Copyright 2000 Federal News Service, Inc.
Federal News Service
February 17, 2000, Thursday
SECTION: PREPARED TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 1875 words
HEADLINE:
PREPARED TESTIMONY OF DIRK KONING
BEFORE THE
HOUSE COMMERCE COMMITTEE TELECOMMUNICATIONS & FINANCE
SUBCOMMITTEE
SUBJECT - HR 3439, THE "RADIO BROADCASTING
PRESERVATION ACT OF 1999".
BODY:
When radio
fosters the participation of citizens and defends their interests; when it
reflects the tastes of the majority and makes good humor and hope its main
purpose; when it truly informs; when it helps resolve the thousand and one
problems of daily life; when all ideas are debated in its programs and all
opinions are respected; when cultural diversity is stimulated over commercial
homogeneity; when women are main players in communication and not simply a
pretty voice or a publicity gimmick; when no type of dictatorship is tolerated,
not even the musical dictatorship of the big recording studios; when everyone's
words fly without discrimination or censorship, that is community radio. "Manual
urgente para Radialistas Apasionados" Jose Ignacio L6pez Vigil. 1997
Summary of the testimony of Dirk Koning Before the US House of
Representatives Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade and Consumer
Protection of the Committee on Commerce on the proposed legislation, HR 3439.
Dirk Koning's testimony addresses several issues about local non-
commercial speech which would be fostered by the FCC's January 27, 2000 Report
and Order. Through his experience building community media in Grand Rapids and
abroad, Mr. Koning has found that information access is a fundamental human
right. He differentiates between community media and commercial broadcast media.
This crucial difference illustrates why establishing a Low Power
FM Radio service will go far in using media as a community development
tool. Mr. Koning discusses how access to media, specifically access to broadcast
media, is a fundamental development and capacity building tool. Highlighting how
the rest of the world has established these kinds of community centered media,
Mr. Koning highlights efforts by the South African Government to inform its
citizens about such vital topics as AIDS awareness, water quality issues, and
crop rotation information. Finally, Mr. Koning's testimony addresses how
consolidation of the radio market in his town of Grand Rapids has affected his
community.
*************
INFORMATION IS THE CURRENCY OF
DEMOCRACY
I am Dirk Koning, the executive director of the Community
Media Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the chair of the editorial board of the
Community Media Review Magazine of the Alliance for Community Media and the
president of the Washington D.C.-based Alliance for Communications Democracy.
This testimony is in opposition to House Bill 3439, the Radio Broadcasting
Preservation Act of 1999. By many accounts the Telecommunications Act of 1996
has already provided a vast amount of radio broadcasting preservation by
allowing expanded ownership of multiple broadcast licenses in local communities
and nationwide.
I respectfully provide this testimony as a 20-year
veteran of community media including community radio, television and the
Internet. I submit that LPFM promotes the, "public interest, convenience and
necessity." I have read several technical surveys on this issue and am convinced
along with the FCC that technical interference from 10-100 watt stations is not
a problem. The relative equivalent of LPFM to full strength broadcasting is a
static shock from dragging your feet across the carpet versus putting your
finger in a socket. My testimony comes from a "trench" worker who has dedicated
half his life to improving civil society through media access and democracy.
"(T)he people as a whole retain their interest in free speech by radio
and their collective right to have the medium function consistently with the
ends and purposes of the First Amendment. It is the right of the viewers and
listeners...which is paramount"
Justice Byron White, writing the
unanimous opinion of the Supreme Court in Red Lion Broadcasting v. Federal
Communications Commission.
BUILDING COMMUNITY THROUGH MEDIA
A
media center has a simple mission to: "Build Community Through Media." Providing
for additional non-commercial local voices to the choir of FM stations in a
market will build community with valuable local information, cultural
enhancement and niche services. One of the crucial benefits of LPFM is the
concept of narrowcasting. Traditional commercial radio often selects a
marketable format and then attempts the shotgun approach to build listenership
to sell time.
Local non-commercial radio will have the ability to
concentrate on narrow interest groups to provide unique and critical services
without market pressures of building audience share. This is a novel concept in
the burgeoning "deregulated" environment of national and international
consolidations for cost-effective mass marketing.
Our local communities
need a collective local non-commercial voice via radio. Our local communities
need their own voices amplified electronically to serve their own community. Our
local communities need a thin sliver of the public airwaves.
INFORMATION
ACCESS AS A FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT
I have had the good fortune to
travel to a dozen countries developing various noncommercial media models
ranging from local television in Korea to community video in Brazil and low
power radio in South Africa. Many international community media Activists have
crafted the People's Communications Charter (www.waag.org/pcc) to spell out
basic human rights pertaining to information. The hope is to ultimately amend
the United Nation's Human Rights Charter to add access to information as a
fundamental human right worldwide. Several of the 18 published Articles include:
Justice, Privacy, Respect, Access, Literacy and Cultural Identity.
