The first I heard about Low Power FM radio was when the Indigo Girls came up to Capitol Hill to lobby for it and put on a mini concert for Hill staffers. One of the stranger experiences I ever had on the Hill -- about 70 of us in our dark suits swaying back an forth to "Galileo" in some committee room. Anyway, I had the chance today to interview Hannah Sassaman, the project director for the Prometheus Radio Project:
The particular focus of Prometheus' fight these days is Low Power FM -- small, community-based radio stations that have a broadcast range of only a handful of miles. In a day and age where Clear Channel owns more than a thousand radio stations across the country, community radio is a means by which the people can communicate, organize, and effect change. But the future of LPFM in America is not certain. Legislation passed by Congress has restricted low-power stations to small cities and towns, claiming concerns over interference with full-power stations of the sort owned by Clear Channel and other corporate broadcasters. There's a chance in the 110th Congress to re-open the radio spectrum to local broadcasting, and even the rare opportunity this fall to grab full-power licenses for non-profit broadcasters. In this interview, Hannah and I discussed deejay-public feedback loops, untying the hands of the FCC, and Prometheus' pirate radio roots.This is the seventh interview in a series hosted on MyDD called Hearing Progressive Voices. Go on, check it out.
Hannah eloquently explains the importance of both Low Power FM and telecom policy that frees at least some lines of communication from corporate control. But me, I think it's summed up well in the words of that bard of my generation, John Mayer: "when they own the information, oh, they can bend it all they want."

