-Caveat Lector- ---------------------------- Slam The NAB http://www.sfbg.com/nessie/27.html * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * IMC RADIO NOW BROADCASTING LIVE! from San Francisco Independent Media Center ... covering the protests and direct action at the National Association of Broadcasters conference. Because why the hell would you listen to NAB corporate radio for coverage of NAB protests? Go to <http://www.indybay.org/> to listen! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Overview As Members of the National Association of Broadcasters began their three day national conventional in San Francisco yesterday, activists from all over the country began descending on the city to protest the corporate commercialism that the NAB represents, it's misrepresentation of crucial issues such as homelessness, immigration, and globalization, and its aggressive campaign against Low Power FM. While the NAB claims that microradio interferes with their "business;" community groups claim that the NAB interferes with our democracy. As activists confront NAB convention-goers, the IMC will be there to give voice to the growing movement of people who insist that public access to the airwaves is a non-negotiable demand in a democratic society. ---- Moving The Media Revolution Forward IMC's Sheri Herndon Interviews Robert W. McChesney <http://www.la-indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=3493> "I think we need to demand things from commercial broadcasters for the use of the spectrum, and the things I would immediately say we should demand of them is that they not run any television paid political ads which basically urinate on our political culture...we should take all the commercials off television news as well and divest those from the owners and make them the property of collectives of journalists...." ---- Interview With Stephen Dunifer by John Tarleton <http://www.cybertraveler.org/dunifer.html> Stephen Dunifer launched Free Radio Berkeley in 1993 with a transmitter the size of a brick. In this interview, he reflects on efforts to build a grassroots movement to free the media from corporate control. ---- Ongoing coverage at: <http://www.indybay.org/> <http://www.sf.indymedia.org/> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Protesters Try to NAB Spotlight <http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,38943,00.html> by John Gartner, Sep. 21, 2000 SAN FRANCISCO -- Radio broadcasters are meeting to figure out how best to expand their reach into the new digital frontier, but not everyone is sending out the welcome wagon. Protestors here at the National Association of Broadcasters Radio Show fear that commercial broadcasters will limit choice and prevent community voices on the digital airwaves in much the same way they control today's media. "Ever since the NAB was founded 78 years ago, they have been acting against the public interest," said Steve Rendall, senior analyst for Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, a media watchdog group that co-sponsored Thursday's protest. "At every turn NAB is strategically between the people and their property: the airwaves," Rendall said. While Colin Powell was addressing the NAB audience inside, the "National Association of Brainwashers" held its own mock press conference outside the Moscone Center. The group was protesting the consolidation of the media since the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which loosened regulations on media acquisitions within geographic markets. According to FAIR, more than 4,000 radio stations have been acquired since the legislation was passed, and minority ownership of radio stations has declined by 9 percent. The faux executives and celebrity impersonators -- including CEO "Rob R. Baron" and talk-show host "Howard Sternum", were promoting the "all commercials, all the time" network that stresses homogeneity and is subservient to corporations. "I'm on 554 stations so far, and I should be on every one of them," said the shock-jock impersonator, who repeatedly mocked Howard Stern's proclivity for profanity by saying "tits" and "penis" at every opportunity. The parody players announced that they were merging the NAB with the NRA so that "if you don't listen to Howard, we can put a gun to your head." Andrea Buffa, executive director of the Media Alliance, which also participated in the protest, said the NAB is "like the NRA, except they want to kill off free speech." Lampooning the influence of large corporations on broadcasters, the group also showed fake commercial spots for Nike ("Because your kids shouldn't have to make their own shoes"), Gap ("We put the sweat in sweatshops") and Apple Computer ("Think just like us"). Rendall said the protest was necessary to bring the public's attention to three major issues: the NAB's threat to the Federal Communications Commission's recent decision to begin licensing low-power FM stations, campaign finance reform, and broadcasters' responsibility to serve the public