FCC decision strikes critical blow to right-wing radio dominance

[warrior1]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/03/20/fcc-decision-strikes-critical-blow-to-right-wing-radio-dominance/

A Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decision issued Monday (PDF) will clear the runway for hundreds of new community radio stations that broadcast on low-power FM signals, bringing progressive, community voices to urban areas that have for decades only known what’s being broadcast by major corporations and America’s political right.

In other words, the dismantling of Rush Limbaugh was just the beginning, and the whole FM dial is next.

The FCC’s decision on Monday wipes away a massive backlog of applications for FM repeater stations, which are transmitters that repeat signals broadcast by corporate radio operators — all of which rake in big dollars from the most popular right-wing syndicated talk shows going.

[freshwest]

1. This is a great turn around from what Powell did under Bush and will get the media in balance. Good.

Best news I've heard all week.

[samsingh]

2. this is AWESOME

[SalviaBlue]

3. This is good news.

[southernyankeebelle]

4. It's about time. I stopped listening to talk radio.

[arthritisR_US]

5. This does make me smile, TY :). n/t

[myrna minx]

6. Excellent! K&R n/t

[EFerrari]

7. Is this real? Waiting for radio people to weigh in. n/t

[Gregorian]

8. I sure hope this isn't their way of letting corporations roll over the existing noncommercial statio

I hope this isn't bad news in disguise. KUSF is off the air (have not checked recent status to confirm), having been bought by some company. That was a college station. There were others on the block. I think KTRU.

To go about face in just a year seems odd to me. I'll believe it when I see it.

[KamaAina]

10. Yup, still off.

But they're still trying to fight the actual license transfer.

http://www.savekusf.org

Meanwhile, there's KUSF-In-Exile:

http://www.savekusf.org/kusf-in-exile

Disclaimer: I was on it Thursday night.

[KamaAina]

23. Point of clarification

KUSF, which is/was on an educational frequency, was not actually bought by a company (Entercom). The company that ran the commercial classical station in the Bay Area sold out to Entercom; USF then transferred the KUSF license to the USC public radio network (for a hefty fee), so as to keep classical on the air.

So basically, USF sold out to another university rather than a company. Big woo.

[Gregorian]

43. Thanks for that update

I'm still listening to the live365 stream. But it appears to be a loop. That's the bad part. The good part is no PSA's (spam), and no other stuff that bugs the crap out of me. Can you tell I've been listening to college radio for 30 years? The first 20 were pure bliss. The last ten have had me searching for European radio stations. I hate psa's and obsessive station id's. But I digress.

[aggiesal]

9. This does nothing to stem the tide of RW Radio !!!

RW Radio dominate both AM and FM high power frequencies.
AM side they have most if not all 50,000+W frequencies, and
on the FM side they broadcast on 100,000W signals.
These signals can travel 100's of miles, reaching millions of
potential listeners.

Mean while LPFM will allow you a 10W FM signal that should broadcast about 100 ft.
The signal strength alone will limit the number of potential listeners to the
hundreds maybe thousands if your lucky.
LPFM is supposed to be only used by schools, non-profit organization,
or other non-profit that qualifies for an FCC NCE (Non commercial educational)
construction permit and license.

And if you're going non-profit, you won't be able to carry the big shows
like Ed Schutz, Mike Malloy or Randy Rhodes. You might be able to carry
the Thom Hartmann, & Democracy Now shows. But that's pretty much it.

I don't see how this could possibly benefit progressives.

[kaffy4x4]

12. Yes but...

It's the repeaters that are not going to be dominated any longer by the "big boys"...that's the really huge news. The sewing up of the repeaters is what gives Limbaugh and his ilk a clear signal all across the country, when other stations fade the further your away from them.

[The Wielding Truth]

14. 100 ft.??? I couldn't even talk to my next door neighbor.

[RC]

17. Actually FM is more like 10 miles out from the transmitter, depending on terrain and antenna height.

That 100,000 watt is misleading. That is the ERP, Effective Radiated Power. The transmitter itself is normal only 5 to 10,000 watts. The antenna beams the signal into a donut shape put from the antenna, so it does not radiate up into space or down into the ground where there are no listeners.

[The Wielding Truth]

33. Okay. That's a little better. Thanks for the info.

[shcrane71]

20. DemocracyNow, at least years ago, would allow you to rebroadcast

at a minimal fee. Build your own local programming like WORT in Madison did. You may be able to get rebroadcast permission from some of their great shows such as Queery. Look to other community stations near when you live, and see if they would be willing to allow some of their shows to be rebroadcasted -- especially, any local news shows.

LPFM is exactly the start that many communities need.

[Canuckistanian]

22. 100ft for a 10W signal? Don't think so.

