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Listening choice is not the issue. Localism is. Terrestrial radio spectrul is licensed to the station owners to SERVE THE PUBLIC INTEREST in that area. This is the point. the whole reason for the FCC action is to make sure that some one doesn't "buy out" spectrum in a market, then just puts up a national repeater that could be done with satellite radio.

See ya
Tony

"However, Bradley does have a point that Christian radio stations are overrepresented on the non-commercial educational band (87.9-91.9 MHz). I don't think abusing the FCC to force college radio and NPR stations off the air is how Jesus would want the gospel spread."

I respectfully disagree and here's why.

I live right where the Portland, Oregon and the Seattle, Washington radio marketing areas come together. I live on a hill about 80 miles from Portland and 90 miles from Seattle. I have been studying the feasibility of building a Christian radio station that broadcasts to a 40 mile radius centered in Olympia, WA for several years. The reason I have been following through on that study is that there just isn't that much of a representation for Christian music in the area.

Forgive me for taking up so much space here but the following is a list of radio stations in the Seattle marketing area, each station's owner, and each station's format (sorted by format). This is as of 5/20/2008.

1330 AM - KGRG - Green River Community College - (College) Rock: Alternative
90.1 FM - KUPS - Green River Community College - (College) Rock: Alternative
90.9 FM - KVTI - Clover Park Technical College - (College) Rock: T40 Mainstream
91.3 FM - KBCS - Bellevue Community College - (College) Variety
89.3 FM - KASB - Bellevue School District - (High School) Rock: Alternative
88.9 FM - KMIH - Mercer Island School District - (High School) Rock: Dance
89.5 FM - KNHC - Seattle Public Schools - (High School) Rock: Dance
89.9 FM - KGHP - Peninsula School District - (High School) Variety
880 AM - KIXI - Sandusky Radio - Adult Standards
1300 AM - KKOL - Disney / ABC Radio - Children's
1050 AM - KBLE - Sacred Heart Radio - Christian: Catholic Ministries, Talk
1590 AM - KLFE - Salem Communications - Christian: Ministries, Talk
1490 AM - KBRO - Seattle Streaming Media LLC - Christian: Spanish
1560 AM - KZIZ - Seattle Medium - Christian: Urban Gospel
820 AM - KGNW - Salem Communications - Christian: Ministries, Talk
1460 AM - KARR - Family Radio - Christian: Ministries, Talk
105.3 FM - KCMS - Crista Ministries - Christian: Contemporary Christian Music
630 AM - KCIS - Crista Ministries - Christian: Music, Ministries
91.8 FM - KING - Classic Radio, Inc. - Classical
94.1 FM - KMPS - CBS Radio - Country
102.9 FM - KNBQ - Clear Channel - Country
100.7 FM - KKWF - Entercom - Country
98.9 FM - KWJZ - Sandusky Radio - Jazz
1450 AM - KWYZ - Radio Hancook, Inc. - Korean
1540 AM - KXPA - Multicultural Radio Broadcasting - Multicultural Radio
770 AM - KTTH - Bonneville - News and/or Talk
710 AM - KIRO - Bonneville / Entercom - News and/or Talk
1090 AM - KPTK - CBS Radio - News and/or Talk
1180 AM - KLAY - Clay Frank Huntington - News and/or Talk
1150 AM - KKNW - CNN Radio - News and/or Talk
570 AM - KVI - Fisher Communications - News and/or Talk
1000 AM - KOMO - Fisher Communications - News and/or Talk
1400 AM - KITZ - KITZ Radio, Inc. - News and/or Talk
90.7 FM - KSER - KSER Foundation - News and/or Talk
91.7 FM - KXOT - Public Radio Capital - NPR
94.9 FM - KUOW - University of Washington - NPR
88.5 FM - KPLU - Pacific Lutheran University - NPR, Jazz
99.3 FM - KDDS - Bustos Media - Regional Mexican
1210 AM - KTBK - Bustos Media - Regional Mexican
1360 AM - KKMO - Tron Do-run Intelli - Regional Mexican
107.7 FM - KNDD - Entercom - Rock: "Modern Rock"
103.7 FM - KMTT - Entercom - Rock: "Adult Alternative"
96.1 FM - KXXO - 3 Cities - Rock: "Adult Contemporary"
106.9 FM - KWRM - Sandusky Radio - Rock: "Adult Contemporary"
96.5 FM - KJAQ - CBS Radio - Rock: "Adult Hits"
90.3 FM - KEXP - University of Washington - Rock: "Alternative Rock", NPR
95.7 FM - KJR - Clear Channel - Rock: "Classic Hits"
92.9 FM - KISM - Saga Communications - Rock: "Classic Hits"
97.3 FM - KBSG - Bonneville - Rock: "Classic Hits"
97.7 FM - KFMY - South Sound Broadcasting - Rock: "Classic Hits"
102.5 FM - KZOK - CBS Radio - Rock: "Classic Rock"
104.9 FM - KFNK - Clear Channel - Rock: "Heavy Metal"
99.9 FM - KISW - Entercom - Rock: "Heavy Metal"
93.3 FM - KUBE - Clear Channel - Rock: "Rhythmic Adult Contemporary"
101.5 FM - KPLZ - Fisher Communications - Rock: "Rhythmic Adult Contemporary"
92.5 FM - KQMV - Sandusky Radio - Rock: "Rhythmic Adult Contemporary"
106.1 FM - KBKS - CBS Radio - Rock: "Top 40 Mainstream"
1420 AM - KRIZ - Seattle Medium - Rock: "Urban Contemporary"
1620 AM - KYIZ - Seattle Medium - Rock: "Urban Contemporary"
850 AM - KHHO - Clear Channel - Sports
950 AM - KJR - Clear Channel - Sports
1380 AM - KRKO - S-R Broadcasting - Sports

