Blog Post #3: The Controversy

BRIEF OVERVIEW
Why is the technology of LPFM controversial?

FOR LPFM
Some people think that LPFM are a "slight corrective to the consolidation of commercial radio", perhaps a nice refreshing shift or addition to the more commercialized broadcasting we tend to hear everywhere. (www.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/arts/25radio.html/)

AGAINST LPFM
However, it has been claimed that LPFM interferes with the signals from full power radio stations which is why many licenses for it was blocked for a period after 2000, preventing many from sharing local news and information with local communities.

THE VERDICT
LPFM stations do NOT interfere with full power stations, as concluded in a Federal Communications Commiusion study ("the Mitre Report") ordered by the Congress to conduct. According to the study, "increasing the number of LPFM stations would not interfere with full power stations. The FCC then urged Congress to repeal the LPFM restrictions."
( www.freepress.net/lpfm)


GREAT NEWS!
For all the local communities who cherish the broadcasting offered by the LPFM.

Local Community Radio Act

"On Dec. 18, 2010, Congress passed the Local Community Radio Act, a bill that promises to open the radio dial to thousands of new LPFM stations across the country, bringing fresh music, local perspectives and community news to the public airwaves.

President Obama's signed the bill into law in early 2011." (www.freepress.net/lpfm)

What the ADVOCATES have to say:
**Most information is from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/arts/25radio.html - if source is not listed, information is from this website.**

• LPFM promotes local and diverse cultures

e.g. In Louisiana, a large African-American community appreciate how LPFM plays a genre of music called zydeco, " a potent blend of Cajun, rhythm and blues and, among a younger generation, hip-hop, often features accordion and washboard"

• LPFM influences commercial radio to offer listeners a wider range of music

e.g. John Freedman, the executive director of KOZM, a LPFM radio station, said "he thought commercial stations had started playing more zydeco since KOCZ started broadcasting in 2002. “They know that we make them better,” he said. "

• Because LPFM is non-commercial, schools and organizations are able to promote many community service-related projects that help better the local neighborhood.

e.g. "KOCZ is licensed to the Southern Development Foundation, a civil rights group that grants scholarships and runs a business incubator but has fallen on hard times. The foundation treats the station as a 24-hour form of community outreach. "

• Bigger is not always better

e.g. “Low-power FM stations are small, but they make a giant contribution to local community programming,”

• Smaller means more local and tightknit- LPFM promotes a very close community

- "For KOCZ, smaller is better, because smaller means more local. "
-"a woman walked into the station ... asked for an announcement to be broadcast about her lost dog... 'She was able to get her dog back the next day,' said Helen Pickney, the station manager, still marveling at the story. "

• "“Low power FM radio stations not only put local music, news, and political debates on the FM dial, they saved lives after Hurricane Katrina because they put up-to-the-minute local information on the air – and they are small and flexible enough to keep running with a car battery when the power goes out,” said Pete Tridish, an organizer with the Prometheus Radio Project, a nonprofit that supports low power FM radio stations nationwide."

(http://www.wryr.org/news.html)

• LPFM is crucial for small communities in times of emergencies

“In this day and age, emergency management is a must for a city of our size and LPFM perfectly fits our needs. A low power FM radio station can stay on the air even if the power goes out. Low power FM saved lives during Katrina but strangely, the federal government is banning it from this part of Tennessee. That is not fair or wise. We have the right to be as safe as any other community in the US. "

(http://www.wryr.org/news.html)


What the CRITICS have to say:

• The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is one that proposed the campaign against LPFM
  ("http://articles.nydailynews.com/2000-04-18/entertainment/18126057_1_low-power-lpfm-stations-nab)
  
  
• It is claimed that " NAB members want to protect their monopoly - noting the growing ownership of radio by large, nonlocal corporations that often syndicate programming among markets, cut down on local news and increase advertising time."
  

("http://articles.nydailynews.com/2000-04-18/entertainment/18126057_1_low-power-lpfm-stations-nab)

• The NAB wants to make a compromise that the FCC can have the rights to offer LPFM radio but in more deserted spots

"They want to force the FCC to use an old, archaic way of finding spots for LPFM stations that no other radio broadcasters are required to use anymore for licensing. If the FCC were forced to use this method of licensing LPFM, there’d be no room for more LPFMs anywhere but unpopulated areas and America’s smallest towns.”"

• LPFM radio stations had to pay the same budget as other broadcasters after the NAB convinced the Congress that close-spaced LPFM was a threat to the full power stations

My Opinion?
Clearly, as suggested by the number of different valid points offered by LPFM advocates, the LPFM radio serves a far better purpose than it supposedly interferes with bigger broadcasting companies (it has already been proven in a study that it doesn't do this anyway). Local communities thrive on the local broadcasting offered by LPFM radios, and the existence of these stations has proven to be extremely beneficial in emergency and dire situations such as during Hurricane Katrina. It also operates when the power is out, ultimately suggesting its valuable use and existence.

_______________________________________________________________________________
EVALUATION

• The search tool you used and why
  I used Google to find results related to the controversy because I wanted to see if my experience with this search engine will outweigh all the other ones I used for my previous blog posts. I have always relied on Google as my main mode of searching and wanted to see if I can be just as satisfied with it knowing there are other ones out there with different ways of generating search topics.
  

• The exact search terms you used
  
  "Low Power FM"
  "Low Power FM Critics"
  
  
• The two best sites you found: give the full URLs and URLs to any specific pages that are especially helpful
  
  1. "Low-Power FM Radio to Gain Space on the Dial"
  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/arts/25radio.html
  
  2. "Low Power FM" on Freepress
  http://www.freepress.net/lpfm
  
  
• Your evaluation of the credibility and reliability of these sites:
• What individual or organization is responsible for the site and what is their purpose or mission?
  
  1. New York Times - Mission is to "enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment."
  
  2. FreePress - Mission is to "promote diverse and independent media ownership, strong public media, quality journalism and universal access to communications."
  
  
• How is the site funded?
  
  1. New York Times - funded by its investors
  
  2. FreePress - funded by its members as it is a nonprofit organization
  
  
• How current is the information?
  Both sites continually update their sites. The NY Times article was posted earlier this year. Information on FreePress includes blog posts that are fairly recent.
  
  
• What useful arguments on either side of the controversy you are studying can be found on the site? Are any of the arguments supported by research?
  
  1. There are many personal testimonies quoted on the NY Times article, which provides a very significant insight into the importance of LPFM to people in small communities. This article provided many quotes from advocates of LPFM.
  
  2. FreePress provided very valuable information that summarized the different acts imposed on the existence of LPFM, and it provided the detail that research was conducted saying that LPFM does NOT interfere with full power broadcasting systems. The study was worth $2 million and was ordered by the Congress for the FCC to conduct.
  
  
  
  
• Given your answers to the questions above, what points of view might be missing from this site? What other kinds of sites should you search for that might provide the missing points of view?
  
  The two websites I though were most significant only included information from the people in small communities, LPFM workers, and advocates of LPFM. Although I found other sites that contained opposing views, these sites lacked more evidence from organizations such as the National Association of Broadcasters (which opposed the usage of LPFM).
  
  I should look more into the NAB website to have a more profound understanding of their point of view on LPFM.
  
  
  

OTHER WEBSITES USED

http://www.wryr.org/news.html

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2000-04-18/entertainment/18126057_1_low-power-lpfm-stations-nab