In Historic Victory for Community Radio, FCC Puts 1,000 Low-Power FM Frequencies Up For Grabs

In Historic Victory for Community Radio, FCC Puts 1,000 Low-Power FM Frequencies Up For Grabs

In a major victory for the community radio movement after a 15-year campaign, the Federal Communications Commission has announced it will soon begin accepting applications for hundreds of new low-power FM radio stations in October. This means nonprofits, labor unions and community groups have a one-time-only chance this year to own a bit of the broadcast airwaves. It is being heralded as "the largest expansion of community radio in United States history." We’re joined by two guests: Jeff Rousset, the national organizer of the Prometheus Radio Project, which has led the campaign to challenge corporate control of the media and open up this space on the dial, and Ramón Ramírez, the president of PCUN, the largest Latino organization in Oregon. In 2006, Prometheus Radio Project helped PCUN establish the low-power FM station "Movement Radio," which has helped inform farmworkers about labor rights, as well as the larger Latino community about immigration reform efforts, health issues and other community-related topics. The FCC’s short application window for new stations will run from October 15 to October 29. "This is a one-shot opportunity," Rousset says. "The work that we do over the next four months will really help shape the course of this country’s media landscape for the next 40 years."

TRANSCRIPT

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We turn now to a major victory in the fight for media democratization. In response to a 15-year campaign, the Federal Communications Commission has opened the application process for thousands of new noncommercial FM radio licenses, including licenses in urban areas. This means nonprofits, labor unions and community groups have a one-time-only chance this year to own a bit of the broadcast airwaves. It’s being heralded as, quote, "the largest expansion of community radio in United States history." The FCC’s application window will run from October 15th to October 29th.

AMY GOODMAN: The Philadelphia-based nonprofit Prometheus Radio Project has led the 15-year campaign to challenge corporate control of the media and open up this space on the dial. In this video, the group explains the power of community media. This clip features Cam Tu Nguyen, the Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association; then Ash-Lee Henderson of Concerned Citizens for Justice; and Emery Wright of Project South.

CAM TU NGUYEN: When we don’t have the media and—or the media is controlled by another group that doesn’t have our side of the story, our perspective, our community interest, and other people hear from them, and we have nothing to combat that. We have—we don’t have our own radio station, our own newspaper, to put our truth out there, our version, our perspective, out there. Then, in a way, they control the battle.

ASH-LEE HENDERSON: We have to fight for those spaces. Like, we—we, as social justice movement builders, need to really own spaces and be able to control narratives, because we believe that, like, the people know how to tell their own stories, and they know the solutions to their own problems.

EMERY WRIGHT: How do we get accurate information to our folks? You know, how do we have authentic conversations across borders and boundaries that divide us?

AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined now by Jeff Rousset, national organizer of the Prometheus Radio Project, and Ramón Ramírez. He’s the president of PCUN, the largest Latino organization in Oregon. In 2006, Prometheus Radio Project helped the organization establish a low-power FM station called "Movement Radio," with the slogan "The Voice of the People." They’ve used the station to inform farmworkers about labor rights, as well as the larger Latino community about immigration reform efforts, health issues and other community-related topics.

http://www.democracynow.org/2013/6/20/in_historic_victory_for_community_radio