April 27, 1998

Dear Commissioners:

I am writing to comment on RM-9208, the petition of Nickolaus E. Leggett on allowing the creation of microradio stations.  This petition interests me because I have been involved in the past in both music and public affairs programming on non-commercial radio, and because I find the current radio service in my area inadequate in the extreme.  I fully support the petition's goal of allowing the creation of microradio stations;  I may wish to operate one myself.

My experience outside the Washington, DC, area indicates that radio can provide a wide range of music, entertainment, public affairs programming, and opinion.  Notably, this wide range is never provided by commercial radio stations, and seldom by professional non-commercial radio stations (such as WAMU-FM).  In some areas, college stations and non-commercial stations not affiliated with National Public Radio provide impressively broad programming content.  In other areas, such as Washington, DC, this is not the case.  I envision microradio stations providing such programming in areas where it does not exist.  Indeed, even in areas already served by a station truly outside of the constraints of commercial radio and professional non-commercial radio, microradio services will provide additional benefits.  For example, such low-power stations can provide native-language programming to the often concentrated communities of recent immigrants.  The benefit of such services in an area like Washington should be patently obvious.

I understand that the FCC has expressed the desire to allow the expression of more diverse voices in American broadcasting and other communication.  We have found a great forum for such expression in the internet, and the future of fiberoptic television service may also expand the availability of outlets for this expression.  But not everyone has access to the internet, and audio programming thereon still struggles through its infancy.  In microradio, the FCC has an opportunity to take a striking leap forward in providing the kind of openness of communication envisioned by the creators of this nation.  Expression of opinion, whether in public affairs or entertainment, that are currently stifled by restrictions of the radio market can find a home on microradio.  The majority of the AM and FM spectra are allocated to commercial radio services, which provide identical content nationwide, and often at several frequencies within the same listening area.  This uniformity and duplication seems to me a waste of valuable resource.  Commercial radio does not own the air; the National Association of Broadcasters must yield back some of the spectrum to the people.

Finally, I submit to you evidence of the importance of this issue to me and others like me:  I have considered leaving the Washington area for someplace with an existing, uncompromising college or non-commercial station so that I can once again listen to, and perhaps provide, the experimental programming I find exciting and necessary.  I am not alone in this.  The airwaves should be open to ideas, not merely to dollars.
 

Sincerely,
 

Jesse N. Salter
1621 N. Wakefield St.
Arlington, VA 22207