FCC VOTES TO PURSUE NEW RULES TO EXPAND LOW POWER RADIO TO URBAN AREAS
RULEMAKING IN RESPONSE TO COMMENTS SUBMITTED BY CA NONPROFIT COMMON FREQUENCY

“The Media Bureau has carefully reviewed the Common Frequency study.  It has found that the methodology is reasonable.”  

       - FCC's THIRD FURTHER NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULE MAKING, MM DOCKET 99-25 (FCC 11-105)

On Tuesday July 12, 2011 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted for a proposed rulemaking that will  make room for new non-commercial Low Power FM (LPFM) broadcast channels in major urban areas.
 
Earlier this year, President Obama signed new legislation allowing for the proliferation of low power FM (LPFM) radio service—a service that was first proposed by the FCC in 2000.  Even with the legislation, no channels may have existed for new applicants in many major urban areas  - even before the FCC could open a filing window for them.
 
The debate lay over balancing the licensing of translator (repeater FM stations) and LPFM service.  Both services compete for the same FM channels.
 
Last year, the FCC indicated it would use a modified processing regime to license many of these translators. Common Frequency submitted studies to the FCC demonstrating that after licensing these translators according to the FCC's proposed protocol, almost no FM channels would be left for LPFM service in urban areas.  Common Frequency provided to the  FCC simulations and select market studies showing the impact of using the proposed “10-cap” processing proposal.
 
On July 12, the FCC voted on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking addressing Common Frequency's concerns.  The FCC proposes balancing LPFM and translator service based upon research data including stipulating possible market-specific tiers for systematic dismissal of translator applications in order to preserve space for new LPFM service in major cities.  Such a proposal will lead to the proliferation of LPFM service in cities nationwide, Nonprofits, schools, and churches would thus have a true opportunity to apply for new radio stations to serve their cities.

Common Frequency's studies are available for viewing below:

Ex Parte Presentation September 27, 2010:  Model and Report of CF's Top 150 Market "Ten Cap" Simulation

Ex Parte Presentation November 12, 2010:  Study and Report of Select Markets as a Result of Previous Market Simulation

Ex Parte Presentation February 2, 2011:  Translator Precessing Cap Modification Simulation

Common Frequency's newest Board member, journalist Sue Wilson, was the guest for today's =Making Waves= on KDVS. We talked about an aggressive progressive named Ryan Clayton confronting Andrew Breitbart, the conservative provocateur, at the Netroots Nation conference last Friday. Sue was there.

Sue says Breitbart "is trying to run away from the monsters he's created." He is being sued by one of his victims, but his attacks on NPR, ACORN and Rep. Weiner are all considered successes. And she also debunks the myth of the focus group-tested meme that "the liberal media" controls American thinking.

Plus, we discussed the questionable judgment of CNN devoting so much airtime to Erick Erickson, another incendiary partisan allowed to, as David Brock of Media Matters says "disable journalism". Normally I devote my attention to local, independent public media but I think what's really important here is the outrage Sue speaks to, about what Breitbart represents in terms of the crumbling standards for information dissemination in our democracy.

And stay tuned because we wrapped the show with a clip from Wilson's documentary Broadcast Blues, a dramatic story of two journalists who were fired by a Fox affiliate for refusing to lie about a story on Monsanto the station preferred to silence. Sue took the film on an 11-city tour through Florida, encouraging more citizens to demand public interest obligations from broadcasters.

Listen HERE.

Learn all about the upcoming opportunity to apply for local community radio licenses on today's episode of =Making Waves= on KDVS. Featuring Tracy Rosenberg of Media Alliance, Vanessa Maria Graber of Prometheus and our own Todd Urick, the audio was recorded June 4th in San Francisco. Dave Id who posted more thorough coverage on Indybay, did the recording. Listen HERE.

To get started organizing for your own LPFM station, check out Radio Summer.