Now when you put all of that in a spreadsheet and sort it by owner and then sort it by format and study the results of each sort, I can draw a few different conclusions. Granted I am partial to Christian radio, but there is no way that I can draw the conclusion that Christian Radio is trying to crowd out NPR or the school stations. When I scan the dial, I get four Christian stations (one local, three satelator), one local college station, four NPR stations, four news stations, two Spanish stations, three country stations and too many rock stations to count!

Anyway, my responsive point is that NPR is far more alive and well than they let on. For the New York Times to take NPR's side that Christian Radio should be held at bay when competing for the opportunity to broadcast their point of view smells of hypocrisy to me. Each entity should be given equal opportunity to bid for and purchase the bandwidth that they would like to pursue. Personally, I don't care if NPR buys up all of Entercom's stations - but don't try to dissuade the opportunity for Christian radio to do the same. After all, are we talking about "equal rights" or "special rights?"

I didn't exactly want to spend my Tuesday night putting all of that together but I thought it necessary. Sorry I took so much space.

I understand what all of you are saying, but that's in your market, not necessarily else where.

In mine, it's simply over saturated and there's no more spectrum available.

We have universities, colleges in the area that can't apply for regular broadcast power licensing because there isn't any spectrum available. We have a new UC, they can't have a station. NPR coverage is very spotty, because there's no spectrum left.

God intends for all of us to respect and listen to one another. How can we, when Christian Radio has hoarded almost all of the spectrum?

Gene, the Seattle/Tacoma Metro has 19 Christian Stations, Portland 8 Christian Stations, Total: 27 Christian Stations in the shared markets, in both the 'Commercial' and 'Ed Band' (source: ChristianRadio.com). There may be more, and I'm sure there are, but I'm not familiar with the adjacent communities in relationship to the metro(s). With such saturation and status as Non-Profit/Charity/Church, evading taxes, these stations are, without question, for someone's profit. Otherwise, there just wouldn't be so many.

Regarding local market representation (vs Satellite/Repeater/Translator) services in the 'Education,' and 'Commercial' bands, an uneducated people are a hindrance and a danger to society; Ignorance is bliss.

