Some NPR listeners were clearly offended after a 48-second spot by Barbara Hagerty about the Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas. The group is composed of roughly 70 members and boasts a website with the not-so-charming URL of www.GodHatesFags.com. Primarily known for their protests of soldiers’ funerals, displaying signs such as “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” […]
Archive | Noncommercial Radio
Breaking: The LPFM bill just passed the Senate
Talk about a nailbiter. After languishing for months in the Senate due to a series of anonymous (then outed) holds placed by republican senators, followed by gridlock over the tax bill, it was starting to look like the Local Community Radio Act was never going to make it to a vote. But thanks to the […]
Breaking down the House’s new LPFM bill
It’s certainly easy to understand the sentiment expressed by a commenter to my last LPFM post: If the NAB is for it, you can pretty much guarantee that it is to the detriment to LPFM. And while the LPFM bill passed by the House yesterday, HR 6533, does contain compromises agreed to by the NAB, […]
Public Radio Station WLIU Sold to Community Group, Renamed WPPB
When universities put their radio stations up for sale, more often than not the people lining up with cash in hand are non-local radio groups. So, it’s a wonderful surprise when those who work at a station that’s on the chopping block take the initiative to save the station from outside parties. As we reported […]
Breaking: revised LPFM bill just passed the House
Seems that things are starting to move again on LPFM. The House passed HR 6533 this morning, “to implement the recommendations of the Federal Communications Commission report to the Congress regarding low-power FM service, and for other purposes.” The bill was introduced by democrat Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania and co-sponsored by republican Terry Lee of […]
NAB “getting beat up” over their opposition to LPFM
Grassroots heat has been getting hotter this week as the Senate runs out of time to vote on the Local Community Radio Act, expanding low-power FM. There are some signs that the action is having some effect. Free Press campaign director Tim Karr tweeted on Thursday, NAB lobbyists overheard at DC event: “We’re getting beat […]
From hoops to NPR and voicemail – today’s action in LPFM
Prometheus has posted photos and video from their hula hooping protest in front of NAB headquarters today in support of low-power FM. According to the group dozens of people showed up to ask NAB head and former senator Gordon Smith to stop blocking the Local Community Radio Act, SB 592. It turns out that so […]
Hooping for LPFM
Today the Prometheus Radio Project is leading a circus-themed protest in front of the National Association of Broadcasters. Urging supporters to “bring juggling pins, unicycles, tricks, and costumes,” participants will be celebrating low-power FM while chiding the NAB for its dishonest campaign to get Senate republicans to put holds on the Local Community Radio Act. […]
Free Speech Radio News: help it or lose it
Free Speech Radio News, the independent progressive news service heavily relied on by 114 community based radio stations, has posted an appeal to all its supporters. Send financial assistance now or the show will suspend production on December 21. “This is the situation,” FSRN writes: The majority of FSRN’s income comes from the Pacifica network, […]
NAB still using misinformation to defeat low-power radio expansion
The National Association of Broadcasters has never been a friend to low-power community radio. Back in 2000, when the FCC first created the service, the NAB did everything it could to try and keep it from becoming a reality. While the broadcast lobby failed to stop it outright, the NAB did succeed in getting Congress […]