At the Commission’s March meeting the FCC approved changes to the rules governing priority for new tribe-owned stations intended to serve Native American populations. Previously, priority for licenses was granted to federally-recognized Tribes seeking licenses to serve Tribal-owned lands, such as reservations. The March 3 report and order (PDF) now gives Tribes the opportunity to seek waivers that would give them priority in obtaining licenses to serve regions with a population of Tribe members, but that does not contain any Tribal lands. The order was adopted in part due to recognition that there are some Tribes that do not own Tribal lands and approximately two-thirds of Tribal members do not live on Tribal lands. In the US there are 563 recognized tribes, but only 312 reservations.

Tribes may justify their waiver request by “detail[ing] how a proposed service to the area would aid the Tribe in serving the needs and interests of its citizens in that community, and thus further the goals of the Tribal Priority.” A Tribe may also demonstrate that it has a seat of government or office within the station’s proposed service area, or that more than fifty percent of its membership lives in that area.

Native Public Media and the National Congress of American Indians issued a statement hailing the order, calling it a

groundbreaking important step in the right direction to solve the pervasive problems of the lack of myriad communications services in Tribal communities. In addition to some of the lowest levels of telephony and broadband internet services in the nation, American Indians and Alaska Natives have been largely invisible in the broadcasting industry on all levels ranging from media access, to control and ownership of broadcast facilities.

Federally recognized Native American Tribes and Alaska Native Villages who apply for AM or FM radio stations will get “Tribal Priority” status, thanks to an FCC decision released today. Tribal Priority will give precedence to their applications or to companies controlled by tribes that want to set up stations intended to serve tribal land areas.

“More tribally-owned stations will mean new opportunities for these rural communities,” predicted FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, who supported the Order, “economic advancement from construction activity to erect broadcast facilities; advertisements for goods and services geared especially to tribal audiences and markets; career and employment opportunities in media-related fields; outlets for the distribution of diverse cultural programming and viewpoints, as well as public safety information for tribal lands. This initiative goes to the heart of localism.”

There are about 14,000 radio stations in the  United States, and 41 are licensed to federal recognized tribes. That’s less than a third of one percent of the total. To get technical, the FCC is giving Native Americans “Section 307(b) priority,” that being the language in the Communications Act that requires the Commission to “make such distribution of licenses, frequencies, hours of operation, and of power among the several States and communities as to provide a fair, efficient, and equitable distribution of radio service to each of the same.”

The FCC is adding some caveats to this windfall. Station owners who get Section 307(b) priority status won’t be able to downgrade their service level. But the agency is also looking into giving Native  American applicants extra bidding credits when they apply for stations.

The discussion leading up to this decision was somewhat contentious, with various groups, including the Catholic Radio Association, charging that Tribal Priority would represent an unfair or even race/identity based form of preference. But Native Public Media, which advocates for Native Americans, noted that the policy would not run afoul of various affirmative action standards, because Native Americans are classified “not as a discrete racial group, but, rather, as members of quasi-sovereign tribal entities whose lives and activities are governed by the [Bureau of Indian Affairs] in a unique fashion.”

Looks like that logic won the FCC over. “Tribes are uniquely situated to provide programming meeting their members’ needs,” the Order notes.  “The existence of a non-tribal commercial station or stations at a community located on tribal lands should not, in our view, preclude the establishment of a first local transmission service owned by a Tribe or Tribes.”

KPOO

Just when people think that radio is dead, there are signs of it continuing to reinvent itself in interesting ways. The morning news today (on both KTVU’s “Mornings on Two” television broadcast and in the pages of the San Francisco Chronicle) brought word of an innovative art installation taking place over the Thanksgiving holiday at Coit Tower in San Francisco.

To honor the 40th anniversary of a year and a half protest/occupation by American Indians at Alcatraz (taking place from November 1969 to June 1971), films will be projected onto the side of Coit Tower. An accompanying soundtrack will be broadcast on San Francisco community radio station KPOO. The collaboration makes sense, as the essence of KPOO’s mission is to serve communities typically under-represented by mainstream media. Additionally, KPOO airs a show twice a month called “Webworks: Voices of the Native Nation.”

Admittedly, listening to film soundtrack simulcasts on one’s radio isn’t an entirely new concept, as low-power radio transmissions were a staple of the drive-in movie scene. In this instance, though, one can listen in through a car radio or even by tuning into a webcast through one’s mp3 player or iPhone. It certainly sounds like an amazing way to experience public art and perhaps it will get a few folks to tune in to community radio.