December 2,
2012
FCC Opens FM Stations to Community GroupsIs the radio regulatory organization looking to open its
doors to diversity? TheRoot.com http://www.theroot.com/blogs/journalisms/fcc-opens-fm-stations-community-groups
iStockphoto/Thinkstock
More Than 6,000 Applications Awaiting Approval "Coincidences in Washington? Try this. Just when the Federal Communications Commission is circulating a draft order to loosen media ownership rules, it voted today to take final steps to create lower-power FM radio, a new class of noncommercial radio stations aimed at increasing diversity on the radio airwaves," Katy Bachman reported Friday for Adweek. "While the two FCC actions may seem unrelated, they are connected by a long-standing debate in Washington about whether there is adequate ownership diversity among the nation's airwaves. Recent data from the FCC shows it is lacking, with people of color owning just 3.6 percent of full-power TV stations and 8 percent of radio stations. "On the one hand, lower-power radio promises to increase diversity on the airwaves by allowing communities and organizations to operate hundreds of low-power, noncommercial radio stations. But the media ownership order being circulated, critics argue, would have the opposite effect by lifting the cross-ownership ban on owning radio and newspapers in all markets and TV and newspaper in the top 20 markets. ". . . Even though the procedures voted on by the FCC would pave the way to process more than 6,000 applications from communities and minority groups sitting at the agency, it will not divert criticism of the draft media ownership order that blasts the agency for offering what's basically a giveaway to big media owners." The Prometheus Radio Project added, ". . . for the first time in more than a decade, community groups nationwide will soon be able to start small, local radio stations. "Nonprofit organizations, schools, Indian Tribes and public safety agencies can apply for Low Power FM (LPFM) stations in October 2013. For the first time ever, the agency will allow these noncommercial stations in urban areas. "The news is long-awaited by the Prometheus Radio Project and its supporters, who led the grassroots coalition that pushed Congress to pass the Local Community Radio Act of 2010. The law expanded community radio by directing the FCC to make more channels available nationwide, reversing an earlier law that relegated stations to rural settings. The FCC implemented the law by creating more flexible rules on where new stations can be located." "Godfather of Low-Power Radio" Does It Illegally Not everyone in an urban area has waited for the FCC's authorization to start a low-power radio station. On Thursday, Rachel Otwell of WUIS at the University of Illinois in Springfield broadcast a story on Mbanna Kantako, a blind activist who has been dubbed the "Godfather of Low-Power Radio." The WUIS piece was promoted this way: "Human Rights Radio turned 25 years old this month. That's a quarter century of illegal broadcasting. The low-power Springfield station focuses on African American issues with a radical slant. And at its heart, is a man named Mbanna Kantako." Mike Townsend, a retired social work professor, says in the story that although the signal went out only about two blocks, 3,000 people lived within the signal's reach. Otwell quoted from an earlier NPR report: "It was all, and still is, very much illegal. But Kantako has never paid any fines handed down from the Federal Communications Commission. His equipment has been confiscated, but he was never deterred. His broadcasts carry only a short distance, mostly the north side of Springfield, and show up at 105.9 on the dial. "Kantako has become somewhat of a legend in a world where
social activism and radio waves merge. . . . " |
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