Sharing the Air Waves
By Suzi Aufderheide
Last March, the move to ease media ownership rules was coolly received in Seattle. People came from San Francisco, Salem, Bellingham, Belleview to speak with two Federal Communications Commissioners from Washington, D.C. to settle the question: “Should the nation’s airwaves and newspapers be opened up to more buying and selling by media groups.”
Many of these FCC-directed forums were held in cities around the country to see who’s awake and who’s asleep in regard to who owns the airwaves. Advocates for this precious public space are out in droves and are speaking!
“The broadcast media are not serving this community in the way their broadcast licenses require them to,” declared Seattle City Councilman Jim Compton, a former TV correspondent. “Out-of-town owners back a pickup truck to the loading dock at the local station and fill it up with money and take it out of this community. That’s money that should stay here to do quality broadcasting.”
The Rogue Valley is no different. What do we do locally about this conundrum? Low power FM (LPFM) radio and other small local outlets of communications are essential parts of the solution.
In southern Oregon citizens have incorporated a non-profit “media watchdog” organization called Media Eye to address the absence of community owned and operated media. Media Eye’s by-laws were developed with help from Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), an organization which advocates for a “greater media pluralism and the inclusion of public interest voices in the national debate … and (believes) that long term citizen pressure and grassroots action are key to media reform.”
In Spring of 2001, Media Eye applied to the FCC for four 100-watt LPFM licenses in the Rogue Valley. The two future radio sites are Shady Cove and Emigrant Lake. Applicant organizations for these four licenses are Peace House, The Multicultural Association of Southern Oregon, Rogue Rock Ministries and Eagle Point Historical Museum.
Why these places you might ask, or why so few airwaves, when the FCC limits company ownership in a market and places other limits on media consolidation? The airwaves are already owned by corporations that are large—not locally owned and operated. And, unfortunately, the FCC is heavily influenced by the industry it is supposed to regulate.
In 1946, the FCC established that stations had an obligation to broadcast 1) non-commercial programs because they served minorities and allowed for program experimentation; 2) live local programs; and 3) programs devoted to public discussion and to eliminate commercial advertising excesses.
Furthermore, the Fairness Doctrine required that broadcasters address controversial issues of public interest and provide a fair representation of opposing views. The official death of the Fairness Doctrine came with Reagan’s FCC which no longer granted “equal time” for “opposing views” and took no action to preserve any portion of these frequencies for local radio purposes.
The applications submitted at both sites are what the FCC calls mutually exclusive (meaning that more than one organization has applied for the same frequency) and we expect to be granted a building permit by summer. We will have 18 months from the issue of the building permit to build the radio stations and get a signal on the air. Interested citizens who would like to be involved in locally owned and operated radio are welcome to join and participate in this awesome exercise in Media Democracy.
In the meantime, members of principle groups have been meeting and designing an off-the-grid radio station. There will be in-put sites around the valley and Rogue Rock, located at the Talent Methodist Church, has agreed to be a local, accessible site for those who need a radio studio. Reverend Alice Knotts said “We are so excited to house a production site for the LPFM. We hope that the call letters are either KPAZ (peace), KTTH (truth) or KIND (K-independence).”
Once on-the-air it would be good to further increase the LPFM range with translators that allow signals to go out further and include more of the Rogue Valley. This would mean that our little LPFM stations could re-broadcast from some of the same sites as the “big boys.” Many of these are broadcasting at just 10 watts with clear signals and distance.
This is an amazing opportunity. Consider the benefits of a local radio station—coverage of local events, local music, community dialogue and solution oriented exchanges to name just a few. Think what life would be like with a reliable valley-wide daily news source with in-depth reporting rather than sensationalized sound bites!
Anyone who is interested in par-ticipating with other citizens to make this opportunity a reality should contact Suzi Aufderheide at (541) 482-0102; or souixzan@mind.net. If back to the future means returning to the FCC of 1946 then it is time to organize people of all notions to make radio that is by and for the people.
April/May 2003
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Peace Through Global Conversation
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Confronting
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The
Empire Needs New Clothes
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Sharing
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Confronting
Fears So We Can Contront the Empire
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War
Dances and Media Complaints
Danny Schecter
Sharing
the Air Waves
Suzi Aufderheide
Wild
Grace: Nature as a Spiritual Path
Eric Alan
Recognizing
the Voice of Healing in the Twenty First Century
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Walk
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World To Be Born Under your Footsteps
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You
Just Can't Imagine It Unless You See It
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War Without Balance
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The
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School
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Ayurvedic
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The
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The
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Cosmic
Calendar
Salina Rain
A
Citizen's Response to the National Security Strategy of the United States
of America
Wendell Berry
- AFL CIO
