*Disclaimer* bias, curses

1. bio: 5 Min
+KVRX -None of the Hits All the Time -Modest Mouse 

+pirates -drinking beer & cursing, ultimate freedom

+Musicians Union -harsh economic reality of career musicians

+FCC San Antonio -after camping out in my tent at the front of the line, and no translators for Spanish speakers at the Localism Diversity hearing in SA by the Communications commission, Powell announced that he wouldn't listen to everyone speak. I objected from the back of the line, was escorted out, but he was shamed into staying in his seat and hearing everyones

+CBS -Air America affiliate, board op & promoter, 50000 watt antiwar audio but no credit, $10/hr

+KBCS -Friday night beats, hosting during DN!

+KAOS -DC, MD, Prod, Internships, mornings

+RtM, FCC, KPCN, State Gov, CPJ, NFCB, GRC, Free Press conferences (go to my blog)

+now i'm in Boise, volunteering full time for Boise Community Radio coming in 2009 on 8000 watts

2. overview: 5 Min
+consolidation and corporate control limit the national discourse, distort our images of women and people of color, and facilitate government propaganda 

+community-based media is accountable to the audience in a way commercial media is not

+however for all FM and AM broadcasters, even the unlicensed folks are aware of the FCC

+who is the FCC? 5-member appointed regulatory authority with a high-powered office building in DC. sitting president's party controls the commission, and controls the bureaucracy, the staff resources in particular. the FCC also has field agents who work with Federal Marshalls on law enforcement. one of the heinous aspects of pirate radio takedowns that is too common is dogs get shot. The bottom-line with the FCC is that you either believe in the authority of "experts" to act in the public interest and regulate accordingly or you reject the notion that they should have the power they do. My personally, I want stricter regulation, because just dating back to the Reagan era, we lost the "Fairness Doctrine" and then under Clinton the "Telecommunications Act" allowed massive seemingly irreversible consolidation. Under Bush the power of media giants has expanded.

3. FCC in focus: 5 Min
+let's look at two examples of the FCC's power

+the FCC has the authority, as established by past Supreme Court decisions, to fine broadcasters for the airing of what it calls "indecent" material. The seven words familiar from FCC Vs. Pacifica, when WBAI aired a George Carlin comedy album and parents complained, are "Shit, Fuck, Cunt, Tit, Cocksucker, Motherfucker, and Cunt." In at least two major Supreme Court rulings that I'm aware of Right-Wing justices made determinations on moral grounds, and under Bush we see the word "profanity" tossed around at the FCC. If you believe in the separation of church of state, then a responsible government regulatory commission should not concern itself with any God Damn offenses toward any God or Demon. However, consider the freedom of the press versus the freedom of speech. For student publications like the CPJ sometimes the silencing of an individual is thought necessary to protect the organ of that free speech, THE FREE PRESS. Take note that this Fall the Supreme Court will consider the issue of "fleeting expletives" like Bono saying on a televised awards show, "that's fucking brilliant" b/c the FCC has been inconsistent under Bush

+the FCC responds to what Congress tells it to do, but Congress is not expected to be expert in matters of communications technology. that is part of the point of the FCC, is Brian Baird, Olympia's Congressman doesn't have to run on expertise about engineering or Internet architecture. Congress told the FCC that analog televisions will go dark in February of 2009, and the FCC held an auction to allow private industry to gobble up the airspace. The sky above us is a public trust, and if the government doesn't regulate clean air and the electromagnetic spectrum, our airwaves can be used against us. So, a lof people actually supported this regulatory framework, myself included because handing over the lucrative "700 mHz" spectrum to digital services is a more efficient use of our limited airspace than old-fashioned analog TV. Leaving aside for today the issue of how weakly the government and industry have raised awareness among the poor and elderly about free TV going dark, you will notice signs at Goodwill warning you old TV's may become useless soon. Here's what happened: many of us thought the FCC would allow innovative new players to enter the market and create a nationwide wireless internet service that would compete with the cable companies and phone companies, bringing better internet access and lowering prices, Helping to Bridge the Digital Divide. Unfortunately the reality was the major phone and cable companies dominated the auction so Verizon, AT&T and others just got bigger. Keep in mind, most Americans have high-speed Internet access at their homes. But we have to choose between DSL provided by phone companies and Broadband provided by cable companies. This is a duopoly. Prices are very high, speeds are not in the top 10 in the world, and both deployment and capacity are weak compared to other industrialized nations.

4. Bringing it back to radio: 5 Min 
+getting a radio station started is very affordable. very little is stopping you from starting an unlicensed station. if you want information on that go to: freeradio.org Stephen Dunifer and Free Radio Berkeley are legendary, and he has great resources to get you started in microbroadcasting. for those of you curious about the latest Free Radio Olympia news, here is what was recently posted on the Kill Rock Stars email listserv: FRO has been off the air for over a month due to a situation (not the fcc) that was out its control.  they are about to go live by the end of the week on their same frequency 98.5.  during this downtime a bunch of new people got involved and there is going to be some awesome new shows on the air in the very near future. also a new webpage is coming. if the electromagnetic gods agree with the gear, wednesday or thursday fro will be back.

+as far as any kind of debate about the differences between unlicensed and licensed broadcasting i have one major reason why i'm working in legal non-commercial radio: Sustainability. KAOS has been broadcasting at Evergreen College for 35 years. Let's talk about the difference between LowPowerFM or LPFM and Full-Power Non-commercial stations. Here in Olympia you have KAOS which is licensed at 1100 watts and you have KOWA-lp which is licensed at 100 watts. One of the major differences between full power and LPFM, besides power and range, is how they are treated by the FCC. Write this word down: Encroachment. Community members in Davis, CA the best bike town in the USA to Portland's dismay, started KDRT-lp. They launched in 2004 but in 2007 a commercial station filed an application to move from their previous city of origin into the area. For the past 18 months they have been engaged in a legal battle to save their station, because LPFM are second-class radio citizens. When Spokane's community station KYRS was at risk of encroachment Washington's Senator Maria Cantwell saved them. This time around, according to Pete Tridish founder of Prometheus Radio Project, the LPFM support and advocacy group from Philly, "The unfortunate turmoil that KDRT-LP was subjected to when its frequency was undermined by a full-power station had a silver lining. While some smaller low-power stations were quickly intimidated by corporate lawyers who told them their channel was no longer theirs, KDRT's strong organization helped bring public attention to the plight of low-power groups having their stations taken." The FCC has at least provisionally changed some of its rules. The issue is adjacency. And I will conclude here, I think. Right now the laws Congress has in place state that you have to have three spots on the dial between you and the closest station. This is keeping 1000 new community stations off the air. The FCC has allowed a few groups to get around this, but is ultimately waiting for Congress to enact a new law allowing them to award new stations to non-profit groups around the country. Well, we've got a bill, its called the Local Community Radio Act, and it has passed out of the Senate Commerce Committee, and has 96 cosponsors last time I checked. I like to say this is one of the only things McCain and Obama agree upon. go to PrometheusRadio.org for more.

Boise Community Radio's strategic plan calls for full-power non-commercial FM setup costs of $150,000 and first year operations budget of $100,000.
According to Michael Brown the setup costs for an LPFM is about $25,000 and operations budget can be as low as $2000. 

Handouts:
NFCB- Full power cost
Jim Ellinger- Master Control Bare Bones & Michael Brown- Minimal Main Studio
Michael Brown- LPFM vs. fullpower fact sheet