Below is a copy of the letter that MEC created and that many of you signed in support of microradio. Americans for Radio Diversity MM Docket No. We have become increasingly concerned about the growing concentration of the media in our country and are pleased that the Commission is responding to public outcry to increase opportunities for local communities to use our radio airwaves. One of the fundamental tenets of our democracy is to ensure that diverse interests have opportunities to express themselves, not merely to be the recipients of what a handful of other people tell them. It is a nonnegotiable component of our right to a free press and free speech.
Radio is perhaps the most qualified of any media outlet to provide community access.
It is a relatively inexpensive medium to produce and is well-suited to cover community issues and local culture. Unfortunately, over the past three years the U.S. radio broadcasting industry has experienced an unprecedented wave of consolidation and mergers. As a result, the electronic medium best suited to inexpensive, local programming has become arguably the most regimented and centralized of our major media. As for the person of average means, their lot is limited to being a passive consumer of an increasingly monopolistic industry that has less and less competitive pressure to heed the diverse, local needs of listeners. And, for poor people and others who are considered unimportant to the advertising community, radio increasingly has little to offer.