Dear Readers,
The following is taken from the December 21 issue of Radio World
magazine featuring a big article on page one titled,"The Low-Power Radio
Movement Wants More". The article has huge bias and needs a response so
here goes...
(Quotes from the original article receive my commentary. My words are in
bold type)
Hundreds of community groups, churches and schools from the first wave of
low-power FM licensees have their stations on the air. Many are in rural
areas of the country with a reach of approximately 3.5 miles and broadcast
at 100 watts. In November, 690 LPFMs were on the air. A total of 1,260
construction permits had been granted, according to FCC data.
What this raw data doesn't mention is that most of the applications were
from evangelical groups and no licenses have been given to people in urban
areas.
"LPFM has been extremely successful to this point in the limited areas
where it has been allowed. Still to be addressed is how to get more of the
stations on in urban areas," said Pete Tridish, one of the founders of the
Prometheus Radio Project, a non-profit resource center that helps guide
LPFM broadcasters through the launch process. "We feel the FCC has done a
very good job of clearing out the backlog. However, they should adopt some
form of flexibility to work around the current unjust limitations and
encourage growth."
Of course Pete has been playing nicey-nice with the feds for years now and
has turned his back on "pirate" radio.
The LPFM service was launched Jan. 20, 2000. It turns six next month. An
FCC spokeswoman said the agency is pleased with the progress of the
service. "LPFM operators are telling us how much their communities rely on
the information they are broadcasting. It has opened a wealth of local
opportunities and voices that otherwise would have a hard time being
heard," the spokeswoman said.
Who is this unnamed spokeswoman and why doesn't she want her name mentioned
in the article? If she's a FCC employee, don't we have a right to know her
name?
Former FCC Chairman Bill Kennard, who pushed for the LPFM service, declined
to comment on the program's effectiveness.
This simple sentence speaks volumes. The original LPFM plan that Bill put
forward was actually pretty good, until the NAB and the corrupt politicians
got their hands on it.
Nickolaus Leggett, one of the original petitioners for a low-power FM
service in 1997, said, "LPFM has been worth the work and effort to make it
happen. There was some disappointment for some that several evangelical
groups grabbed up so many of the LPFMs. I think it just needs fine-tuning,
and there is a need for another window of application."
The original filing window was ridiculously short and came up with very
little advance warning for the community groups who might have wanted to
get a license. By all means there should be a second chance.
As reported last spring (RW, March 16), the potential glut of thousands of
new FM translators has LPFM supporters concerned about future growth of the
relatively new low-power service, especially in heavily populated
areas.Proponents want the FCC to give LPFM stations primary status and give
them precedence over translator applications. Opponents note that
translator applications are pending while no open "windows" to file more
LPFM applications are on tap. To give LPFMs priority over translators would
be unfair, they feel. The agency needs to address the translator issue,
Leggett said, because of the natural conflict between the two secondary
services. "LPFMs broadcast local content to a local audience. (LPFM) was
intended as an outlet for the little guy, as a voice of local democracy.
Translators, are by nature, only relaying broadcast material from outside a
community," said Leggett, who works as a political analyst.
Let's be clear here. Translators are low power radio stations used to
expand the range of stations that are already putting out a high-power
signal from a different place. They serve to help clog up the radio band
with more of the lame crap that's already all over the dial. Then the
industry groups say there's no room for community radio. Do you see what's
going on here?
Still to be determined is the status of third-adjacent-channel protection
for existing full-power stations. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., earlier this
year re-introduced a bill that would drop the protections and open up more
opportunities for LPFMs. In 2003, the commission fielded nearly 11,000 FM
translator applications. The FCC has issued nearly 3,400 CPs for FM
translators. Approximately 7,000 applications are pending, according to FCC
data. According to its comment filing to the FCC, the Prometheus Radio
Project stated, "The translator (filing) window has had an enormous impact
for those who would like to start a low-power station in the future and for
those who applied but were denied. The congressional imposition of
third-adjacent protection requirements for LPFM stations, along with the
unfortunate timing of the 2003 translator window, has utterly decimated the
opportunities for LPFM stations in the areas with the highest demand."
