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On the fifth anniversary of the approval of Low Power FM radio licensing by the Federal Communications Commission, Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) introduced the Local Community Radio Act of 2005. The bill would allow hundreds of new low-power community stations across the country to begin broadcasting. Robert W.

WASHINGTON – More than two dozen leading Low Power FM (LPFM) broadcasters and advocates will converge at the Federal Communications Commission and on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, February 8, 2005, to both celebrate the five-year anniversary of the FCC’s historic LPFM rulemaking and to push for policies to strengthen and expand the service.

Imagine a free wireless networking system that any municipality, company, or group of neighbors could easily set up themselves.

WASHINGTON – Free Press, the national, nonpartisan media reform group, today launched the official Web site of the 2005 National Conference on Media Reform and opened general registration for the event. The conference, which will be held May 13-15 at the Millennium Hotel in St. Louis, will bring together several thousand people working to create a more democratic media system.

WASHINGTON – The Federal Communications Commission is expected to announce today that the U.S. Solicitor General will not appeal the Third Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals decision in Prometheus Radio Project vs. Federal Communications Commission to the Supreme Court. That decision threw out the FCC rules issued in June 2003 that would have significantly loosened media ownership caps.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday morning that Michael Powell is resigning after four years as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. Robert W. McChesney, founder and president of the nonpartisan media reform group Free Press, made the following statement:

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell today instructed the Enforcement Bureau to launch an investigation into possible payola violations regarding the $240,000 paid by the Bush administration to pundit Armstrong Williams to promote its education policy.

WASHINGTON — Free Press, the nonpartisan media reform group, has called on Congress and the Federal Communications Commission to launch an immediate investigation into undisclosed payments given to pundit Armstrong Williams by the Bush administration.

In response to reports that Fox News radio will be broadcast on as many as 500 Clear Channel-owned stations, Free Press Executive Director Josh Silver made the following statement:

ST. PAUL, Dec. 2 — Free Press, along with a broad coalition of local partners, is hosting a series of Public Testimony Workshops for Twin Cities residents to prepare comments for the St. Paul Media Concentration Forum at Hamline University on Thursday, Dec. 9.