Expand Low Power FM! Senate to Vote on Low Power FM Bill on October 30th

Great news — after a comprehensive hearing on the future of the radio industry, with much discussion on low power FM radio, the Senate Commerce Committee is ready to vote on whether or not to expand low power FM radio back to your community. Call or write your Senators today to tell them bring community radio back to America’s cities and towns, by supporting Senate Bill 1675, the Local Community Radio Act of 2007!   Click here to send a letter or make a call — now! Read below to learn more!  Congress limited low power FM radio license availability, back in 2000, when big broadcasters were concerned that 100-watt radio stations, licensed to nonprofit groups, would interfere with big broadcasts, especially in big cities. But, at the order of Congress, working with the independent MITRE corporation, the FCC did a comprehensive engineering study — proving that there was plenty of room for LPFM stations in big cities, as well as small communities.   Congressman Mike Doyle and Congressman Lee Terry introduced an companion bill to the bill in the Senate — House Bill 2802 — also called the Local Community Radio Act of 2007. This bill will, if passed, expand access to community radio all across the country.   This bill would tell Congress to recognize that there is no possible interference from low power FM radio stations in America’s big cities, and to allow the FCC to grant station licenses there. It’s time to educate our legislators, and to ask them to cosponsor these vital bills. This is the first bill introduced on low power FM in the House of Representatives in many years. A companion bill has come out from Senators John McCain and Maria Cantwell in the Senate — Senate Bill 1675 — and together, we’ll be ready for our national push to bring community radio to millions more people, and thousands of communities, in the United States!Low power FM was limited — kept from America’s cities, but with proof from FCC and a $2.2 million dollar study, the time is now to expand low power FM. In 2000, the Federal Communications Commission established the Low Power FM (LPFM) radio service — noncommercial, local, low-powered radio that schools, community groups, churches, and any nonprofit could use to broadcast local information to their local community. There are about 800 LPFM stations on air all across the country – but groups in big cities who applied for these great new stations all lost out. Why?  Because the big broadcasters — represented by the National Association of Broadcasters — convinced Congress to limit low power FM to the most rural areas, claiming that little LPFM stations would interfere with big radio stations in big cities — making the radio dial unlistenable. In the law that Congress passed (the Radio Broadcast Preservation Act of 2000), they also asked the FCC to study whether or not LPFM stations would really cause interference. The FCC hired a big, independent engineering firm — the MITRE corporation — to study this potential interference — and $2.2 million later, they proved that LPFM was a great idea in big cities as well as small communities. Congressmembers Lee Terry and Mike Doyle, along with Senators John McCain and Maria Cantwell, just introduced their legislation that would bring LPFM to most of America’s big cities and to thousands of other small communities. Can you educate your legislators and let them know that new community radio in your town is one great step to building and strengthening communities across the nation?  Many groups came together to support this essential legislation, including the Alliance for Community Media, the United Methodist Office of Communications, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the Future of Music Coalition, the Media Access Project, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, Free Press, the United States Public Interest Research Group, the Christian Coalition, the United Church of Christ, Office of Communication, Inc., Consumers Union, and many more organizations.  You have a chance -this week- to help your Congressmembers support legislation that could bring new, local, accountable, independent community radio to your community and to communities across the nation!   To write a letter to them now, visit http://cu.convio.net/community_radio from Consumers Union, or http://www.freepress.net/lpfm from Free Press.