************************************************************** Educational CyberPlayGround http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ ************************************************************** Net Happenings Mailing List Net Happenings Service <http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Community/Subguidelines.html> Subscribe | Unsubscribe | Change Email Preferences - <http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Community/NetHappenings.html> ************************************************************** National Children's Folksong Repository www.edu-cyberpg.com Integrate Literacy, Music, and Technology into the classroom. ************************************************************** Suggested Resources: Fair Use, Copyright, Copyleft, IP http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Internet/1copyright.html and FAIR USE -- K-12 EDUCATION AND IP http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Internet/copyrightleft2.html Campaign for Low Power FM - tell your senator Greetings from the Prometheus Radio Project! Below, please find a report from our Technical Director, Pete Tridish, on Prometheus' and allies' visits to the halls of power in Washington, DC. This note should give you some good background on how -you- can push for Low Power FM in your Senators' office, with your letters, phonecalls, and visits! The time to push is now. You can find all the tools you'll need to make a call, plan a visit, or start a letter-writing campaign by calling Jaclyn Ford or Pete Tridish at 215.727.9620. You can also find these tools online, at http://www.prometheusradio.org/freeairwaves.shtml -- thanks for reading, and fighting to bring Low Power FM radio to thousands more communities across the United States! * * * * * In late February, the FCC released a report to Congress that recommended that Low Power FM radio get a second chance in the major American cities. A loose coalition of allied Low Power FM radio advocates spent several intensive days lobbying the Commerce Committee. These groups included the Prometheus Radio Project, Free Press, the Media Access Project, the United Church of Christ, the National Catholic Conference, and the Future of Music Coalition. Representatives of the various groups -- plus Low Power FM radio station operators John Gerbracht of the Edinboro Early School and Mike Shay of the South Arundel Citizens for Responsible Development, visited dozens of offices over the past weeks. On February 20th, the FCC made its recommendations to Congress to remove the third-adjacency protection standard -- that unnecessary buffer which keeps America's cities from building Low Power FM radio stations. That same day, Senator John McCain announced he would introduce a bill that would reverse the Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act of 2000, the bill that put the buffer in place. If passed, this legislation will allow thousands more LPFMs on the air, particularly in metropolitan areas. The bill is expected to be introduced within the coming weeks, making now the decisive time to contact the Senate. On the meetings themselves -- the meetings at the Senate were really very promising. They were actually pretty fun, depending how broadly you like to stretch that term. Most Senate staff are young and thoughtful and open-minded, and especially enjoy hearing stories about the new stations. Low Power FM radio advocates who visit their Senators with a positive story to tell -- or an amazing dream of what they could do with a station -- serve as a welcome break from all the people that come to them with terrible problems and self-interested business requests. Several of the Senate staffers, when presented with the independent findings of the MITRE Corporation vindicating LPFM, indicated that they thought that the Senator may be interested in changing sides on the issue and even co-sponsoring legislation! We were met with enthusiastic interest from Republicans and Democrats alike, many of whom were completely unfamiliar with the issue. One of the most exciting parts of the effort is that former FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani, who is now the director of the Communications Office of the United Church of Christ, also joined several of the meetings to lend her support. Tristani was very supportive of Low Power FM during her tenure as a commissioner. Now that the issue of interference has been put to bed by the MITRE study and the FCC, our representatives must be made to understand the ways in which LPFM affects community, public channels of discussion and the democratic worth of our institutions. For more information on how to lobby for low power FM call the Prometheus office (215-727-9620) and ask to speak to Jaclyn Ford. She can coach you and help you set up meetings, in DC or in your home district. Karen Ellis <>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<> EDUCATIONAL CYBERPLAYGROUND http://www.edu-cyberpg.com Net Happenings, K12 Newsletters, Network Newsletters http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Community/index.html FREE EDUCATION VENDOR DIRECTORY LISTING http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Directory/default.asp HOT LIST OF SCHOOLS ONLINE http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/Schools/default.asp Educational CyberPlayGround Services http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/PS/Home_Products.html <>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>~~~~~<>