Those of you who reside in the 'Bible Belt' are exposed to a broad variety of Christian music. Here, we're only given K-Love and Family Radio. After a while, it becomes completely redundant, boring, and uninspiring. Why? Because it is only 2 perspectives, served up on white bread (a reference to a lack of cultural diversity).

Furthermore, understand — not everyone is a Christian, and they do not share the same philosophy.

How many differing faiths and churches are there in the world? (rhetorical; more than one). K-Love and Family Radio both have specific theological agendas; consider they may not always be yours or mine.

The 'Ed Band' was created for diverse education, not just Christian. It's been abused, without question. It is clearly time to reexamine where we are and see if we can do better, for everyone's sake. After all, we live in a democracy... let's act like one.

No one is picking on Christian Radio... Simple fact, there are just too many redundancies for single service, servicing one demographical purpose, with no room for anyone else. And that runs completely counter to what we all believe in... Freedom of speech, expression, and religion.

This Is Disturbing Behavior - Is This Truly Christian?

GeorgeLV sited this article and it is a must read...

Religious and Public Stations Battle for Share of Radio Dial

The New York Times
By BLAINE HARDEN
Published: September 15, 2002

The Rev. Don Wildmon, founding chairman of a mushrooming network of Christian radio stations, does not like National Public Radio.

''He detests the news that the public gets through NPR and believes it is slanted from a distinctly liberal and secular perspective,'' said Patrick Vaughn, general counsel for Mr. Wildmon's American Family Radio.

Here in Lake Charles, American Family Radio has silenced what its boss detests.

It knocked two NPR affiliate stations off the local airwaves last year, transforming this southwest Louisiana community of 95,000 people into the most populous place in the country where ''All Things Considered'' cannot be heard.

In place of that program -- and ''Morning Edition,'' ''Car Talk'' and a local Cajun program called ''Bonjour Louisiana'' -- listeners now find ''Home School Heartbeat,'' ''The Phyllis Schlafly Report'' and the conservative evangelical musings of Mr. Wildmon, whose network broadcasts from Tupelo, Miss.

The Christian stations routed NPR in Lake Charles under a federal law that allows noncommercial broadcasters with licenses for full-power stations to push out those with weaker signals -- the equivalent of the varsity team kicking the freshmen out of the gym.

This is happening all over the country. The losers are so-called translator stations, low-budget operations that retransmit the signals of bigger, distant stations. The Federal Communications Commission considers them squatters on the far left side of the FM dial, and anyone who is granted a full-power license can legally run them out of town.

Religious broadcasters have done this to public radio stations in Oregon and Indiana, too, and many large-market public radio stations, like WBEZ in Chicago, complain that new noncommercial stations, most of them religious, are stepping on the signal at the edge of their transmission areas.

Stations are scrambling for these frequencies at a time of rapid growth in the national NPR audience and even faster growth in religious networks like American Family Radio. It owns 194 stations, has 18 affiliates and has applications for hundreds more pending with the F.C.C.

''The noncommercial band is getting very, very crowded, and there just is not a lot of room for new stations in desirable areas,'' said Robert Unmacht, a Nashville-based radio consultant. ''The competition is fierce, and the Reverend Wildmon is especially hard-nosed. His people are very good at what they do.''

Public radio is belatedly fighting back. Last year, a national nonprofit organization was set up to fend off the new hardball competition. Called Public Radio Capital, it raises money through tax-exempt bonds to help local public stations end their reliance on translators and buy full-power stations.

Public Radio Capital, created with seed money from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a federally financed agency, has since helped public radio stations in Chicago, Denver, Nashville and Tacoma, Wash., to outbid their competition.

In Tacoma, the organization bought a noncommercial FM station from a local technical college for $5 million. Money to operate the station will come from major public stations in the area.

''Until recently, public radio had been completely dependent on local initiative to protect its signal and acquire new stations,'' said Marc Hand, the managing director of Public Radio Capital, which is based in Denver. ''A lot of times, local radio is not aware of how to compete. We are stepping in when we can to help.''

For many of NPR's 273 member organizations, the legal and administrative costs of competing against religious broadcasters are sponging up millions of dollars that they might otherwise spend on news and other local programming.

