CWA Supports The Local Community Radio Act

Low-power FM radio has the potential to bring thousands of local voices to the airwaves across America, but legislation that would lower radio restrictions is currently being stalled in the Senate. The Communications Workers of America joined a coalition urging the Senate to pass the Local Community Radio Act.

The Local Community Radio Act (S.592) would repeal a ten-year-old restriction that keeps these vital local stations out of most urban and suburban markets.  If passed, the bill would allow the FCC to license stations that transmit under 100 watts of power to schools, churches, public safety organizations, and community groups nationwide.

Some large commercial broadcasters claim that additional stations could cause interference with their broadcasts, despite Congressionally-mandated findings to the contrary by the Federal Communications Commission, which worked with the MITRE Corporation to prove that these 100-watt community voices caused no harmful interference to big broadcasters nationwide. Under the umbrella of National Association of Broadcasters, these groups have simply sought to cut down the competition from new local stations.

With strong bipartisan support in the Senate and a quick passage through the House earlier in the year, the bill should have been on its way to making radio more open. However, secret holds and the lobbying efforts of the NAB are delaying the bill's passage through the Senate.

The Communications Workers of America, in conjunction with the Prometheus Radio Project, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the National Federation of Community Broadcasters, Free Press, and others support efforts to bring local music, fresh perspectives, and community news back to public airwaves.

Community radio brings a diversity of voices to the air, and opens the previously exclusive realm of FM broadcasting to more local entities. Passing the Local Community Radio Act would bring these voices to life.

The Great Radio Blockade (Reason)

Interference study finds room for more low-power FMs (Current)

The small government argument for LPFM (Radio Survivor)