Tracy Rosenberg, Todd Urick, Sabrina Roach, Clay Leander, Gavin Dahl, Vanessa Graber, Jeff Shaw and Brandy Doyle were among the participants at the kick-off of Radio Summer, organized by Prometheus Radio Project. Hosted at the downtown San Francisco main library by Media Alliance, the event attracted more than 30 people. (No, we didn't already all know each other!) It was a fun, geeky and informative occasion. Particularly exciting was the presence of so many representatives from local online and unlicensed radio stations. Media Alliance just posted a video of the entire panel:

Radio Summer Bay Area from Media Alliance on Vimeo.

Irreverent world traveller Jim Ellinger, of Austin Airwaves infamy, joined Radioactive Gavin deep in the vinyl vault for this week's edition of =Making Waves= on KDVS. He teased me about Davis being "too clean" and complimented the town's reputation for great co-ops. Then we got down to business. He told us stories: rebuilding a Haitian radio station after the earthquake, showing up with a video camera while an FCC field agent was visiting a popular pirate radio operation, and helping out the fabulous microradio KFLIP. Ellinger says the FCC should grant licenses for emergencies or festival events on a 30-day basis. Listen HERE.

This week on =Making Waves= Radioactive Gavin from Common Frequency and Vanessa Maria Graber from Prometheus Radio Project journeyed down the road to Vallejo, CA for a tour of new community radio station KZCT. The station has been broadcasting on FM for 5 months now, but existed in its online form for 5 years while navigating FCC bureaucracy, supported by Common Frequency. We talked with OzCat Radio founders David Martin and Katie Martinelli about starting a new community radio station in a diverse city where only 16,000 out of 120,000 residents are registered to vote. "We plan to enlighten people," Martin said. "It's a bigger picture than just playing music on the radio." Listen HERE.

Not long before our visit, OzCat was the victim of racist tagging but they remain committed to their work, unfazed. Martin said of the station's apparent detractors, "they act out when they're scared of something so we got 'em scared. We grew strength from it." The station is nevertheless a huge success story in community media in Northern California. You can tune in to their great music programs HERE. When Vanessa and I walked into the building early Wednesday morning, co-founder Katie Martinelli was making breakfast in the large kitchen to feed some DJs. In the second half of the program, we clear up any misconceptions about whether the author of The Da Vinci Code did, in fact, help them start their station!

This week's =Making Waves= radio show on KDVS featured brilliant community radio champion Michelle Eyre of Rec Net. We spoke on the phone live on the air. In a letter to Congress this week, she wrote: "It is finally time to fix the non-commercial educational FM radio service, a service that means well but is currently being abused and in need of some tender loving care."

Considering last week's widely criticized rapture hoax, perpetrated by Harold Camping's 'mega-ministry' Family Stations, Eyre seeks limits to how many FM licenses these large satellite operations should be allowed to hold at the expense of local access to the public airwaves. Fighting for media justice for 25 years as a key researcher providing FCC commentaries, Eyre is also an outspoken LGBT advocate and the founder of J1 Radio.

She coined the term "Great Translator Invasion" and anyone interested in pursuing LPFM opportunities in the year ahead ought to get familiar with Rec Net's work on this important issue.

Listen HERE.

The last two editions of =Making Waves= on KDVS featured great audio clips. Last week's program featured audio from the National Conference for Media Reform of ColorLines Magazine publisher Rinku Sen along with journalist Laura Flanders. Listen HERE. This week's show featured 4 great clips. Gigi Sohn of Public Knowledge testifed against the AT&T merger with T-Mobile before the US Senate, earning coverage worldwide of her 'back to the future' phone stunt. Eli Pariser of MoveOn.org talked about the problem of online filter bubbles. Dr. Jared Ball's commentary "Who You Callin' A Pirate?" took on corporate control of culture. Rap News took on the assassination of Osama Bin Laden. Listen HERE.

Speaking at the opening plenary of the 2011 National Conference for Media Reform, hosted by Free Press, Laura Flanders is the host of Grit TV. The news and discussion program airs daily on Free Speech TV (which you can see on Channel 15 if you're a cable TV subscriber here in Davis) and also online at the Firedoglake blog. For years, she has hosted RadioNation, the nationally syndicated weekly radio program of The Nation magazine. She is also the author of Blue Grit: Making Impossible, Improbable and Inspirational Change in America, an investigation into what people at the grassroots know that Democratic Party leaders need to learn, and the Bush administration expose Bushwomen: Tales of a Cynical Species. Flanders was founding direc­tor of the Women’s Desk at the media watch group, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, where for more than 10 years she produced and hosted CounterSpin.

