nonprofits and interest groups and churches to demonstrate that you will provide community service and value.

 
7. Have these organizations write Letters Of Intention to help you build the station and create programming that is relevant to your community. It will help if the programming and the sources of programming are identifiably different from that which is already on the air on other stations.

 
8. Send these letters to the President of the United States. Ask that President Clinton veto the "Broadcast Preservation Act".

 
9. Send these letters to your Senators and Congressmen.

 
10. And educate yourself and others about this effort to create at least one station in each area that allows you to tell your story! You can start my clicking 
11. FINALLY ... yes APPLY for the LPFM license. Some basic instructions to get you started HERE