The Federal Communications Commission is currently seeking public comment that would end the agency’s long-standing ban on low-power (or “micro”) radio.
Microradio is currently an illegal form of radio broadcasting, which takes advantage of unused radio spectrum to broadcast low-watt transmissions. Microradio has the potential to be an ideal, low-cost form of community media.
The FCC is seeking public comment until August 2 on a proposal to create new regulations that would legalize this sort of broadcasting. Legalization would protect microbroadcasters, while at the same time ensuring that microradio signals do not conflict with other spectrumusers.
Support for increasing the public’s access to the airwaves has come from individuals and organizations from across the political spectrum. But a campaign has formed to lobby against microradio, largely the work of the National Association of Broadcasters, an industry group.
That is precisely why public input on this matter is so valuable.
There are three different ways to contribute to this effort:
1) Sign on to a letter endorsed by Noam Chomsky, Barbara Ehrenreich, Howard Zinn and FAIR’s Janine Jackson at:http://artcon.rutgers.edu/mec.html
2) Read and endorse the formal comments on the FCC Proposal from the National Lawyer’s Guild’s Committee on Democratic Communications: www.nlgcdc.org/99-25.htm
3) Join the Microradio Empowerment Coalition:www.nlgcdc.org/mec/index.html
The establishment of noncommercial, locally owned and operated media outlets represents one way that activists can actually change the shape of the media landscape.
For more information, please read a CounterSpin transcript featuring Peter Franck from the National Lawyers Guild’s Committee on Democratic Communications and Barbara Olshansky from the Center for Constitutional Rights:
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