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August 24, 2007

For Immediate Release

Contact:
Hannah Sassaman, Prometheus Radio Project, (267) 970-4007
Craig Aaron, Free Press, (202) 265-1490, x25

Momentum Builds for Low Power FM Radio

Nashville Tennessean, PBS spotlight Local Community Radio Act

Bill could bring thousands of new LPFM stations to cities and suburbs nationwide

WASHINGTON -- On Capitol Hill, in the media and across the country, support continues to grow for Low Power FM (LPFM) radio. A bill now pending in Congress would create thousands more community stations offering uniquely local news, views and music programming.

Friday night on PBS, Bill Moyers Journal will present the issue of LPFM to a national audience. On Thursday, the NashvilleTennessean featured several articles on LPFM, including an editorial that strongly endorsed the bipartisan Local Community Radio Act (H.R. 2802 / S. 1675).

"Small, low-power radio stations can serve a variety of roles that larger media cannot, such as keeping the community informed about emergencies and neighborhood school closings," wrote the Tennessean's editors. "They can also reflect the diversity of their community in ways that corporate-owned radio stations do not."

LPFM stations are community-based, nonprofit radio outlets that operate at 100 watts or less and have a broadcast reach of only a few miles. Since Congress first authorized LPFM stations in 2000, the Federal Communications Commission has awarded more than 800 LPFM licenses to civil rights organizations, schools and church groups.

One of those LPFM stations is WRFN-LP, a.k.a. "Radio Free Nashville." In an op-ed in the Tennessean, station co-founder Ginny Welsch described the diverse array of programming the station provides.

"RFN provides Nashville's only programming dedicated to examining health care in Tennessee; teaching fire safety; discussing immigration; introducing children to music; teaching owners how to outwit their dogs; and more," Welsch wrote. "That's on top of playing every imaginable kind
of music, from zydeco and blues to smooth jazz and chorale, all produced and hosted by local community programmers."

But WRFN-LP is forced to broadcast 20 miles outside Nashville because of an unnecessary rule that limits LPFM stations to rural areas. Congress imposed the limits in response to spurious claims by larger broadcasters that LPFM could interfere with the signals of full power stations. As a result, thousands more applications for LPFM licenses have been blocked.

Congress ordered the FCC to study the issue, and, in 2003, the FCC released a $2 million study -- known as the "Mitre Report" -- which found that increasing the number of LPFM stations would not interfere with full-power stations. The FCC then urged Congress to repeal the LPFM restrictions.

The Local Community Radio Act would do just that. This bipartisan bill was introduced in June by Reps. Mike Doyle (D-Penn.) and Lee Terry (R-Neb.) and Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.). The legislation has already attracted 41 co-sponsors and been endorsed by the Congressional Black, Hispanic and Asian Pacific American caucuses.

"LPFM stations are uniquely local outlets," wrote Joseph Torres, government relations manager of Free Press, in another Tennessean op-ed. "They give local leaders a forum to discuss local issues and provide essential emergency services during times of crisis such as hurricanes. And they're an invaluable outlet for people of color and others who are often shut out of the traditional media."

Bill Moyers Journal will feature an interview with Hannah J. Sassaman, an organizer with Prometheus Radio Project, a group that helps build community radio stations. The show will also profile WQRZ-LP, one of the few stations that remained on the air broadcasting emergency information after Hurricane Katrina devastated Hancock County, Miss.

"No matter how many excuses big radio uses to try to keep low power FM down, civil rights groups, churches, schools, and communities are standing up for LPFM," Sassaman said. "We will keep telling Congress that new community radio is what we want in our cities and towns -- and that the movement for accountable, local media will continue to rise."

To read the Tennessean's editorial on LPFM, click here.

To read Ginny Welsch's article, click here.

To read Joseph Torres' article, click here.

To see more about Bill Moyers Journal, click here.

To learn more about LPFM, visit
www.prometheusradio.org or www.freepress.net/lpfm.

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This release is available online at
www.freepress.net/press/release.php?id=267