As the FCC is only letting 400 people into its public hearing on “localism” in Monterey, California this Thursday – and only a portion of those 400 will be allowed to speak – the public is being encouraged to gather outside the hearing venue and make some noise.
They’ll be supplemented by microradio activists who plan to conduct a remote broadcast in protest of the general lack of public access to radio (as well as to the hearing itself). At least one group may set up a PA system to relay the events inside to those outside; perhaps some of the hearing may also be rebroadcast this way.
That would certainly provide a more concrete definition of “localism” than current usage of the term does; generally “localism” seems to insinuate something radio needs/lacks, yet nobody has bothered to actually nail down. Learn by doing, teach by doing. It will not be the first time a microbroadcast has welcomed the arrival of an FCC “localism” hearing, but it will be the first to flip the RF bird directly at the gathering.
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