Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
SENATE
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

By Ms. CANTWELL:

S. 2540. A bill to protect educational FM radio stations providing public service broadcasting from commercial encroachment; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I stand today to offer a bill to protect educational radio stations.

Broadcaster Linda Ellerbee has compared radio to a national campfire: a place where a variety of voices bring us stories, news, opinion, culture and entertainment. But it seems these days that those representing the biggest business interests have the best seats at that campfire.

Current regulations allow commercial broadcasters to move into the spaces of some, lower-powered educational stations.

Last year the FCC ordered an educational station at a high school in Pennsylvania to be closed because a commercial broadcaster wanted to move into that space. That high school station had been serving the students and the community in Havertown, PA for fifty years. But no more. The high school station's voice was silenced. And that same FCC order also closed a radio station operated by a school district in Princeton, NJ. Both stations lost their licenses so a commercial broadcaster could get a frequency closer to the very profitable radio market in Philadelphia.

In my State of Washington, a high school station that has served a Seattle community for 35 years is now threatened with closure. That's because a commercial broadcaster located in another State wants to relocate to a larger city to increase its profits at the expense of the students of Mercer Island High School and the community the station serves. And in this case, the school's station also serves an important tool in the lives of those working in the local music community. The station focuses on introducing new and local bands to the airways. These artists are frequently later picked up for airplay by other radio stations. Few stations across the U.S. perform this role in the music industry. No other station serves this role so well in the Seattle music community.

If the FCC allows this move, it could be worth millions to the commercial broadcasters. But what is the cost to the local community when this voice is silenced? What is the educational cost to the students at this high school? What benefits and experiences will they be losing in the future?

This is a classic example of commercial interests trumping the public service interest in preserving local educational broadcasters. These small public service stations usually don't have anyone to stand up for them. Since the 1970's, we have seen more than a hundred of these stations disappear, to be replaced by larger, often national broadcasters, with little if any connection to the local community.

The examples I've given you here today are not the only ones. Radio stations run by universities in Pittsburgh and North Carolina are also vulnerable to similar attempts.

This is why I am introducing the Educational Radio Protection Act.

My legislation is very simple: educational stations that are able to meet certain qualifying standards, similar to the requirements for primary, Class A, stations on FM radio, will be given the same protected status that these primary stations receive.

This is an important measure to protect community broadcasters. And the bottom line is that commercial broadcasters won't be able to bump these educational stations off the radio dial.

I thank you for the time today to discuss an issue that really is a cornerstone of democracy. For only in a democracy are the voices of the many heard to bring about a functioning government. I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and yield the floor.