Radio Free JoJo

The weather report for Erie PA this fall has read like a good novel. It starts out with an unusually positive sequence of events, and then quickly turns sour. It’s a page-turner, because just when you think you know what happens next…it doesn’t.

We had a glorious early part of the season with warm temperatures that lasted well into late October. Halloween was downright balmy! I remember Halloweens when I was a kid trudging through three inches of snow.  Our first blast of snow however came within days of Oct. 31st. Since then, as hard as they try, the weather patterns have been causing headaches for our forecasters.

For example, this past weekend there were some reports that the city could get a foot of snow. We were battening down the hatches for a real blizzard. Now indeed, it was really windy, but snow fall had to be just a couple inches, barely a blip on the way to our normal 90-120 inches per winter.  Last week, one of local TV weathermen said that there were multiple conflicting models coming his way, and he admitted that it was hard to predict what was going to happen, given the data presented.

I guess to me, that uncertainty is ok.  It’s more forthright to say that you’re unsure than to predict a massive snowfall that gets everybody in a tizzy, cancelling all of their Christmas plays and bingo nights and then it rains or just snows a little.

I feel that to a certain extent that the weather business has gotten sucked into the news business of overkill team coverage and hyperbole.  Sure the weather often is a legitimate news story, especially in a great weather market like Erie. But our media people need to remember that the reason why we live in this region is that many of us like the weather the way it is; we don’t need to be hyped up about it. Just tell it like you see it, and we’ll just weather the storm.

I’m on-the-air on WCTL all day Thursday hosting a fundraiser in support of the translators the Family First Foundation operates in Warren PA and Jamestown NY. If you are a WCTL fan and you can send a pledge, it would be greatly appreciated. Call 1-800-282-9285 or click here to pledge. Mention my blog…I’d love to get on the phone and chat!

I use Google Reader (I know that there’s probably better ones) for reading syndicated content, and it has this nice feature where it aggregates posts about topics using Google Blog Search. I’ve got it tuned to “Christian radio” so I can keep up with what was a big part of my life for 14 years.

Interestingly in the past week there have been several posts commenting on a piece in World Net Daily by Janet Folger entitled “Letter from a future prisoner.” In it she predicts a future world three years from now where Christian radio would be outlawed, Christians will be persecuted for their beliefs, and uttering the words “mom” or “dad” would be hate speech. All of this would occur if Hillary is elected.

Ok, maybe Ms. Folger sounds a little hysterical, but she’s obviously trying to make her point through exaggeration, a literary tool historically used in much of political literature. What is alarming to me is the equally hysterical reaction of the left-wing blogosphere. First off, most discard her as “typical nut-job.” But if that’s the case, why make such a fuss and sound so defensive? Their references are drawing more attention (like mine) to her column than she would typically have. Take a look at some of these (careful, possible bad language).

Second, you get the sense that the lefties “doth protest too much.” I’ve heard Speaker Pelosi talk about how important reestablishing the Fairness Doctrine is to her party. It is well understood that the Fairness Doctrine is anything but fair, and would absolutely squelch free speech in broadcasting, kill conservative (and liberal) talk radio, as well as Christian radio.  The Democrat Party doesn’t like talk radio because their multiple attempts to match Rush Limbaugh have been abysmal failures, both in ratings and revenues. Do I think that a Democrat Congress backed by a Democrat President could bring back the Fairness Doctrine? Probably.

What about this criminalization of Christianity? I have written in the past that the only sociological demographic that can be ridiculed and demonized with impunity are white, male, conservative evangelicals. It’s a stretch to go from marginalization to criminalization…right?

I just listened to this conversation that was aired on Christian radio station KSBJ/Houston. I’m not sure I’ve heard anything as powerful on-the-air in a long time. It sure moved me.

Further analysis of the applications for new non-commercial/educational FM stations in the Erie area shows that a minority of the 13 apps came from local organizations. By my count, only four of the thirteen have headquarters in Erie County. This information comes from the FCC’s FM Query, which has listed the applicants days before the stated public notice date of November 14, 2007.

Three local concerns applied for 89.3 FM, including the Erie Seventh Day Adventist Church (application for North East), which operates the now dark 95.9 WXNM-LP, which had given fits to FM 96/London, ON devotees. The LECOM medical school applied for Erie on Rocket 101’s tower. To the south, my alma mater Inspiration Time applied for a new FM for Union City. The only other local applicant is the “mystery” Greg Schlueter’s Vision IDX, who applied for a 1.8 KW station on 90.1 in Edinboro.

