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low-power FM station for Hurricane Katrina evacuees? NOPE.
HOUSTON — KAMP 95.3 “Evacuation Radio Services”, a low-power FM station for Hurricane Katrina evacuees housed at the Astrodome, is still stuck in limbo. Although the group trying to organize the station has wrangled three 90-day licenses from the FCC, as of Thursday, they were being stymied by a handful of temporary administrators content to maintain radio silence.
http://www.wired.com/news/hurricane/0,2904,68806,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_4
Total posts : 45366Good NEWS! KAMP is online!
http://www.evacuationradioservices.org/ reports:
We are providing low-power FM broadcasting inside the Astrodome in Houston, Texas for people displaced from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
On-Air!
Submitted by lizs on Wed, 2005-09-14 00:35.We went on air from the parking lot at 12 noon CST today (9/13/05), with content, messages of support, and even live music from some evacuees. We’ll keep you posted here with any new developments!
Total posts : 45366I have to say this is a awsome awsome thing..
Congratulations! and keep up the good work!
Total posts : 45366but, yes, it is great what they’ve done!
Total posts : 45366Here’s a link to some photos of the KAMP station. Not Part 15, but still interesting.
[url]http://houston.indymedia.org/news/2005/09/43351.php[/url]
Total posts : 45366It may not be part 15 but it does show how prople can use the airwaves for good and just helps us part 15ers push our case for lesser restrictions..
Total posts : 45366Hi everyone,
Just a quick note to community broadcasters. This is the last day to comment on LPFM licensing from the FCC.
Major broadcasters are trying to stifle the growth of community based LPFM. And several religious broadcasters see it as competition to their satellite programmed translators.
Unfortunately the NAB destroyed any chance of commercial LPFM years ago, but now they are trying to keep local community LPFM stations off the air.
Here’s a link [url]http://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/comsrch_v2.cgi[/url]
to leave comments to the FCC. Your comments will be available to the public.I know this is a bit off the subject of part 15, but I’m sure a lot of us would love the chance to have a LPFM in our communities.
These are my comments. You’ll notice a lot of my remarks also apply to Part 15 broadcasters. We provide a service that commerical broadcasters simply do not do.
Recent events have shown that a revision of the LPFM rules and opening of new LPFM application windows would greatly serve a public need.
In times of emergency, such as we have seen with Hurricane Katrina, LPFM is the most logical way to reach local communities with information. Many full power broadcasters were unable to stay on the air – through no fault of their own. Those that did manage to continue broadcasting could not effectively meet the information needs of local communities due to the volume of information. And many continued with generic satellite delivered programming not related to the local situation at all.
LPFM has the advantage in several ways: Low power consumption makes LPFM transmitters ideal for emergency power use, even using battery, solar, or wind power. If an antenna or supporting structure was damaged it is comparatively easy to construct a temporary antenna or structure to continue broadcasting after a disaster. Because LPFM coverage is of a local nature, local government officials can easily broadcast emergency information to the local public in a timely manner. If the public’s only source of information is battery powered, they don’t have a lot of time to listen to regional stations waiting for an occasional reference to their situation. Using limited FM frequencies for translator stations does not serve the local public for information or in times of emergency.
Deregulation has almost eliminated local content from commercial broadcast stations. In our area local broadcasters only provide a bit over 4 hours of “live” programming per day and only a small portion of that is of local content. Even when a community group offered to buy airtime for local programming they were flatly turned down. The diversity of radio programming has been greatly diminished. LPFM is the one hope of putting community back in broadcasting. Worse still is the fact that in the last 18 months there were two outbreaks of tornadoes in our area. Our “local” station was off the air both times not related to the weather. My point is that many commercial broadcasters are not truly interested in serving their communities. Their opposition to LPFM is, in my opinion, practically an admission that they are failing to provide programming aimed at local communities. It would appear they fear the competition for audience, not any interference issues (which have been soundly disproved).
Applications for power increases by existing broadcasters should be set aside when in conflict with LPFM applicants and existing stations. In addition the FCC should consider freezing any applications for power increases/frequency changes from full power broadcasters until LPFM has had a suitable opportunity for development. This is necessary for the FCC to maximize the diversity, usage, and accessibility of the public airwaves. LPFM also deserves protection from distant high power stations that obviously cannot provide airtime access to local communties.
LPFM should be primary to translator stations who, compared to a locally originated service, fail to serve a community in any way other than being a utility customer. The comments of Edgewater Broadcasting and Radio Assist in which they assert that FM translators do not take away frequencies for local LPFM broadcasting is ludicrous. There simply is no basis for such a statement other than self-serving spectrum grabbing. There is a finite number of frequencies. Local broadcasting should take precedence over countless translators spewing distant programming with no localism.
LPFM provides the best usage of spectrum. It does not interfere with existing broadcasters. It has numerous advantages in emergency situations. LPFM would provide vastly improved access to the airwaves by the public.
More information is available at [url]http://www.prometheusradio.org[/url]
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