[Editor's note: You can normally find Dave's posts on media here on Tuesdays, but since this was primary week, we interrupted our regularly scheduled blog posting to bring you some articles about the primary and results.  Dave will be back in his regular slot next Tuesday, so please tune in.]

And I don’t have any particular problem with a conversation like that on the radio, provided I could turn on some countervailing  programming. And that is where the problem lies. I do not know all the radio stations in Iowa or Des Moines. But as far as I know there is but a few lonely shows which must buy air time to get their viewpoint out there.

So this is where Lewis Powell’s memo has led us. Balance on the nation’s airwaves (that are owned by the people) is pretty much non-existent. If you want to find a view that doesn’t toe the prevailing right wing line, you must seek them out. And for the most part that must be done online.

This is the third election year in a row that I have bemoaned our lack of access to alternative views easily accessible on TV, radio or print media.  I have no desire to bemoan this imbalance much longer. We will not be able to stage a revolution and take back half of the media, but we can begin to build ourselves some homes on the airwaves.

The House last December passed the Local Community Radio Act.  The Senate is of course backed up, but I think we can expect some action on this bill before the end of the year, probably December.

This Act will open up the FM dial for low power transmissions. Stations can be applied for by non-profit community groups that have been in existence for 2 years or more and have actual roots in the community. Last week I linked to some articles on the Prometheus radio website. I will link to those again. Let me say that since the bill has not as yet passed we do not know for sure what the criteria will be that the FCC sets. We can speculate based on previous licensing windows. A two year non-profit status with roots in the community seems to be a given.

prometheusradio.org/fcc-licensing

prometheusradio.org/startup_costs

Under the ‘station support’ and ‘library’ buttons in the banner you will find several more articles to help you get started. Topics include fund raising, programming and technical questions.

And one way a group could get started TOMORROW is via the internet. More on that next week. I know I promised to end this week, but we really need to have an action plan. I will try to suggest something next week, but as the old saying goes, “All of us is smarter than one of us.”

Collectively, I think we can come up with a plan and get moving. 

Getting Our Message Out: Fighting Fire with FM (and Net Neutrality)

The Great Surprise – The Telecommunications Act of 1996

The Plane Facts About Media: What I Learned While in Flight

A Brief History of Media Consolidation