Community Media is an entirely different animal than commercial
broadcast media. The community model provides a motive for social improvement
and development via information exchange with no regard to market share, profit
or shareholder desires. I often tell people our Community Media Center is a
social service agency that provides fundamental community needs through media
training, equipment access and uncensored transmission via voice, video or data.
We are not unlike United Way, Goodwill or the Red Cross. We just happen to use
media as our community development tool.
Lower Power FM in the United
States could easily follow international models pertaining to community
development work. The World Association of Community Radio (www.amarc.org) cites
dozens of community improvement projects developed exclusively through community
radio. I personally am aware of community radio development efforts in South
Africa. In an attempt to "jump start" democracy in South Africa, the Mandella
Government launched community radio stations. Community radio was strategically
chosen due to the low cost of implementation and operation, ability to serve
niche communities with different languages and dialects, the lack of expense for
the receivers and the ability to operate from solar power.
This "Bush
Radio" as it is called provides local programming on HIV/AIDS awareness and
prevention, water quality issues, planting and crop rotation issues and
indigenous music.
FUNDAMENTAL SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNITY
CAPACITY BUILDING THROUGH MEDIA
On the home front in Grand Rapids, the
Community Media Center (www.grcmc.org) is a valuable resource for local
governments, churches, non-profit groups, politicians, artists, activists,
seniors and youth. Centers like this are located in over a thousand communities
in the U.S. and groups like the Alliance for Community Media, Community
Technology Centers Net and National Federation of Community Broadcasters provide
national guidance and support for these Centers. On any day but Sunday, you can
walk into the Media Center on the second floor of a 1925 "Carnegiesque" Library
and take low cost classes in radio, television and Internet use and production.
Once you take a class you are welcome to use on-site equipment ranging from
camcorders to microphones to digital editing equipment to a computer lab to tell
your story. Once you have your voice, video or data material ready, you can
broadcast it or narrowcast it via cable access television channels, a 1000 watt
FM radio station or high speed Internet connections with real audio and real
video streaming. Not to mention all of the above is provided first come, first
served, non- discriminatory on a content neutral basis. Over 30 church groups
use the Center, seven political parties, neighborhood associations, the Public
Museum, Library and Art Museum to name a few. Programs are produced in half a
dozen languages and media from around the world is introduced to the local
community. Almost a thousand local web sites are indexed by major categories to
expedite local research for local services. We even host on line community
computer conferences on critical local issues. As the digital convergence of
voice, video and data marches relentlessly onward, citizen access to integrated
information technology will become increasingly important if not a critical
necessity. We are already experiencing effects of the Digital Divide in Grand
Rapids. Certain communities and schools have 70% access to the Internet and
others are lucky to crack 10%.
MEDIA OF, FOR AND BY THE PEOPLE
Corporate radio consolidation has been hot and heavy in Grand Rapids.
Located in the top 50 broadcast markets, Grand Rapids has been indicative of the
aggressive and expansive amount of corporate consolidation of broadcast radio
properties. With the impending merger of Clear Channel and AMFM, over 10
stations will be under single non- local ownership prior to forced divestiture.
In fact Federal Trade Commission guidelines may kick in slowing consolidation
for fear of more than 70% of the advertising market being in a single corporate
hand. Arbitron numbers from fall of 1999 indicate the top three radio companies
own just under 70% of the radio stations in our market. Local news is funneled
through less channels, local musicians are almost completely ignored for
e-mailed play lists from "corporate" and non English programming is virtually
non existent. We all know the difference between someone saying, "Here take
this, I know what's good for you" versus self-discovery and selfprogramming.
On April 22nd, 1999 the FCC broke into a local Hispanic Church Basement
and seized approximately $2,000 in equipment from La V0z
Broadcasting for broadcasting in 93.1 FM without a license. The channel was open
and a preliminary injunction had been filed against the FCC. The all-Hispanic
programming station provided consumer advice, health and employment information
and Christian Music to the fastest growing minority population in the Grand
Rapids market. On September 10, 1999, the Grand Rapids Press endorsed Low Power
Radio in an Editorial that stated:
"Why is this important? Because the
more opportunities that people have to get their messages out, the better. The
FCC is mulling the small station issue right now. If the members value free
speech, they will let the little broadcasters in."
The FCC's January 27,
2000 Report and Order is a giant step forward in fostering local non-commercial
communication. This action opens a thin but important sliver of the public
airwaves, for such communication. ! urge you not to overturn that needed action.
END
LOAD-DATE: February 19, 2000
