THE PUBLIC RADIO UN-PLEDGE DRIVE
Main Page The Latest News Radio Links Corp and Gov't Activist / Legal	TAKE THE UN-PLEDGE! National Public Radio appears to be continuing with its efforts (along with the NAB) to stop public access to the public airwaves by killing Low-Power FM (LPFM). What do you think about this? Are you upset and disgusted? Shocked? Not surprised at all? Take the un-pledge this year with your Public Radio station! Americans for Radio Diversity (ARD) and the co-sponsors listed below will be sponsoring a Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) un-pledge drive starting Nov. 10th 2000. To kick off the drive there will be a rally in front of the MPR offices in St. Paul at 5pm that day. During the un-pledge drive we will be encouraging all past and current financial supporters (both individuals and businesses) of Minnesota Public Radio to withhold their donations in protest of MPR's continued efforts to overturn the FCC's creation of a Low-Power FM radio service. MPR, along with National Public Radio and the National Association of Broadcasters, has fought against LPFM with a series of disingenuous arguments about interference while ignoring numerous examples of just such a service peacefully coexisting with current stations. By opposing LPFM they are attempting to keep local broadcasters off the air, and preserve the duopoly they and large corporations have on the nation's airwaves. This is an act unworthy of an organization itself formed to promote the public interest. The members of the organizations listed below do not relish taking this action against MPR. Many of us enjoy MPR's programming and have donated money to them in the past. We fought for them in 1995 when a Republican congress threatened to cut their funding and again in 1998 when they were criticized by Governor Ventura. We are very disappointed that MPR has now turned its back on its original mission to serve the public interest and seems to be operating like any other for-profit station trying to protect its market share. Un-Pledge Drive Sponsors: Beat Radio - http://beatworld.com Media Alliance - http://media-alliance.org Microradio Implementation Project - http://microradio.org Prometheus Radio Project - http://prometheus.tao.ca If you organize an un-pledge drive in your area, please let us know about it! Link a banner or badge on your site back to ARD (http://www.radiodiversity.com) and show your support for the un-pledge drive here or in your state. You are free to download these to your own site. FUD* FROM NAB The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is fighting against the low-power movement and they are particularly well-funded. In just the past six years, the NAB has contributed over $2.19 million dollars to elected officials. Not only that, but they have been resorting to misleading tests and apparent tampering. It is crucial that you, the citizens of this country, make your voices heard. These are PUBLIC airwaves and should have usage dictated BY and FOR the public. Want to see what kind of business the NAB is up to? Recently they have trotted out arguments of interference to the Talking Book Services for the Blind that some National Public Radio stations carry. They claim that LPFM would destroy these important services for the blind. Signals for this service are broadcast on the subcarrier signal of the host station and are many times weaker than the main broadcast. It is necessary to get a special radio to receive the subcarrier signal. The most interference comes from the host signal itself! The NAB has been rallying large amounts of support through the distribution of a fraudulent "interference simulation" audio CD -- a CD containing a computer-created sample that won't ever occur in the real world! Here's the FCC explanation regarding this CD and other false interference claims. Listen to the mp3 file of the audio CD (9 megs) they distributed around Capitol Hill. They simply took two pre-recorded audio files and mixed them together on a computer to demonstrate how LPFM would work. Technically inclined people were outraged -- FM radio doesn't work this way. Their "example" was a complete fraud! Prior to this their argument was that LPFM would cause interference to air traffic controllers and airplanes -- jumbo jets would fall from the sky and communication would be destroyed! If a 100,000 watt full-power station doesn't interfere, how would a tiny 100 watt station? Not likely to happen in this world. Take a look through this anti-Low Power document (pdf file) they sent to their members. Or take a look at their webcast from their 1999 national convention. Mysteriously enough, the video/audio have been tampered with at exactly the moment FCC Chief Kennard discusses LPFM. * Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt NOTE: APPLICATION FORMS ARE NOW AVAILABLE FOR LPFM. CHECK THE FCC SITE FOR APPLICATION WINDOWS IN YOUR AREA. Over 1200 groups have filed applications in the first 20 states!

.