[Peace-discuss] Someone keeps holding up the Local Community Radio Act (S. 592)

[Karen Medina]

[I paraphrase the article below] Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to Kill
Community Radio -- based on the Huffington Post article, December 14,
2010, by Craig Aaron.

The Local Community Radio Act (S. 592) would open up more of the radio
dial for new Low Power FM (LPFM) stations — small-wattage,
noncommercial outlets with a range of just a few miles -- providing
community news, local music, multilingual programming, religious
broadcasting, and educational efforts otherwise largely absent from
the FM dial. Emergency responders have praised LPFM stations for
helping save lives in disasters; they're easy to keep on the air, and
locals who run them know where to go for shelter when a tornado comes
through.

The big broadcasters claimed that LPFMs would interfere with their
signals. But a study at the FCC proved that such claims were bunk. S.
592 and its companion H.R. 1147 were written to lift the unreasonable
restrictions that the big broadcasters' bill put into effect years
ago.

Someone keeps holding up the Local Community Radio Act (S. 592). There
is always another senator willing to secretly stall things a bit
longer.

Mr. Smith Stayed in Washington — And Now He's Killing Community Radio.

The Mr. Smith in question is Gordon Smith, the former Republican
senator from Oregon turned lobbyist-in-chief at the National
Association of Broadcasters (NAB), one of the Capitol's most
entrenched and powerful lobbies.

See the full article here ->
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-aaron/mr-smith-goes-to-washingt_b_796415.html