The nine other applications came from out of town. Alabaster, Inc. of Greensburg applied for a monster 27 KW station for North East, and a tiny 225 watt one for Meadville. Their website indicates that they maintain a performing arts ministry and school in the Pittsburgh area, doing assemblies and church performances. It looks like they applied elsewhere in the state, including a station for Lock Haven.

An institution from the State College area, Muncy Hills Broadcasting of Turbotville, applied on 89.3 for Corry. Tucson AZ based Family Life Broadcasting, headed by Dr. Randy Carlson (Intentional Living national program) applied on 89.5 for Erie. They own stations in the southwest, Georgia, and Michigan. They are a different organization than Family Life Ministries of Bath NY, who currently operate a full power station in Jamestown, NY and operate translators in Erie, North East and Corry for their Family Life Network. FLN applied for 89.9 in Cambridge Springs. Both Family Life’s are big ministries with conference centers and many stations. The Bible Broadcasting Network qualifies under that description as well, as the Charlotte NC outfit attempts to reenter Erie at 89.5 (they used to own the Erie translator at 98.7, which FLN now owns; still with me?).

As far as totally random applications go, the owners of WMKL/Key Largo FL, Call Communications hope to build a 50 KW station on 89.5. Their format in South Florida is Christian Rock Alternative. Edinboro Early School seems to have no connection with the Erie County borough, as they own a low-power station in Ocean City, MD, and applied for a 500 watt station on 89.5 for Erie. Finally, a JCM Radio of NY applied for 1.6 KW on 89.5 for somewhere called Fairfield. I know that there’s a Fairfield fire hall, but there’s no incorporated municipality with that name that I know of.

It seems that the aforementioned big hole in our reserved FM band attracted a lot of interest. Unfortunately, the situation with multiple mutually-exclusive applications may keep the people that care the most for our community from improving our broadcasting service for a long time.

The answer is not anytime soon. In what must have been one of the biggest broadcasting bonanzas in the country, a total of 13 applications were submitted to the FCC to build new, non-commercial/educational radio stations within a 50 kilometer radius of Erie. Because of the sheer volume, and the multiple apps on individual frequencies, they will most likely be all considered “mutually exclusive.” That means that the government will have to sort out the mess and award just a couple of the applicants the license they seek based on a point system.

The reason why the Erie area attracted a boo-coo of applications was the big hole in that part of the FM band left when WERG (Gannon) moved from 89.9 to 90.5, and expanded their listening audience to the entire county. That meant that there were no local licenses from the 89.1 frequency to the 90.3, a big space in a populated area like Erie. There is actually one 50,000 watt application on the books, from Call Communications Group based in Miami, FL, which would make it the highest power non-comm station in the area (not necessarily the largest coverage area, however, because of its tower height).

For the radio geeks, I put together a quick PDF list of the applications: Erie October 2007 NCE Applications

This recent window of applications came nine years after the last one, and it will probably take years more to award licenses and make room for more stations. Meanwhile, internet radio looms large in the present and future. Will it make all of this wrangling for frequencies a thing of the past? Maybe.

I was birthed into the media universe as a 17 year old boy with a rock and roll radio show on the campus station the summer before I entered the university. 27 years, eight radio stations, one television production company, and a PR gig later I continue to contribute to the voices, but this time via a computer on my lap with more horsepower than the whole mainframe at that university years ago, and an ability to talk to the planet as opposed to nine square miles. Dorothy, we’re not at WKRP any more!

I’m intrigued by this brave new media world.  There are multiple paradoxes present that sometimes are difficult to get your arms around. Back in college we talked about the “gatekeepers,” those news directors, journalists, and publishers who decided for the masses what news was.  Now with blogs, YouTube, podcasts, and MySpace/Facebook, you are bypassing the gate, going to fellow readers with your news and views. It would seem that this democratization of media is more like real life.

However, I think that there continues to be a pecking order and certainly voices that are silent. For example, I don’t think that the American poor are well represented on Web 2.0. Blogs I’m exposed to are from mostly lefty, college-educated, middle-classed white people with a computer and Blogger account. The blogging heroes to many are Anna Marie Cox, Media Matters, and the foil-headed contributors to the Daily Kos. Of course there are many conservative voices, mine included, taking advantage of the space and we have our lions, too. But if comments and hits are the currency of the new media, there definitely exists the “haves” and the “have nots.”

I am grateful for (and a little nervous about) this outlet where I can try to make a cogent argument for a position and have maybe several dozen people read what I have to say. But what is it going to take for the disenfranchised; the poor in spirit; the meek to raise their voices? I’m not talking about hearing from some political advocacy group trying to force the government to redistribute someone else’s wealth. I mean let’s hear the true life stories of those in our country that live in the margins, between the coasts, and under the radar.