I can get 100 ft. for transmitters that I build myself that operate at ONE watt.

With a properly designed antenna at the right height, 10W can cover an entire town of over 20,000 people.

Not sure where you get this "100 ft." figure.

[aggiesal]

29. Here you go.

Ask and you shall receive.

http://www.lpfm.com/

Look and #2 under the "A Brief Overview of LPFM" section.

[Canuckistanian]

35. Thanks

As far as I can see, "HAAT" numbers refer to a certain non-interfering distance from primary licensed FM transmitters, NOT the 'reach' of a low-power FM transmitter.

Trust me, 10W is PLENTY of power to reach everyone in full, high-quality FM stereo for an entire town within boundaries of 10 miles or so, even with ordinary receivers.

[krispos42]

38. A half-watt FRS radio is suppose to go up to 2 miles. Those are UHF FM radios. n/t

[aggiesal]

40. I'm just stating

what the expert site is stating.
It appears that these are the signals that the FCC
is granting licenses for, LP-100 stations.

[MustBeTheBooz]

24. Now now...

Let's not poo-poo it before we see the outcome.

[aggiesal]

30. My contention has always been . . .

that if you want to compete against the big boys,
you have to play with the big boys.

We need the big liberal money boys to start investing and either
lease or purchase the big AM & FM signals, and start competing
with the big ClearChannel, Premier Networks . . . RW boys.
They seem to control all the high power frequencies.

LPFM is laughable.

It's designed strictly to broadcast to a small community.
If you get more then 2 miles out of the signal I'd be surprised,
although apparently if you put the source on a hill, you might
get up to 5-10 miles.

Again, since it's only for non-profits, and schools, how good could
the signal be?

And forget about local programming. You'll need to pay the hosts
for any local show.

And since it non-profit, the audience will have to kick in some pledge
money, just like NPR stations. And liberals don't give up their money
very easy.

How long do you think a station will broadcast without any money?
Someone has to pay at least the electric bill.

This is designed to work for small audiences only.

[shcrane71]

44. Look at DemocracyNow!'s list of broadcasters.

There are numerous cities where the only left-of-center news is coming from DemocracyNow! being broadcast on cable's community channels. There's generally a small group of very dedicated people behind the push to get DemocracyNow! on those cable channels.

The demand and the people are in these communities to move over to the radio bands -- which have been monopolized in these communities. If a community is large enough to have a cable station, there may be the population density that will support a low power station. Once a listener base is created, more people will donate to the station, and a license for a larger signal can be applied for.

[Stuart G]

11. K and R nt

[Zalatix]

13. HOORAH!!! Although I wonder if radio is obsolete

considering the rise of Internet broadcasting?

[Tunkamerica]

16. Because we all know the name of the biggest internet talk show host.

Or any internet talk show host.

[Zalatix]

18. True, but the Young Turks isn't all that obscure.

I've seen college kids with TYT Nation buttons a few times on the streets.

[Occulus]

51. Leo Laporte

Owner and founder of the TWiT network (twit.tv). His shows are the go-to tech shows; his "Macbreak Weekly" (I think that's the name) has more listeners than the official Apple magazine has subscribers.

[Tunkamerica]

54. truthfully that is underwhelming. never heard of him or the show.

Marc Maron and Chris Hardwick are the only podcasters I know and I expect most don't even know them.

[Brettongarcia]

15. COULDN'T THIS BACKFIRE? What's to keep right wingers from doing this too?

Worse, the more there are, the less possible it would be to regulate content abuse.

[tex-wyo-dem]

26. "What's to keep right wingers from doing this too?"

That's part of the beauty of this decision...anyone (yes, even RWers) can apply for a license. The criteria is that your group or company has to be independent (not part of a larger conglomerate) and non-profit. The "non-profit" part is what will keep a lot of RWers away since in their world, if you can't make a profit at it why do it.

As far as content abuse: The FCC will still regulate each and every station since they are occupying public frequencies.

The best part of this is that it will open up the airwaves to a diversity of content, not dominated solely by RW talk and megacorporations.

This is always the way PUBLIC airwaves were meant to be.

[PoliticAverse]

27. In the end it will be about what people want to listen too...

You can expand the things people can listen to but you can't make people listen to things they don't want to.

[shcrane71]

45. I researched the LPFM licenses in Nebraska and surrounding states a few years back.

Almost all of them went to religious groups.

[Doctor_J]

47. I don't see how. The wingers already have 99% of the airwaves

The potential for it getting worse is minimal, while the potential for improvement is vast.

[shcrane71]

19. Start preparing your applications for Low Power FM!

For many of the best community radio stations in the Midwest, LPFM is how these stations started broadcasting (usually in the 1970s).