Ten thousand new translator stations but there's no room on the dial for
community radio? Is it any wonder why so many people are saying, "Fuck the
FCC" and just going on the air without any license? The people of this
country have a right to use the airwaves, and the agency created to protect
that right has become the lapdog of the big media monopoly. It's my
opinion that it's time to de-fund the FCC. What's your opinion? -Paul
Griffin
original url for the article is:
http://www.rwonline.com/reference-room/special-report/04_rw_lpfm_3.shtml STATION ALERT
A New Year's Message from Ramsey Clark
Dear friends,
The year 2005 brought new hardships but also new hope to the people of the
world. Hope because the Bush administration has shown itself before the
world to be lawless, cruel and brutal but also inept and incompetent. In
Iraq the Pentagon has shown it is incapable of repressing a growing
resistance from the Iraqi people. Meanwhile the government has been caught
running torture camps inside Iraq and outsourcing torture around the
world.The people of the U.S. have decided the war is unjust and not worth
the price in Iraqi lives or the sacrifice of our youth. Young people are
refusing to enlist in the military in sufficient numbers to carry on the
illegal occupation and continuing assault on the Iraqi people. In New
Orleans the government did nothing for a week while the city drowned. Now
more than four months later tens of thousands remain homeless. More and
more of the population is outraged by the crimes emanating from the White
House and are enlisting in the campaign to stop those crimes. Our plans for
2006 are bold and challenging. An initial focus is March 18-19, 2006 which
will mark the third anniversary of the start of the Bush administration's
criminal war and occupation of Iraq, which has taken the lives of over
100,000 defenseless women, men, and children, and continues to bring
devastation of untold magnitude. The IAC is committed to peace actions in
New York City, and in cities across the country, coordinated with movements
and countries around the globe. All in concert on March 18-19 will call for
all U.S. troops to be brought home from Iraq immediately. We must stop the
Bush Administration from stealing Iraqi oil through oil production-sharing
agreements with the U.S. puppet regime-- giving the lion's share of oil
profits to U.S. oil companies; this is the real reason for the U.S.
occupation and regime change. To preserve our Constitution, we must impeach
President Bush and his principal cohorts in crime. This is a big agenda on
which the peaceful and humane future of our country depends. Working
together to end this criminal war must be our New Year's Resolution for
2006--our challenge and our commitment. The IAC will continue this work
tirelessly in the coming year. We depend on your help. Together we shall
overcome.-Ramsey Clark
Yahoo is Tracking Group Members
If you belong to ANY Yahoo Groups - including this one - be aware that
Yahoo is now using "Web Beacons" to track every Yahoo Group user. It's
similar to cookies, but allows Yahoo to record every website and every
group you visit, even when you're not connected to Yahoo. Look at their
updated privacy statement at
http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacy.
About half-way down the page, in the section on cookies, you will see a
link that says WEB BEACONS. Click on the phrase "Web Beacons." On the page
that opens, find a paragraph entitled "Outside the Yahoo Network." In that
section find a little "Click Here to Opt Out" link that will let
you "opt-out" of their snooping. Be careful! NOT toclick on the next button
shown. It is an "Opt Back In" button that, if clicked, will UNDO the
opt-out.
Note that Yahoo's invasion of your privacy - and your ability to opt-out of
it - is not user-specific. It is MACHINE specific. That means you will have
to opt-out on every computer (and browser) you use.
Please forward this to your other groups. You might complain, too, but I'm
not sure if anyone is listening.. Realated article: Yahoo Web Beacons
Igniting Controversy Yahoo's current privacy policy is causing
consternation among some users who object to their use of so-called 'web
beacons'
Known in most circles as web bugs, these invisible images are embedded in
websites and email and
used to track your surfing - and even tell whether you've opened a
particular email.
http://antivirus.about.com/od/spywareandadware/a/yahoobugs.htm From:
josesegue@hickswithsticks.com MEET THE NEW BOSSES AT PBS, NPR AND THE FCC
The news seems to be all about misdirection these days. Lately, for
example, it's been day after day coverage of ultra-right judges and
filibusters. The courts are something that the average citizen will never
deal with; week. Yet the neo-con conquest of the Public Broadcasting System
(PBS), National Public Radio (NPR) and the airwaves in general has happened
without a peep from Congress or the press.
Looking back, the strategy was simple and elegantly executed. First they
needed a demon which, given the government's track record in pointless,
over-regulation, wasn't hard to find. But deregulation hasn't always worked
as is the case in communications where lifting "government burdens" meant
removing limits on advertising, balanced editorializing and station
ownership, which in turn granted a few corporations the power to do as they
wished with the public's airwaves. Anyone looking for a reason why there's
nothing on television or radio, need look no further than deregulation. So
much for private sector communication. But what of the public sector, PBS
and NPR, which by law are free from private ownership and government
interference on programming? For this they would need a different demon and
the one they've chosen has been "liberal bias." It doesn't matter whether
it's true or not, and it isn't according to a 2004 study by the media
watchdog group FAIR. The FAIR study found that 64% of NPR's news sources
are tied to the establishment as "government officials, professional
experts and corporate representatives." NPR's mix of partisan guests showed
that "Republicans outnumbered Democrats by more than 3 to 2."
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1180 But studies aren't as important as propaganda when you want to control it
all, and the neo-cons are the unquestioned masters of hype in our time.
