Radio Free Nashville is lucky to broadcast incredible local content into the greater Nashville community.  Do you want new community radio stations in your neighborhoods?  You can act now to bring community radio to your neck of the woods by clicking here:

http://freepress.net/lpfm

Your voice could mean the difference between thousands more community radio stations, or years more silence from locals in our cities and towns.

In 2000, the Federal Communications Commission established the Low Power FM (LPFM) radio service -- noncommercial, local, low-powered radio that schools, community groups, churches, and any nonprofit could use to broadcast local information to their local community. There are about 800 LPFM stations on air all across the country – but groups in many communities, and most big cities, who applied for these great new stations all lost out. Why? 

Because the big broadcasters -- represented by the National Association of Broadcasters -- convinced Congress to limit low power FM to the most rural areas, claiming that little LPFM stations would interfere with big radio stations in big cities -- making the radio dial unlistenable.

In the law that Congress passed (the Radio Broadcast Preservation Act of 2000), they also asked the FCC to study whether or not LPFM stations would really cause interference. The FCC hired a big, independent engineering firm -- the MITRE corporation -- to study this potential interference -- and $2.2 million later, they proved that LPFM was a great idea in big cities as well as small communities.

Congressmembers Lee Terry and Mike Doyle, along with Senators John McCain and Maria Cantwell, are pushing legislation that would bring LPFM to most of America's big cities and to thousands of other small communities. The bills are doing great -- lots of cosponsors and a unanimous vote of support in the Senate Commerce Committee -- but they need your help!
Can you educate your legislators and let them know that new community radio in your town is one great step to building and strengthening communities across the nation?  Click here to get started:  http://www.freepress.net/lpfm

Or if you want to call right now, you can find your legislators' information at http://www.congress.org, or by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202.224.3121. 

And when the staff for the office picks up, you can say something like: 

"Hi, my name is ______________, and I'm a constituent of Congressman ______ and Senators ________ and _______, living at this address: _____________.  We need access to more local media to support churches, workers, families, and communities across our area and across the state. I ask my legislators to support and cosponsor the Local Community Radio Act of 2007 -- House Bill 2802, and Senate Bill 1675 -- which would bring community radio to my town. Thank you!" 

Thanks for making this call. You can review some of the legislative history of LPFM here: http://prometheusradio.org/take_action/lpfm_in_congress/ -- and write the LPFM experts of the Prometheus Radio Project at info@prometheusradio.org.         

Forward this page to anyone who wants a new community radio station in and around your community and beyond! 

We'll see you on the air.