I believe, DemocracyNow! will allow LPFM stations to rebroadcast their shows with little or no fee. Think about what your hometown, or rural community would be like with real news.

[HomerRamone]

21. This could be as big as Cable Access TV! nt

[aggiesal]

31. Is that suppose to be sarcasm?

Because if it is, you forgot the sarcasm emoticon

[colsohlibgal]

25. It Sounds All Good

I hope it does break apart the right wing hate spewing, maybe just to the left of Hitler, radio monopoly on FM. AM seems hopeless for now.

When I go up and down my AM dial here in central Ohio in the afternoon I hear Rush, Rush, and more Rush....most of it from 2 bit radio stations in smaller towns. The brainwashing convincing people without a pot to pee in to vote for conservatives, who only care about millionaires, in full bloom.

As for radio in general, many figured TV would be the death of it and they were wrong, it's here 60+ years later. Radio keeps adapting.

[gejohnston]

42. I can relate

last time I went back to Wyoming to visit family, my choices were Rush (not the band) and WPR/NPR. I listened to a lot of classical music. The locally owned rural community radio station that played all the music for everyone (as in Rufus, Johnny Cash, and Deep Purple in the same hour. Yeah, I showed my age.) became just another cog in corporate hate radio. If this brings back local community radio, fantastic.

[randr]

28. Do not jump to a quick conclusion

The number of available band widths in any area is a complex issue, dependent on population, topography, existing licenses,and more.
For decades small community stations, which are far more numerous than many think, have battled for these frequencies seeking broader audiences and providing community access to towns unserved. The large market stations along with broadcasting organizations have had the upper hand in locating and filing on frequencies as they come available.
Here in Colorado public/communtiy radio stations are present everywhere. Small stations have even had to compete with the state licensed KCFR , the first public/NPR station in the state based in Denver, for needed repeater signals in the far reaches of the state. KCFR had empire in mind with a state wide system and at first had a dismissive attitude to many small community stations.
The numbers of low power will, as stated, increase and this is a very good aspect of this FCC move.
I also suspect it will make it harder for the smaller stations to stop the Clear Channel moguls from gobbling up the remaining frequencies.

[sarcasmo]

32. Great news.

[DemoTex]

34. Sorry to burst this bubble, but "AM Hate Radio" has little to do with the morning hours (AM)

Ru$h and his ilk predominate on AM radio (amplitude modulation). While a few FM (frequency modulation) stations carry Ru$h, et. al., this FCC regulatory action appears to be additive for the FM bands, but not subtractive in the "Domain of Ru$h" - AM radio. Or did I miss something?

[shcrane71]

36. I believe you're correct. The AM airwaves won't be affected.

LPAM stations can be created without a license, but the range can't go over a very large radius (I believe 1 mile).

[eyewall]

37. The dismantling of Rush Limbaugh?

Has he been dismantled? I thought he was still broadcasting his regular schedule. I read the article about Premier telling all the stations that they would not send any national ads for two weeks. I took that to mean they'd begin again after they signed up some new sponsors. Meanwhile the propaganda bloviator continues to spew his bile afaik.

[glinda]

39. All i know is they have added three Christian stations here in about a year.

They are on either side of like MPR/NPR.

[progressoid]

41. They do seem to be popping up a lot lately.

I do a fair amount of driving and it seems like I'm running into more every time I go out. And especially in the lower frequencies.

[shcrane71]

46. I can't believe the hate that is disseminated from the low-power religious stations.

They bring on RW religious leaders who discuss everything from US foreign, economic policies, and domestic policies -- all the while demonizing non-Christian religions with the exception of Jewish Zionism.

[Evasporque]

48. OMG!! Big Radio has long hated this and battled to prevent....

This started in Clinton years...yes!! Community RADIO!!!!


I am so excited!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

49. Vaguely related

From today's http://dcrtv.com:

Positive Alternative Sells Translators - 3/21 - Blackburg VA's Positive Alternative Radio, which runs Christian contemporary "Virginia's Positive Hits" WPER, 89.9 FM, in Culpeper/Warrenton/Manassas and WJYJ, 90.5 FM, in Fredericksburg, sells its FM translators in Front Royal and Williamsburg to Lynchburg's Liberty University for $2,000.....

[warrior1]

50. it sure

would be nice to see more progressive radio programing in Sacramento.

[valerief]

52. Radio? That's either bad music or someone yelling about liburls, right? nt

[cstanleytech]

53. It could also be a boon to the RW nuts. After all dont forget there are plenty of them who

probably would be willing to shell out the cash to run their own station to spew forth their nutty beliefs that Obama is a secret muslim bent on implementing sharia law or that his birth certificate is a fake and him being a citizen is a massive coverup.