As groups get organized and prepare to apply for an LPFM license when the first opportunities come around in May, opposition to the new service is growing and attacking from multiple directions.
There are three threats which pose significant immediate danger to the new LPFM service. Each one is unique, and each one could shut the service down before it even starts.
The first threat is Congress. Rep. Mike Oxley’s (R-OH) “Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act of 1999” continues to draw more co-sponsors; it’s very likely that by the end of February, anti-LPFM forces will have mustered over half the votes they need to get the bill through the House of Representatives. Continue reading “Multiple Threats”
Tag: michael oxley
All's Not Well
On the heels of the FCC’s vote to create a low power radio service, advocates of LPFM – who’ve fought long and hard for more than a year on the issue – are celebrating. It’s a well-deserved morale boost, but by no means does the FCC’s action victory.
The war over LPFM is a multi-front battle, and while advocates have made substantial gains in front of the FCC, more dangerous fronts still remain.
The Federal Communications Commission, like any other government agency, operates at the whim of Congress. It is Congress who sets the FCC’s funding level, and it’s Congress who tells the FCC what to do by crafting the laws that imbue the agency with its power. Continue reading “All's Not Well”
The End-Run Begins
Just two days after the FCC closed the second round of comments on a proposal to legalize a low power radio service, the broadcast lobby has chosen not to wait to hear the opinions that more than three thousand of you sent the Federal Communications Commission on the issue.
Representative Michael Oxley (R-OH) has announced the introduction of legislation called the “Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act of 1999,” which would prohibit the FCC from continuing its proceeding on the creation of a low power radio service, as well as prohibit the FCC from ever being able to consider such a service again.
Oxley has already issued a press release on his new bill. It is nothing more than the “party line” we have all already heard from the National Association of Broadcasters, its members and, most importantly, the lobbying force it controls. Continue reading “The End-Run Begins”