From: Mr. Robert B. Tanner
P.O. Bax 77
Rio Nido, CA 95471-0077

Members of the Commission;

This is in regards to RM 9208, the issue of 'neighborhood radio stations'.

I am a radio listener from the Rio Nido area, a mountanous region west of Santa Rosa, California.  I am concerned with the decline of radio over  the past ten years. With the proliferation of huge corporate conglomerates buying out transmitter facilities, we listeners are losing the local element we used to take for granted.

As corporate interests buy and sell transmitter facilities, the cost of a frequency is now so expensive, there is no way a small business owner can own a radio station, especially in major metropolitan markets. I have noticed that radio facilities are being bought and sold, like they were real estate investments, especially in these 'edge' markets where profits are thin. The Commission needs to address this.

It is being suggested, and is being considered in RM 9208 to allow the operation of small, low power transnitters, run by small businesses and individuals, serving limited areas. With the decline of AM radio and rise of 'cookie cutter' program fornats on FM radio, there is a need to introduce more diversity into radio.

There is also a need to accomnate small markets of ethnic peoples without taking up large transmitters that cover a wide area. an example  is serving the Hmong people in Fresno. Their neighborhood is concentrated in the Southeastern part of town. Instead of trying to buy time on a large station for an hour or two, these people oould have a small station geared to their interests and language that can he run at least all day. Such a station could he financed by Hmong businesssen and supported by the thin advertising revenue from local businesses catering to the community.

This is also true of types of formats that do not generate the high profits that overfinanced commercial radio now requires. We have lost classical, jazz and ethnic music programming on our airwaves, as a result. The only hope of hearing such programming again, is the establishment of small. low-power radio, run by dedicated broadcasters rather than corporate types that only look to the bottom line.
 

Sincerely,

Robert B. Tanner