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"HALFWAY DEAD" > Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Lies, Ignorance and Rhetoric: In Their Own Words The following are selected quotes from those Representatives who rose to speak on the "Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act." They're provided for your information, entertainment, and scorn. Links marked with the letters RA next to them have audio clips available of a part of their debate. Click on those links below to play the clips in Real Audio format. Billy Tauzin (R-LA) "The FCC will be able to issue about 70 of these (LPFM) licenses." "When the FCC uses money appropriated to it to lobby this Congress, you all oughta pay a lot of attention. It's a criminal violation I believe, I'll ask Justice Department to investigate, but when they go so far as to break the criminal laws of our country...you oughta really think about giving them the authority to move forward before Congress says 'go forward' on this important rollout program." "I wish you had been in our committee room to hear the potential interference. As a beautiful song was playing, you could hear people talking over it. As a beautiful opera, perhaps, was being presented by National Public Radio - and you could hear talking over it. As perhaps a Spanish-language station was trying to do some cultural work in the community - and you could hear somebody else talkin' over it." RA Edward
Markey (D-MA) "Is your car radio going to be affected by this? No. Is your stereo radio going to be affected by this? No. Maybe the radio in the shower will have a little bit more interference - but we have the FCC to work it out." John Dingell (D-MI) --NAB Price: $2,000 "It should be noted that the FCC move without any consideration of fact and without any careful scientific work. They have no understanding of whether or not - or how much - interference will be caused by the order which they have brought forward." "Great outrage existed throughout both the listener community and also through the broadcasting community." "I have not heard any of my colleagues on either side of the aisle to dispute the value of adding more diversity to the airwaves." Michael Oxley (R-OH): --NAB Price: $3,000 "Anyone who takes an objective look must conclude that our country is rich in information and rich in public debate as it should be." "We've bent over backwards to make certain that (LPFM) could go forward." "Everybody in this town knows that it's a lot easier to play defense than to play offense."
"To the credit of the FCC, some new life is being breathed into a very old idea. An important idea: the public airwaves should be the public's interest." Vito Fossella (R-NY) --NAB Price: $1,000 "The FCC overruled the will of the people. They overruled the will of the Congress." "The American people deserve honesty from people in public office. They deserve to be treated fairly and openly and not to be subject to idle or explicit threats." Frank Pallone (D-NJ) "In my state, low power FM may even cramp local stations and disrupt consumers by interfering with local broadcasts or by duplicating local services and formats." RA Tom Barrett (D-WI) --NAB Price: $500 "I don't think Congress should be micro-managing these microstations." "We've heard a lot about a compromise here tonight. The party, of course, missing from this compromise, is the Administration. The President has told this body that he is strongly opposed to this bill and will veto it, and I think that's something that when we talk about compromise, and there's 'peace in the valley,' that we have to remember that there's something else that's going on here that's not been fully explored tonight." "This is a fence-me-in bill. And it says to those people who currently have stations, 'We're gonna build this big fence around you and not to let anybody else in.'" Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (D-OH) "The title (of this bill) itself is deceptive. The Act seeks to preserve the status quo and to prevent others from having access to the airwaves." "Who are we to delay or deny opportunity to community-based groups who have more than earned the right to take advantage of this technology?" Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) "I've worked with the FCC on this issue for over two years. Exhaustive engineering studies have been completed. The experience of actual low-power radio stations have been reviewed. The results are conclusive. These stations will not interfere with the existing large radio companies that currently dominate our airwaves. This bill discourages expanding our education and cultural horizons." Bobby Rush (D-IL) "The way that the bill is drafted now...this bill actually kills low-power radio stations in this nation." |