But make no mistake who the real villain was. Listen to Peter Franck of the National Lawyers' Guild in San Francisco who has been a leading force in the push for low power fm. From talking to people in DC it is absolutely clear that if NPR had not vigorously joined the NAB in its attempt to kill microradio the legislation would have gone through. Here Franck and others are already contemplating a deeper assault on the 1996 Act and the 1934 communications Act, on constitutional grounds. The purpose of the First Amendment is democracy.
Democracy requires broad range of opinion.
After 75 years of a commercially-based media system we have a narrow range of debate, and this abuse of the airwaves is therefore unconstitutional. That's a big fight, but here it comes.