[DMCA-Activists] Broadcast Lobby Caught Red Handed with Red Herring

[Seth Johnson]

(Forwarded from Interesting People list)

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [IP] Broadcast Lobby Caught Red Handed With RedHerring
   Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2003 16:54:21 -0400
   From: Dave Farber <address@hidden>
     To: ip <address@hidden>


This was another case during my stay in DC where I saw politics creating
SCIENTIFIALLY BOGUS  “facts”.  It was clear to me and many that someone was
fabricating the truth.  I found it particularly interesting that NPR was one
of the strongest culprits.

Dave


------ Forwarded Message
From: Anthony Watson <address@hidden>
Reply-To: address@hidden
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2003 13:35:09 -0700 (PDT)
To: address@hidden
Subject: Broadcast Lobby Caught Red Handed With Red Herring

of possible interest to the IP

address@hidden wrote: 

Subject: Broadcast Lobby Caught Red Handed With Red Herring
To: address@hidden
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2003 15:46:24 -0400 (EDT)
From: address@hidden


Broadcast Lobby Caught Red Handed With Red Herring -- "Oceans of Radio
Interference" Proven To Be Puddles In Independent  Study of LPFM

Contact:
Pete Tridish
215-727-9620
215-605-9297
address@hidden

July 13, Washington, DC -- Results have been released from a long 
anticipated engineering study ordered by Congress -- a study designed  to
determine whether small community radio stations could cause  interference
to the signals of full power broadcasters. The study,  conducted by an
independent testing company called the MITRE  Corporation, recommended the
lifting of burdensome restrictions  imposed by Congress in December of 2000
upon t! he new Low Power FM  (LPFM) radio service.

In its testimony before Congress, the National Association of  Broadcasters
(NAB) had complained that the FM radio dial would be  drowned in "an ocean
of interference." But the study authors found  so little evidence of
potential interference that they chose not to  implement some later stages
in the study -- such as an economic  impact study and subjective listening
tests -- that would only have  been necessary if interference had been
proven."

"I hope that the wild goose chase for interference -- and the claim  that a
dinky hundred watt community station can cause this kind of  problem for a
20,000 watt commercial station -- can finally come to a  close." said Pete
Tridish, Technical Director of the Prometheus Radio  Project. "I know some
lobbyists at the National Association of  Broadcasters may not know what to
do without Low Power FM radio to  beat up on anymore, but I'm sure they !
can find gainful employment  searching for other imaginary things like
African uranium shipments  to Iraq."

A few key points from the MITRE study:

-- As predicted by the FCC and myriad LPFM advocates, only small  zones of
interference directly around the transmitter site of the  LPFM were found.

-- No significant LPFM-related degradation to a full power station's  signal
was ever identified at more than 333 meters from an LPFM  transmitter.

-- New digital radio channels and Radio Reading Services To The  Blind were
tested, and no significant problems were found.

-- Despite public notices and a 1-800 number, there were no  complaints from
the public related to any low power radio test site.

-- In the very worst case found, .0013 of receivers in the service  area of
a full power station could be affected. As the report stated,  "In most
cases, this fraction is orders of magnitude smaller."

The report made a! few suggestions for minor rule changes that could 
prevent even this tiny bit of interference, if necessary. Advocates  believe
that the more extensive complaint procedure already developed  by the FCC is
more than adequate for ferreting the out the few cases  of interference that
may occur -- especially for Low Power Radio. "As  the result of these
bizarre political pressures exerted by the  broadcast lobby, the FCC has
developed a more extensive complaint  procedure for when you turn on a
hundred watt station than when you  turn on a 50,000 watt station. We proved
in 1999 that the  interference issue was a red herring, and MITRE has proven
it again,"  said Pete Tridish. "It is time to let low power radio into the 
cities."

The low power radio service was launched in January 2000, but soon  after
was curtailed in most metropolitan areas by a debilitating Act  of Congress
requiring more study before most licenses could be  issued! . Under pressure
from the large broadcasting interests, key  Congressmen slipped language
into an appropriations rider -- language  that eviscerated the FCC's new
rules in November of 2000. Under the  new rules, about 75% of low power FM
opportunities were eliminated,  leaving only 1 new station available in the
top 50 American cities.  Smaller towns, further away from major metropolitan
areas and their  concentrations of megawattage radio stations, were less
affected by  the bill and allowed to build.

Over 200 Low power radio stations are on the air in small towns  around the
United States today, run by schools, churches, activist  groups, unions and
other civil society groups. If adopted by an act  of Congress, MITRE'S
recommendations would allow thousands of small  community groups, in cities
all across the US, to build these vibrant  new neighborhood institutions of
democratic media.

The Prometheus Radio Project is an activist organization that fights  for
more democratic ownership and regulation of media. Prometheus  advocates for
community organizations that want to start radio  stations, and has helped
build the first radio stations owned by  civil rights and environmental
organizations in the United States.

www.prometheusradio.org -- 215.727.9620 -- address@hidden


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