They have been admirably successful at redefining the center as the left,
the right as the center, and the ultra-right as heaven itself. The media
moguls who benefit from consolidation have cheered them every step of the
way. Rupert Murdock's direct use of Fox News as an instrument of his
conservative ideology was delightfully, if frighteningly, exposed in the
documentary Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism. The documentary's
site, which goes beyond the film itself quotes Fox network reporter Eric
Shawn who says of the film, "It's unfair, it's slanted and it's a hit job.
And I haven't even seen it yet." Some reporter, wot?
http://www.outfoxed.org/ Kevin MartinYet, like any special interest group that gets it all, they
want more, so into this mix come Kevin Martin and Ken Ferree. Martin is the
new head of the Federal Communications Commission, a man about whom Pat
Trueman of the Family Research Council, a Christian media watchdog group,
said, "He is someone who understands what indecency is doing to the
culture. And he's certainly someone who we'd be happy to see as a
chairman." Indecency is one stick that is used to enforce censorship,
funding and ideologically-based management are others. To this end, Ken
Ferree now heads the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which oversees
PBS and NPR. His job it appears is to erase the line between political
censorship and public broadcasting that was established in 1967. Jeff
Chester, Executive Director of the Center for Digital Democracy, speaking
on NPR's Democracy Now! said, "[T]here has been a takeover by conservatives
of... the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. There are very
arch-conservatives dominating the board and... Mr. Ferree, who has good
relations with key Republicans and conservatives... is a disaster. [I]f the
conservatives... want to destroy public broadcasting from within, they
couldn't have picked a better person than Mr. Ferree... ." Bill Moyers, who
has won over 30 Emmys and is hardly a radical, is already gone from public
broadcasting. Others are sure to follow. If Amy Goodman of NPR's Democracy
Now! wants to stay on the radio, she would be wise to rename her show
Democracy Later! if y'know what I mean, Vern. Read 'em and weep at
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/03/17/1442219 http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/05/16/1329245.
To A*C*E Members and Friends:
I'm certain some of you are wondering about the fate of The monthly ACE.
You may recall that both Lee and myself constantly tried to drum up input
from the members, and that the September issue contained a plea for
someone- anyone- to step up and volunteer to edit the DiaLogs column.
Normally the loss of a single editor wouldn't be a major problem but
DiaLogs is the heart and soul of the publication and without both a
dedicated editor and reports from the membership there really isn't
anything to publish. PopComm and MT cover features; the ACE is supposed to
be hard, breaking news. And an Association is not just one or two people;
by definition it's a group. In the time since the September issue was
mailed I've heard from a total of four people, including George Zeller and
Frederick Moe, two former writers who previously resigned because of the
lack of input from the membership for their columns.
Ironic, isn't it? Just a few years ago The ACE was "on the cutting edge" of
both technology and the radio hobby. We were the first club in the bobby to
use computers to generate the columns and transmit them to the publisher
(in the mid-80s) and we ran the ANARC/ACE BBS for years (remember BBSs?)
Today we can't even find someone to edit a column. I was a "charter member"
of ACE and it hurts to write this, but... Given the declining membership
numbers, the declining support and input from said membership, and the
ever-increasing cost of doing business, The ACE is ceasing publication.
It's been a great run - all 23.5 years of it! I'm proud to have been a part
of it. I would like to solicit some feedback from you. What would you
suggest for the future of our Association? Would you be willing to support
a migration of some sort to the internet? You can contact me either
"snail-mail" or email. If we are to rise Phoenix-like in the future, we
need your insight and comments. Those who paid in advance for additional
years and those who just renewed before we hit the rocks will find refund
checks enclosed. We sincerely thank you for your support over the years.
Wishing you all great DX. 73FR John T. Arthur
AMPB LINKS ON THE WEB
Leonard Peltier has spent enough time in prison!
http://www.leonardpeltier.org (the official website)
http://www.freepeltier.org (the most up-to-date information)
Learn more about the american soldiers killed in Iraq.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/world/iraq/casualties/facesofthefallen.htm Slave Revolt Radio now has a blog!
