Copyright 2000 The Washington Post
The Washington
Post
October 23, 2000, Monday, Final Edition
SECTION: OP-ED; Pg. A23
LENGTH: 736 words
HEADLINE:
The Voice Of the People
BYLINE: William E. Kennard
BODY:
It's Halloween time in Capital City,
and who's that skulking about the halls of Congress in the dead of night? Not
ghouls or goblins, but special interest lobbyists up to their old tricks and
looking for more treats. And this time, they're out to devour small community
radio.
With the same energy it takes to light your table lamp, the new
10 to 100 watt low-power FM service will create radio for the
people. Low-power FM will allow schools, churches and other
local organizations to use the public airwaves to make their voices heard. In
short, low-power FM enhances democracy on the dial: It fosters
new opportunities for true community radio to flourish in an age marked by the
increasing consolidation and homogenization of the industry and the marketplace
of ideas.
So it comes as a sad but predictable development that the
special interests opposing low-power FM--namely, the National
Association of Broadcasters (NAB)--have dispatched their high power lobbyists to
prowl behind closed doors and use the Congressional appropriations process to
quickly and quietly bury the program.
This attempt to kill
low-power FM is not about ideology--it's about money.
Low-power FM has been embraced by the National Association of
Evangelicals, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the National Education
Association, and the National Council of Churches. Indeed, we have received more
than 1,200 applications for low-power FM licenses in the 20
states from which we have accepted them. The only group siding against the
establishment of low-power FM is big radio, who in a textbook
case of protectionism are trying to use the government to smother any potential
competition.
As a smoke screen for their financial interests, incumbent
broadcasters have consistently cited the remote possibility of signal
interference as the reason to stop low-power FM. But this
argument is disingenuous.
Our job is to act as guardian of the airwaves,
not to degrade them. We have thoroughly tested this new service and are
confident that there will not be any harmful interference. In sum, thanks to the
FCC's decades of experience with FM radio and refinements in radio receiver and
transmitter technologies over the years, low-power FM will not
interfere with existing radio service. And the broadcasters already know that.
In fact, in the past they've asked us to allow hundreds of full power
stations to sit as close to each other on the dial as any new low-power
FM station would to any existing station. If this distance doesn't
cause harmful interference between full power radio stations (operating at as
much as 100,000 watts), why would it do so with low power FM
(10 or 100 watts)? It simply doesn't make sense.
So the NAB has also
tried to stop low-power FM by enlisting National Public Radio
to its cause, and arguing that the initiative threatens radio reading services
for the blind. Again, this argument is patently false. The FCC recognizes the
importance of radio reading services to their communities and once again has
added full protections from low-power FM interference for them.
That NPR would side against true community radio is the unkindest cut of
all. We deserve better from an organization that calls itself National Public
Radio. Although NPR has offered excellent quality public programming over the
years, it must realize that "All Things Considered" is not all things to all
people.
This attempt to kill low-power FM behind closed
doors smacks of everything that Americans have come to distrust about our
democratic process. How any self-respecting representative of the people could
think of colluding with big radio to stifle the voices of our schools, churches,
and local organizations is beyond me.
Thankfully, there are good men on
both sides of the aisle--such as Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Bob Kerrey
(D-Neb.)--who are fighting to protect community radio against the protectionism
of the NAB. They realize that low-power FM is a perfect example
of how we can better use our existing technology to serve local communities and
enhance democracy. I very much hope Congress will do the right thing and snuff
out the broadcasters' protectionist plot to make an end run around our
democratic process. In this Halloween season, community radio deserves better
than a ghost of a chance.
The writer is chairman of the Federal
Communications Commission.
LOAD-DATE: October
23, 2000 
