RESURRECT LOCAL RADIO

RESURRECT LOCAL RADIO

[Commentary] Since the 1996 deregulation law unleashed an unparalleled wave of monopolization, the radio service many of us grew up with has vanished. Local newscasts are a memory. Homegrown musicians might as well play on the sidewalk for quarters. Emergency authorities sometimes can't get bulletins aired in small towns, whose stations are mere relays for robotic

music-feeds from half a continent away. A potential savior is low power radio (LPFM), tiny, nonprofit radio stations with limited (~3.5 miles) reach and low start-up costs (~$6,000). LPFM has enormous potential: To beam to underserved localities, to provide a forum for voices that existing broadcasters ignore, to rededicate a sliver of the spectrum to community service, to validate local realities and plans, to remind us all that the cornerstone of U.S. broadcasting has for 75 years been something called localism, the geographic counterpart to the federalism that is praised as rapturously as it is ignored. LPFM could become a reality for many more communities across the country, but Congress needs to act to make it happen. [SOURCE: Knight Ridder Newspapers, AUTHOR: Edward Wasserman, Washington and Lee University]

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/10194642.htm

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