http://mysite.verizon.net/res7dhyg/slaverevoltradio.html http://www.WantToKnow.info http://www.unknownnews.com http://www.mindfully.org http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeo9ewi/idrissstelleyfoundation/ http://www.diymedia.net AMPB RECORD CHART FOR THE WEEK ENDING: 1/14/06
# TITLE - ARTIST - LABEL
1 ANOTHER WORLD IS POSSIBLE - VARIOUS - ATTAC
2 SONGS OF THE VOLCANO - BOB BROZMAN, ETC. - WORLD MUSIC NET.
3 DEMON DAYS - GORILLAZ - EMI
4 AT THE CENTER - MEAT BEAT MANIFESTO - THIRSTY EAR
5 PATTERNS OF WAR - DR. ISRAEL - ROIR
6 SIEG HOWDY! - JELLO BIAFRA WITH THE MELVINS - ALT. TENTACLES
7 THE TRINITY - SEAN PAUL - VP
8 THE 121 PROJECT - SONIC RADIATION - UNKNOWN RECORDS
9 NEW WHIRL ODOR - PUBLIC ENEMY - SLAMJAMZ REC.
10 ROLAS DE AZTLAN - VARIOUS ARTISTS - SMITHSONIAN
11 FOR A DECADE OF SIN - VARIOUS ARTISTS - BLOODSHOT
12 ASIAN LOUNGE - VARIOUS ARTISTS - PUTUMAYO
13 WEST NILE FUNK - EX-CENTRIC SOUND SYSTEM - INDIELAND
14 THE GIRL WHO COULDN'T FLY - KATE RUSBY - COMPASS
15 HAIL TO THE THIEF 2 - VARIOUS ARTISTS - GEORGE & JULES
16 RAW RAW DUB - BUSH CHEMISTS - ROIR
17 PROTEST: SONGS OF STRUGGLE AND RESISTANCE - ELLIPSIS ARTS
18 THE ESSENTIAL - RAVI SHANKAR - COLUMBIA
19 CEASEFIRE - EMMANUEL JAL&ABDEL GADIR SALIM - WORLD MUSIC NET
20 HAVE YOU HEARD - TOSHI REAGON - RIGHTEOUS BABE
21 SOUNDS ECLECTICO - VARIOUS ARTISTS - NACIONAL
22 THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO ARABIA - UNION SQUARE
23 THE COLLECTION - ALANIS MORISSETTE - MAVERICK
24 CELTIC CROSSROADS - VARIOUS ARTISTS - PUTUMAYO
25 BRIDGETOWN - JOHNNY B. CONNOLLY - GREEN LINNET
26 NEXT TO YOU - EDWIN YEARWOOD - VP
27 CASUALTIES OF RETAIL - ENTER THE HAGGIS - FIREBRAND ENT.
28 BABY - THE DETROIT COBRAS - BLOODSHOT
29 THE ROUGH GUIDE TO...BALKAN GYPSIES - WORLD MUSIC NET
30 ROYAL ALBERT HALL - CREAM - REPRISE
31 SACRED GROUND - VARIOUS ARTISTS - SILVER WAVE
32 DUB WARS - GROUNDATION - YOUNG TREE
33 DAILY BREAD - COREY HARRIS - ROUNDER
34 PUTUMAYO PRESENTS THE CARIBBEAN - PUTUMAYO
35 GLOBAL FUSION - EMAM & FRIENDS - ETERNAL MUSIC
36 SONGS FROM THE GUTTER - THEA GILLMORE - COMPASS
37 THE BEST OF - DIRE STRAITS - WARNER BROS.
38 STRICTLY THE BEST #34 - VARIOUS ARTISTS - VP
39 FREEDOM AND WEEP - WACO BROTHERS - BLOODSHOT
40 GLOBAL RHYTHM MAGAZINE FEBRUARY ISSUE - GLOBAL RHYTHM
CAPTAIN FRED'S WORLD CRUISE #63
HEAT FLASH-SONIC RADIATION
COUNTING OUT STONES-DR. ISRAEL
I WANNA BE FREE-FEMI KUTI
GOD BLESS AMERICA-BAAZIZ
FREEDOM SOUNDS-THE SKATALITES
BEAUTIFUL RABAUL-LIONS 2000 STRINGBAND
EL PICKET SIGN-EL TEATRO CAMPESINO
FLUTE THANG-MEAT BEAT MANIFESTO
DARE-GORILLAZ
DOUBLE DRUM-BUSH CHEMISTS
BAGHDAD-KADIM AL SAHIR
SOL-KINKY
GUA-EMMANUEL JAL & ABDEL SALIM
THE AFRICAN BEE-EX-CENTRIC SOUND SYSTEM
DISCOVERY OF INDIA-RAVI SHANKAR
ANGELS OF THE ISLAND-BALI LOUNGE
THE TRINITY-SEAN PAUL
I WANNA DESTROY YOU-DOLLAR STORE
VOTED OFF THE ISLAND-JELLO BIAFRA W/THE MELVINS
SUPERMAN'S BLACK IN THE BUILDING-PUBLIC ENEMY
This show can be downloaded from the following sites:
http://www.radio4all.net http:radio.indymedia.org
AMPB REPORT #70
a publication by the Association of Micro-Power Broadcasters
AMPB
PMB 22
2018 Shattuck Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94704
ampb@california.com