SF Supes to Hear Liberation Radio Resolution

A resolution of support for San Francisco Liberation Radio (SFLR) has been taken up by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and is scheduled to be heard Thursday, July 31, by the board's City Services Committee.

The committee meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. in City Hall room 263. Public commentary will be allowed and community support is urgently requested. The committee agenda is online at
http://www.ci.sf.ca.us/site/bdsupvrs_page.asp?id=13954

SFLR is a community micro station broadcasting at 100 watts at 93.7 FM from the city's Castro District.

The station was visited by agents of the Federal Communications Commission on July 2 and served with a notice of "illegal broadcasting."

The FCC action against SFLR comes at a time when it has just adopted measures paving the way for a new wave of media mergers similar to that unleashed by the 1996 telecommunications act.

On June 2--one month to the day before the visit to SFLR--the FCC raised the cap on the number of TV stations one corporation can own, and largely did away with restrictions on cross-ownership of TV stations and newspapers in the same city.

Statements of support for SFLR have recently been issued by the groups Bay Area Radical Women, Not in Our Name, Whispered Media, and the Video Activist Network, as well as by musician Erika Luckett.

"We value San Francisco Liberation Radio and its sister station, Bayview Hunters Point Radio, for consistently broadcasting programs that give voice to the needs and issues of feminists, people of color, workers, youth, queers, immigrants, radicals, and the poor," Radical Women and the Freedom Socialist Party wrote in a recent letter to the Board.

A copy of the Board of Supervisors Resolution follows:



Resolution supporting San Francisco Liberation Radio 97.3 FM and urging Federal, State, and Local officials to support policies and practices that encourage diverse local non-commercial media



WHEREAS, San Francisco Liberation Radio 97.3 FM has provided an invaluable public service to the City and County of San Francisco for the past ten years; and

WHEREAS, San Francisco Liberation Radio 97.3 FM has provided a forum for those whose voices are often excluded

from the increasingly consolidated corporate media; and

WHEREAS, San Francisco Liberation Radio 97.3 FM has remained committed to fostering an informed and engaged public by providing access to a diverse group of local residents, artists, community groups, and public officials; and

WHEREAS, San Francisco Liberation Radio 97.3 FM has contributed to a wide diversity of programming including Radio Food Not Bombs, Renters? Radio by the Tenants Union, Labor Line, OutLoud Radio, and the Green Party Radio Show; and

WHEREAS, The regulatory structure of the Federal Communications Commission increasingly precludes the expression of alternate and dissonant voices; and

WHEREAS, The Federal Communications Commission?s most recent reasons for rejecting San Francisco Liberation Radio?s license requests are based on widely criticized provisions in the Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act of 2000; and

WHEREAS, The Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act of 2000 contains provisions that would prevent the Federal Communications Commission from considering applications from persons or organizations who had previously been unlicensed broadcasters and also required increased channel separation between new LPFM stations and other
broadcast licensees; and

WHEREAS, San Francisco Liberation Radio?s multiple attempts to obtain an LPFM license have been rejected by the Federal Communications Commission; and

WHEREAS, San Francisco Liberation Radio 97.3 FM has operated without interfering with other radio station broadcasts; and

WHEREAS, San Francisco Liberation Radio 97.3 FM has peacefully coexisted with its neighbors throughout its broadcasting history; and

WHEREAS, The Federal Communications Commission has delivered a notice of illegal broadcasting to San Francisco Liberation Radio; and

WHEREAS, Citizens in a democracy require public access to a diverse range of media voices and messages in order to participate fully in our community's shared social, cultural and political life; now therefore, be it

RESOLVED, The Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco supports San Francisco Liberation Radio 97.3 FM and other local, non-commercial media; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, The Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco urges the Federal Communications Commission not to interfere with the functioning of San Francisco Liberation Radio 97.3FM; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, The Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco urges federal, state and local law enforcement officials to refrain from activities that prevent San Francisco Liberation Radio 97.3FM and other diverse local media from providing healthy democratic local media in the San Francisco Bay Area; and

FURTHER RESOLVED, The Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco urge the Federal
Communications Commission to resist attempts to repeal the cross-ownership ban and urge the Congress and the Federal Communications Commission to protect content diversity and press freedom by retaining and strengthening existing media ownership regulations, including regulations that limit the number of stations one owner may hold; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, The Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco call upon Congress to exercise its oversight in the area of federal communications policy through public hearings on media ownership issues; and to pursue legislation aimed at protecting democratic media by prohibiting further media consolidation.