Speaking at the closing plenary of the same conference was Rinku Sen, the publisher of ColorLines Magazine as well as president and executive director of the Applied Research Center. A leading figure in the racial justice movement, she has woven together journalism and organizing to further social change for over 20 years. She is also the chair of the Media Consortium.

The FCC will soon open a rulemaking to decide how to process over 1000 pending applications for translators. The handling of these applications is the most significant question in the implementation of the Local Community Radio Act, because the outcome will determine whether any channels are available for low power stations in urban areas. Advocates fought to pass legislation for ten years because only 3.6% of nearly 12,000 Census-designated Urban Areas contain an LPFM station. Keeping LPFM out of urban areas disproportionately affects people of color and hurts diversity on the airwaves. Greater population density means big city stations will have the listeners, volunteers and community partnerships needed to serve as neighborhood hubs and literacy resources.

Brandy Doyle, policy director at Prometheus Radio Project and Common Frequency's Gavin Dahl posed for this photo outside the FCC in Washington, DC after visits with commissioners' staffers. Ours may have been the very last meeting with Commissioner Meredith Baker's staff before the announcement of her resignation as a regulator to join Comcast. We wondered why the staffers were acting so strangely! The Media and Democracy Coalition brought attention to LPFM as well as the public interest opposition to the proposed T-Mobile merger with AT&T during a day of advocacy. (*Gavin did not visit with any members of Congress or their staffs on the Hill during this trip, due to his Digital Arts Service Corps status.)

If you love underground radio, the opening of this week's radio program will give you chills. "It's a huge loss... The voice of the underground... Where else are you ever going to hear that?" This week's edition of =Making Waves= features Shelley Robinson, the director of Canada's national campus and community radio association, the NCRA. We talk about the forced closure of CKLN, 'the voice of the underground' in downtown Toronto, based at Ryerson University for over 25 years. As Shelley says on the show: "It had about 170 volunteers... a super diverse station... They shut down 6pm on a Friday with no big fanfare. A huge loss." CLICK HERE to listen.

Also, Robinson talks about the big controversy in the queer community over Dire Straits, the CAB's CBSC code and all the Canadian alphabet soup you can eat. 

Our friends at the Peace and Justice Center of Sonoma County in Santa Rosa hosted a workshop and discussion on Wednesday May 4th about grassroots fundraising, led by prominent local activist Carl Patrick. He instructed that grassroots fundraising is not just about getting money, it's about getting supporters more invested in your organization. Small donations allow your group more independence, whereas dependence on large foundations can be limiting. Shifting control requires creating a vision that's achievable, first, he said.

It was clear that the attendees shared discomfort with talking about money. We identified our fears: coming on too strong could offend, reluctance because others are also broke, butterflies about big donors and distaste for brazen schmoozing. We are sick of people with no money having to support grassroots groups. Charity rarely changes structural problems in society. We want to show people we care about their lives, not just their money. It isn't always easy to be concise, but telling our own stories feels so important. And of course there's the old catch-22, that it takes money to make money.

Carl told us that 7 out of 10 people in the US give money to nonprofits. 85% of the money donated comes from families with household incomes under $60K. Poor people give a higher percentage of their annual income. A total of $240B was given to nonprofits by private donors last year, according to stats from Kim Klein's 'Grassroots Fundraising Journal.' The biggest barrier is not asking.

Tips for making personal asks for financial support:

Ground yourself and think about what's going on in the world. Don't be on autopilot, find out why each donor will support the work that you do. Be cool and unattached to the outcome, give options. Be clear, concise and direct. Ask folks to give an amount that's meaningful to them. Be excited and thankful for whatever is given. Be prepared with other ways to get involved. And be sincere.

