Candace Clement, campaign coordinator for Free Press, has a lot to say about the difficulties local musicians face trying to get their songs played on the radio.

"So many bands never get airplay in their community," Candace says.

Candace has been spearheading Free Press' effort to pass the Local Community Radio Act of 2009 (HR 1147/SR 592), important new legislation that would open up the airwaves to more Low Power FM (LPFM) radio stations. These community-based stations broadcast at the local level to neighborhoods and small towns throughout the country.

For Candace, the connection to local musicians, artists and community radio is personal. An unassuming yet up-and-coming rock star, Candace has spent years performing, producing and playing the music she loves on her local community radio station. Her band, Bunny's a Swine, recently won the "Happy Valley Showdown," a battle of Western Massachusetts' best bands. The band is currently recording an album and trying to play wherever they can.

Candace knows too well how hard it is to break through the corporate dominance of the airwaves. A band she performed with a few years back — a mainstay of the music scene in Worcester, Mass. — couldn't get airplay on local commercial stations despite public acclaim and local success. In fact, the only place the band found access to the public airwaves was through college radio and public access TV channels.

Candace's passion for music inspired her to get into radio. In college, Candace got involved with the Holyoke Community College radio station. "I liked that we could play what wasn’t usually played on the radio," she says. "I knew it was the most freedom I would have to play the music I loved."

When Candace's town got its own local community radio station, Valley Free Radio, she decided to attend one of their volunteer meetings. "I read about the station in the local paper and figured I would try to get a show playing music. I ended up walking out of there with a to-do list that was about one-year long."

In fact, Candace's list was so long that she ended up giving up her show to focus instead on supporting the station (and occasionally, finishing her school work). "Over time, the station itself became more important to me than the songs I could play on the radio."

Candace became interested in how media policy affects music and community media, which brought her to Free Press — first as an intern, now as a full-time organizer. She focuses on a range of public media issues, helps put together local hearings, and co-hosts the weekly podcast and radio show Media Minutes — which now airs on dozens of community stations.

Candace's passion for public media and independent music is the reason she cares so much about passing the Local Community Radio Act (HR 1147/SR 592). Creating more LPFM stations would provide an avenue for local bands, community organizations, and local politicians and citizens to have a voice on the radio dial. The bipartisan bill — which would open the airwaves to hundreds more LPFM stations — is moving through the House and already has 38 co-sponsors.

"If this goes through," Candace says, "it will break open the radio dial for local music again."

Tell Congress to Support the Local Community Radio Act.