Is low-power radio dead? In a huge victory for corporate broadcasters over grass-roots radio activists, Congress voted on December 18th to turn down licenses to hundreds of tiny, low-watt local radio stations. The vote came after a yearlong fight by an unlikely coalition of artists, universities, religious organizations, and both Republican and Democratic politicians whose aim was to broaden access to the airwaves.

Most galling to low-power radio supporters was the method of the proposal's undoing: Opponents slipped the measure into unrelated budget legislation to avoid a floor debate and a promised White House veto. The deeply restrictive rider tacked onto the bill was the result of months of lobbying by the powerful National Association of Broadcasters, which represents corporate radio interests.

It was a lot of work for the seemingly innocuous goal of setting aside a tiny slice of the airwaves for community organizations, religious groups and independent programming. Low-power stations broadcast at ten to 100 watts and can't be heard beyond a five-mile radius. (By contrast, major stations broadcasting at up to 50,000 watts are still clear up to seventy miles away.) Despite much evidence to the contrary, the NAB insists that low-power radio will interfere with signals broadcast by large commercial stations.

Republican Sen. John McCain (who, with Democratic Sen. Bob Kerrey, proposed compromise legislation) calls the NAB's argument "fraudulent" at best. "Our proposal was to go ahead and let [low-power stations] broadcast," McCain told Rolling Stone. "Any complaint of interference, and they would be immediately shut down." McCain says the "no" vote on low-power radio is a result of corporate greed and comes at the expense of more community-based programming and diversity on the airwaves. This was "a gross injustice inflicted on minority and low-income Americans orchestrated by the NAB and aided and abetted by Republican senators," he says.

The low-power radio initiative was developed by the Federal Communications Commission in response to the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which relaxed restrictions on the number of radio stations one company could own and allowed for the rapid consolidation of the radio market by a small handful of corporate owners. FCC Chairman William Kennard, concerned that consolidation led to a lack of diversity on the airwaves, proposed to license hundreds of low-power stations. President Clinton supported the plan, as did presidential candidates Al Gore, McCain, Bill Bradley and Ralph Nader. A number of prominent musicians, including Bonnie Raitt and the Indigo Girls, stumped for the cause.

Supporters of low-power radio point out that all is not yet lost: 255 new stations, in primarily rural areas, were approved under the new heavily restrictive conditions. And McCain remains a staunch supporter. He says he'll "continue to fight" for all those people who "don't have million-dollar lobbyists working for them."

SARAH WILDMAN
(January 20, 2001)