Common Frequency Technical Director Todd Urick led a workshop focused on the radio aspirations of students from UC-San Diego and UC-Merced at the semi-annual University of California Radio Network gathering over the weekend. 100 people from Berkeley, Irvine, Santa Cruz, and other campuses around the state converged in Santa Barbara for an all-day conference on Saturday April 30. It was inspiring meeting so many young people who are passionate about radio. The next morning Common Frequency conducted a "license brainstorm session" with students who Jennifer Waits described on Radio Survivor as "eager to learn how to move forward." Options for these fledgling groups include applying for LPFM channels next year or raising enough money to buy an existing signal.

Hosted by the mighty KCSB, ramping up to celebrate 50 years on the air, UCRN brought together student DJs and reporters from around the state. The keynote speech was delivered by USF professor Dorothy Kidd, who framed student radio in the context of international communications rights. Americans tend to take freedom of the press for granted, which is perilous for democracy. Connecting the recent sale of KUSF to global struggles for cultural expression, she outlined several key strategies for students to proactively defend their radio stations. As described by Jennifer Waits, they were:

1. Recognize the value of your station and make sure your administration appreciates your station

2. “If you’re not moving beyond your comfort level, you’re not doing a good job.”

3. Connect your station to specific "learning outcomes" on campus and if possible, have professors teach radio classes

4. Help to raise the profile of college and community radio by working with other stations and by reaching out to community groups, artists, musicians, citizen journalists and politicians in order to talk about the "poaching" of the left side of the dial.

Today's =Making Waves= radio show features highlights from the panel on UC-Davis campus called “Whose Stations? Our Stations! Community Voices, Educational Radio, and KUSF in Exile.” Hear professor and community media scholar Dorothy Kidd, communications attorney Alan Korn and KUSF music director Irwin Swirnoff discuss the battle for community and student radio in the city of San Francisco.

CLICK HERE to download the audio or you can open the link in a new window to stream it.

Before Alan Korn began practicing law and fighting for communications rights, he was a college radio DJ, music writer & longtime rock n roller whose past bands benefitted from getting their demos played on KUSF. At Common Frequency's event on April 23rd he explained the thinking behind the official petition to deny the transfer of KUSF's radio license with the Federal Communications Commission. 

Common Frequency was also pleased to host community media scholar and University of San Francisco professor Dorothy Kidd. She talked about building a campaign for a communications commons and how the sale of KUSF is an example of a media enclosure, or privatization of public resources.

I also wanted radio listeners to hear what Irwin Swirnoff from Save KUSF had to say about the importance of student media advocating on its own behalf. Thanks again to everyone who pledged their support to KDVS last week. Also, comments from panelist David Martin and moderator Tracy Rosenberg were left out of the broadcast for time consideration.

On Saturday evening, April 23th, 2011, Common Frequency hosted a benefit concert and panel discussion at the UC Davis Technocultural Studies building. We want to thank intern Sharmi Basu for producing an excellent event, and all the other people who made it happen. The video shot by Davis Media Access will be available soon. Meanwhile, even if you missed out on your chance to join us in person, it isn't too late to support Common Frequency with a financial contribution. CLICK HERE to donate.

Created 5 years ago by activist engineer Todd Urick and a group of dedicated volunteers, Common Frequency is a growing local nonprofit supporting innovative student and community-run radio, primarily on the West Coast. We're part of a national coalition touting the last opportunity to apply for free local broadcast licenses, thanks to the Local Community Radio Act, signed into law by President Obama earlier this year. Simultaneously, we're working with 20 nonprofit groups to help launch new FM radio stations in their communities. We have received funding for these projects from an AmeriCorps program called Transmission Project, as well as the Media Democracy Fund. We seek a new studio space, much-needed broadcast equipment, solar and wind power materials and increased staffing capacity.

Here's the video, filmed by Davis Media Access:

Jennifer Waits is a radio DJ, winemaker, Mom, creator of the fantastic blog Spinning Indie, co-conspirator behind Radio Survivor and friend to all who love independent music and local radio. She has just published a long piece about her trip to Davis for Common Frequency's benefit dinner, panel and concert. She also attended our daytime gathering featuring workshops for area radio enthusiasts on grassroots fundraising, morning radio news and musical exploration at freeform radio stations. This is her photo of Sonali Kolhatkar, host of Uprising Radio. You can read her entire piece HERE.

Also, Katie Fleming of Common Cause kept up a great live Twitter feed during the workshops. Follow us!