Free the Airwaves!


Interference Study Clears the Air for Low Power FM --
And Prometheus Kicks Up Its Grassroots Campaign!
Hello, grassroots low-power FM radio campaigners past, present and future! On this website, you'll find all the tools you need to take your interest and belief in the need for a viable low-power FM radio service to the people who can make it a reality -- your local Congressional representatives and Senators.

How Can I Act on this Right Now?
Great question! Now is the time to contact your Senator and your Congresspeople, by mail, email, phone, or in person. You need to ask them to expand the Low Power FM service! Follow the steps below so we can help you get a station in your town, and for every town in the USA. If you'd like to read some more background first, click here before you get to work!



Some Tools for You to Use!



Below, please find some tools for you to use as you contact your Congresspeople. Print out these documents, and pass them along to friends and neighbors who are willing to help fight for this great service!

1 -- Find out who my Senators and Congresspeople are! Use the tool to the right or click here to find the phone numbers and addresses of your Senators and Congresspeople. They're the ones you're callin' and writin'! Many thanks to Free Press for the use of this tool!
2 -- Write or call my letter to my Senators and Congresspeople! Click here for an example letter you can adapt to send to your elected officials. And check out this briefing to learn more about the issue. You could even print out this brief to send to your Congresspeople and Senators! These links include information you can use to prepare yourself for a phonecall, or even for a personal visit. We're told that phonecalls are more powerful than letters, so give a phonecall to your Senators and Congresspeople if you can.
3 -- Let us know you've contacted your elected officials! And, sign up at the same time to be at the forefront of the movement for more community radio. We'll keep you posted on how to be the first person on your block with a shiny new LPFM, when the time comes!
4 -- Get the word out! Click the button below to tell a friend about this page.


5 -- Keep getting that word out! Prometheus has developed Public Service Announcements that you can play on your Low Power FM station, your internet station, or just for yourself and your friends! Use radio to make more radio, that's what I always say. Click here for a 40 second spot, and here for a 20 second spot! Produced by our own Levi Roman.








Background!
Why Congress? Why Now?
As you probably know, the Prometheus Radio Project has been fighting for Low Power FM for a long time, using a wide variety of tools, skills, and tactics. We use our flexibility and energies for different priorities at different times. Building stations is always essential, as is giving support to Low Power broadcasters and applicants. But now -- for the first time since we all won the service in 2000 -- everyone in the office, our full board, and as many allies and friends as we can corral into the effort are trying to convince congress to expand the Low Power FM Service.

The Federal Communications Commission, the regulatory organization responsible for determining who gets to use our airwaves, just recommended to Congress that they finally expand the Low Power FM service. That means that the power to bring more Low Power stations to your communities, as well as to the cities that lost out big the first time 'round, is back in the hands of our elected officials.

What is Congress Going to Do, Exactly?
Good question. Is there a piece of legislation this second that your Senator or Congressperson could co-sponsor or endorse? The answer is no. Senator John McCain has promised to present such legislation, but he hasn't done it yet. What we're doing is trying to outpace the inevitable industry lobbying to our elected officials, as they fight to keep more Low Power FM stations off the air. Your Senators and Congressmen need to hear from you, that Low Power FM radio matters to you, so they can work to bring it to your communities.

A Grassroots Victory
To recap -- the Low Power FM radio service, formed in 2000, was a response to the work of Prometheus organizers and people like you! To date, hundreds of new radio stations are on the air, transmitting vibrant local programming to towns and countrysides that need it. But only twenty percent of the original license applications were even allowed to be considered, because powerful lobbying groups argued that these new stations would cause interference with existing signals.

However, a congressionally-mandated testing program designed to assess the probability of interference from low-power FM stations has been completed and the resulting study has found that interference is not an issue! According to the study, released July 13 by the MITRE Corporation, there is only an infinitesimal chance that the signals from FCC licensed low-power stations will interfere with bigger, full power radio stations.

Act to Expand Low Power Radio
So, as we've said, now that we have this study, we need those Congresspeople who stood up for low-power FM radio in 2000 to stand up again, and fight for the licenses that were taken away last time! And, we need new allies in our legislature to join the fight -- allies who understand that low-power FM is a concrete way to build local, diverse media in an increasingly consolidated, corporate media environment.

Best Hope For A Low Power
Future For Urban Community Radio
According to FCC statistics developed in 1999, many major urban areas of the United States were on track to get Low Power FM radio stations. Then, when Congress passed its exorbitant protection rule, most of those communities lost out. Take a look at these statistics and think about how wonderful these stations would be in the cities below!



Potential Low Power FM Stations in America's Cities!


Here are just a few of the major cities that could get Low Power FM radio stations to serve their populations if Congress expands the service.

Houston, Texas -- 1 station
Phoenix, Arizona -- 3 stations
San Antonio, Texas -- 13 stations
Indianapolis, Indiana -- 8 stations
Baltimore, Maryland -- 4 stations
Jacksonville, Florida -- 8 stations
Columbus, Ohio -- 13 stations
Milwaukee, Wisconsin -- 6 stations
Boston, Massachusetts -- 2 stations
Nashville, Tennessee -- 7 stations
Denver, Colorado -- 3 stations
Las Vegas, Nevada -- 14 stations
Richmond, Virginia -- 23 stations
Peoria, Illinois -- 10 stations
Kansas City, Kansas -- 1 station





Expanding the service would create thousands more community radio stations, especially in the cities that have gone without them for so long.

Ready to win more radio stations for everyone across America? Click the big red button right below!

Contacts: hannah (at) prometheusradio.org or petri (at) prometheusradio.org