interest. Rendall said that the NAB has been lobbying Congress to reverse the FCC's January decision to grant first-time licenses to FM micro-broadcasters to produce non-commercial programming using generating stations of 100 watts or less. The NAB has argued that these stations would interfere with the sound quality of the commercial broadcasts. "Media companies are major contributors to political parties, and they are the ones who control how the candidates are covered," said Sam Husseini, communications director for the Institute for Public Accuracy. Husseini said that broadcasters need to live up to their public interest requirements and to serve the proper role of journalists in society. Earlier in the week, the Media Alliance promoted the protest as being in the spirit of the recent World Trade Organization and Republican and Democratic National Conventions protests. San Francisco police were out in force to ensure that the protest did not follow a similar course of violence, and had dozens of officers on had to monitor the mostly young crowd of about 50. Rendall said most people are too young to appreciate what open airwaves would be like because they haven't been free for nearly 80 years. "You can't miss what you've never had," he said. Rendall said that up until the 1920s, the airwaves were filled with mom-and-pop organizations that broadcast commercial-free content. Rendall said the NAB was strategic in lobbying Congress to defeat 1934's Wagner-Hatfield Act, which would have given 25 percent of the radio spectrum to educational and nonprofit organizations. Instead, Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1934, which did not allocate a percentage of the spectrum for nonprofits; commercial broadcasters instead were required to address public issues themselves "by serving the interest, convenience, and necessity of the American public." Rendall said that the earlier laws and generous licensing arrangements with broadcasters would be equivalent today to "turning Yosemite over to (paper-production company) Weyerhauser for free, and without restriction." Rendall said that to help remedy NAB's undue influence, all commercial advertisements should be taxed, and that 20 to 25 percent of the airwaves should be returned to the public. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Analysts Available on National Association of Broadcasters Institute for Public Accuracy 915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045 (202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (415) 552-5378; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167 ---- Friday, September 22, 2000 The National Association of Broadcasters, which lobbies for the commercial broadcast industry, is holding its annual radio convention in San Francisco through September 23 (see: <http://www.nab.org>). Nonviolent protests are planned (see: <http://www.mediademocracynow.org>). These analysts are available for interviews: ROBERT McCHESNEY, [EMAIL PROTECTED], <http://www.robertmcchesney.com>. Professor at the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois and author of "Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times," McChesney said today: "The NAB is arguably the single most anti-democratic force in the U.S. today. It opposes campaign finance reform -- broadcasters have little incentive to cover candidates because it is in their interest to force them to buy TV time. It is sustained by massive corporate welfare, such as the giveaway of the digital TV spectrum. They carpet bomb us with advertising and provide us with broadcast journalism obsessed with celebrity, trivia and the bottom line. As part of the massive Telecommunications Act of 1996, the NAB raised the number of radio stations a company could own from 28 nationally to unlimited. Since then, over half the U.S. radio stations have been sold and the field is now dominated by a few giants in non-competitive markets." JANINE JACKSON, [EMAIL PROTECTED], <http://www.fair.org/nab.html>. Program director for Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting, Jackson said today: "We give corporate broadcasters almost unlimited control over a precious public resource -- our airwaves. What do they give us in return? Infomercials, narrow political debate and commercials on kids' TV. A pair of recent studies found that local public affairs made up less than 0.5 percent of the fare offered by commercial broadcasters. Thirty-five percent of the stations surveyed had no local news and 25 percent had no local public affairs. Minority ownership has declined 9 percent in the two years following the Telecommunications Act." ANDREA BUFFA, [EMAIL PROTECTED], <http://www.media-alliance.org>. Executive director of Media Alliance, Buffa said today: "Four corporations control 80 percent of the radio market here in San Francisco, and none of them are based here. That's a situation that's going on all over the country. The NAB swindled the U.S. taxpayers out of the digital TV spectrum -- estimated at $70 billion_. We