[Peace-discuss] FCC rough draft 1

[Paul M. King]

I'm really disturbed that this letter is being written. Has
AWARE endorsed this as an official view? This doesn't seem
right to me.

..:: Paul

---- Original message ----
>Date: Wed, 4 Aug 2004 22:29:28 -0700 (PDT)
>From: adbc <aboutnik at yahoo.com>  
>Subject: [Peace-discuss] FCC rough draft 1  
>To: peace-discuss at lists.cu.groogroo.com
>
>FCC: first draft for putting public back into public
>broadcast
>
>Dear Chairman Powell and Commissioners,
>
>Please accept this as a formal petition to deny the
>license renewal request of radio station WILL,
>licensed to University of Illinois in the city of
>Urbana, IL. This petition is filed in accordance with
>47 CFR 73.3584, which states that any party can file a
>petition within 30 days after the issuance of public
>notice for the filing of the applications. Futhermore,
>this petition is being filed within the period
>specified by 47 CFR 73.3516 (e), which states that a
>petition to deny must be filed by the end of the first
>day of the last month of the expiring license term.
>This petition is filed because the licensee has failed
>to perform in the "public interest, convenience and
>necessity," as required by the Communication Act of
>1934 (Public Law 416, 73rd Congress), as amended. In
>light of what we believe are violations of the public
>trust by WILL division of broadcasting (Urbana,
>Illinois) we formally request a denial of FCC license
>renewal as of November 1, 2004. Our position is that
>public broadcasting ought to meet the charter
>requirements for including local community voices.
>WILL has failed in this regard by systematically
>excluding voices of the local community. Preference
>has been given primarily to corporate and business
>underwriters. Several requests for community inclusion
>on air have been denied. In at least one case paid
>underwriting by a community group was censored by a
>dubious editorial policy. Meanwhile, politicians with
>strong PAC (political action committee) ties to
>corporate funders of the station have been featured on
>the air and on their website. We find that WILL fails
>to include local issues in favor of packaged British
>programming to avoid local conroversy which may affect
>their intake of funds. Further, WILL does not include
>representative local voices of minority groups.
>Instead an enormous emphasis is based on weather and
>agriculture for benefit of the largest corporate
>funder Archer Daniels Midland. We ask that the FCC
>license be denied until such time as a public hearing
>on the matter can establish a truly public division of
>broadcasting. In addition we ask that this station
>adequately represent the public and the diverse
>community it serves. Finally we ask for a formal
>review of the editorial policy employed which is
>inconsistent and in violation of the FCC agreement for
>public broadcasters in the United States.
>
>Sincerely, AWARE Anti-War Anti-Racism Effort Urbana,
>IL
>
>
>
>		
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