''It is, like, nuts,'' said Torey Malatia, general manager of WBEZ, which has the country's third-largest public-radio audience. ''Starting about four years ago we realized that if we didn't learn how to fight back, our coverage area would effectively shrink by a million people.''

As NPR itself acknowledges, religious broadcasters are often far better prepared for the radio wars. ''They have employed a long-term strategy, where we have failed to do that,'' said Dana Davis Rehm, vice president for member and program services at NPR in Washington.

The two public radio stations heard in Lake Charles, for example, were caught napping as American Family Radio maneuvered over several years to bump them off the air.

Those college-based public stations, one in nearby Lafayette, La., and the other just across the Louisiana border in Beaumont, Tex., could have applied for F.C.C. licenses granting them the right to build and operate full-power stations in Lake Charles. Instead, like many public radio stations, they chose to operate on the cheap, using translators.

Translator-based stations have given American Family Radio the opening it needs to grab space on the noncommercial FM dial between 88.1 and 91.9 megahertz.

As early as 1997, the network filed applications with the F.C.C., declaring its intention to build two full-powered stations that would step on the two translator-based public radio signals in Lake Charles. But KRVS in Lafayette and KVLU in Beaumont did not react and apply for full-power stations of their own.

''NPR people should really be embarrassed,'' said Mr. Vaughn, the lawyer for American Family Radio. ''They knew for years that we had applied, and they didn't do anything about it. NPR people were drawing money out of the community in the form of pledge support, but they didn't bother to apply for a full-power station. It is not our fault.''

Religious broadcasters are snapping up most noncommercial stations when they come on the market. In the first two quarters of 2002, there were 14 sales of noncommercial stations. Of those, public radio groups bought only two.

Competition between religious and public radio stations is not always acrimonious. Competitors have amicably divided a contested frequency in some cases by agreeing to use directional antennas that limit interference. Here in Lake Charles, local rage at the loss of all access to NPR has fueled a yearlong effort to bring back public radio.

''What Wildmon has done to the public broadcasting band is try to eat it all,'' said Robert W. McGill, 74, an NPR devotee and a retired chemist.

Mr. Wildmon, who became well known in the 1970's when he led national campaigns against sex and violence on television, declined to be interviewed.

Mr. Vaughn, the general counsel for American Family Radio, acknowledged that the network was aware that its two new stations would be ''blocking out'' public radio in Lake Charles. But, he added, ''We were in no way targeting it.''

Like many religious networks, American Family Radio has little local content; its stations rely instead on satellite feeds from the home office in Tupelo. Radio industry analysts agree that public stations usually carry more local news and offer programs more closely tied to the communities they serve.

More than a year after American Family Radio went on the air here, its two stations (one carries what it calls Christian contemporary programming, the other what it calls traditional gospel) have just one local employee. Elizabeth Arrington, 21, the station manager, works in a remodeled house on the edge of town. Its broadcast studio is an empty room, although Mrs. Arrington said radio equipment would arrive soon.

In all likelihood, before American Family Radio gets around to local broadcasts in Lake Charles, public radio will be back on the air here.

A $309,000 antenna, nearing completion about 30 miles west of town, will let people here pick up KRVS, the NPR affiliate in Lafayette.

Sixty percent of the money for the antenna came from a Commerce Department grant. The rest came from the city and parish governments, as well as from private local contributions. The primary local mover in raising money was Carolyn Woosley, a financial planner and playwright.

''We lost access to a treasure that we all pay for with our tax dollars, and we got mad,'' Ms. Woosley said. ''We decided you don't have to like NPR in this town, but you are going to have to make room for it.''


Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

Christian Radio stations must be reduced to allow other sources of educational programming (universities, colleges, bilingual, etc.) and for the environment's sake.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't say reduce, but for crying out loud, limit it please! Reach FM (ministry of Calvary Chapel in Fort Lauderdale, FL) has dozens of translators in my area that could've been BETTER used for low power FM. But instead, wasted energy.