want 50 percent of digital radio for non-commercial, local programming. The airwaves should be used for the public interest. Working journalists should be allowed to flourish." CHARLES LEWIS, [EMAIL PROTECTED], <http://www.public-i.net/commentary_01_083000.htm>. Founder and executive director of the Center for Public Integrity, which recently released the report "Off The Record: What Media Corporations Don't Tell You About Their Legislative Agendas," Lewis said today: "From 1996 through 1998, the NAB and five media outlets...cumulatively spent nearly $11 million to defeat a dozen campaign finance bills mandating free airtime for political candidates. Since 1996, the 50 largest media companies and four of their trade associations have spent $111.3 million to lobby Congress and the executive branch of the government." Lewis can be contacted via Helen Sanderson. LOUIS HIKEN, [EMAIL PROTECTED], <http://www.nlgcdc.org>, <http://www.freeradio.org>. Attorney for Free Radio Berkeley and a member of the National Lawyers Guild Committee for Democratic Communications, Hiken said today: "The NAB is using its lobbying might trying to squash low power radio, which would allow local civic groups to reach their communities." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gen. Powell inspires amid war of airwaves Opens broadcasters' event while community radio activists protest <http://examiner.com/000921/0921nab.html> By Eric Brazil Gen. Colin Powell furnished the inspiration and community radio advocates the controversy for the National Association of Broadcasters kickoff session Thursday at Moscone Center. While the retired Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman and Gulf War commander made a pitch for community, civility and stepping up to the challenge of change, NAB's chief executive and his microbroadcasting adversaries lobbed rhetorical shrapnel at each other. Powell, who is said to be under consideration for a cabinet post if Texas Gov. George W. Bush is elected president, is on the lecture circuit almost full time. He also is president of America's Promise Alliance for Youth and a leader in the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Powell's prescription for youth is adult mentoring, safe places, adequate health care and a shot of compulsory volunteer service work in high school. For the rest of us, a little more courtesy wouldn't hurt, he said, nor would trying to cultivate the feeling of American family that he detected among his Gulf War troops. As for change, Powell said his mind-set had to be rejiggered when the Cold War ended. He had an epiphany when he saw Mikhail Gorbachev, who instituted reform in the former Soviet Union, in a TV commercial. "The former head of the Evil Empire is shilling for Pizza Hut. Is capitalism great or what," he said. And he's also been prodded by the need to keep au courant with his grandsons, ages 11 and 6. "I'm an old analog guy, but they're both digitally literate," he said. While NAB delegates were listening to Powell, the nation's microbroadcasters operators of 100-watt or less FM stations and their supporters, who have converged on San Francisco, were opening a "Slam the NAB" counter-convention. They held a mock news conference in front of Moscone Center, featuring speakers parodying shock-jock Howard Stern and NAB president Edward O. Fritts amid a grove of placards denouncing "Nationally Advertised Brainwashers." Microbroadcasters are angry with the NAB for trying to kill the FCC's plan to license hundreds of new low-power FM stations. And in an open letter Thursday to NAB's Fritts, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) director Janine Jackson chided the organization for "damage to radio diversity" and fostering "corporate control of our airwaves." The letter also was signed by former UC Berkeley journalism school dean Ben Bagdikian, MIT Professor and author Noam Chomsky and several other supporters of community-based, non-commercial FM radio. There have been more than 1,000 applications for low-power FM licenses since the FCC opened the process last spring. In an address to convention delegates, Fritts criticized the FCC for a "bonehead decision" to issue the licenses and said, "I cannot understand introducing more interference on the FM dial....Additional static is bad for listeners." NAB-backed legislation that would gut the FCC program has passed the House but has not been voted on in the Senate. Fritts urged delegates to throw their support behind a new bill by Sen. Rob Grams, R-Minn. It would establish experimental programs in nine markets to determine whether the insertion of 100-watt or less FM stations into dial slots two channels away from existing stations would cause harmful interference. "It's a delaying tactic more than anything," said Michael Bennett of the Alliance for Community Media in Washington. -------------------------------------------------- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. 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