In other bill passing news…
Not as big of a story as other bills Congress got around to passing today, but the Local Community Radio Act finally passed today. This bill has been around for nearly a decade now, has ridiculous amounts of support from every side of politics (Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians…) but every time it comes up another hold is placed. Then when the senator placing the hold gets outed, someone else comes along to step in to place a new hold.
The biggest enemy to the act has been the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB). Their main weapon has been spreading the idea that an increase in the number of low-power FM (LPFM) stations would cause harmful interference on other stations (like big bully ClearChannel owned stations).
The bill will remove many of the restrictions on LPFM stations, allowing these community radio stations to reach a broader base. In the age of the internet this almost seems pointless, but this will do a great deal for supporting local music and culture in many communities.
Some background reading:
A good rundown on HuffPo earlier this week
Influence of the NAB on senators
-
musicandmedicine reblogged this from chrshrrs
-
kellydeal liked this
-
matthewgallaway liked this
-
chrshrrs posted this
