What with the FCC in the midst of a spasm of public backlash (recently magnified by the judicial bodyslam given its media ownership work), a new effort is afoot to resurrect a petition for rulemaking to consider the establishment of a low-power AM radio service. Such a petition was actually tendered to the FCC more than a year ago but, like other selected documents, it entered the agency’s maw and disappeared.
The “revival petition” asks the FCC to finally respond to the LPAM request made in mid-2003; it will be submitted as a part of the agency’s ongoing inquiry into localism. Don Schellhardt is collecting signatures; if you’d like to be included e-mail him and include your contact information for the petition’s purposes. The initial plan called for submission to the FCC by tomorrow but that may be a bit flexible, and follow-up filings can be made to include more signatories.
Speaking of that roving “localism task force”: it is getting creative with crowd control technique. Its next “public hearing” will take place on Wednesday, July 21 in Monterey, California, and 
(free) tickets are now required for admission. Those who get tickets will then enjoy navigating “two levels of random selection” and some convolution involving television screens and group numbers before finding out if they will even be allowed to approach the microphone. Those who get lucky are urged to “keep your remarks brief – to no more than two (2) minutes.” Best of luck to those who brave the gauntlets.
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