Possible additions to LPFM-

The recent assignment of adding to wikipedia took much longer than I had originally assumed. This was a mistake on my behalf, simply because it seemed like everything had already been covered about topics on wikipedia. I found two things that I think could be worked on and added to wikipedia. 

I liked that there was an opinion page about LPFM. There were quotes from notable people sharing their opinions about the movement of LPFM. I believe that this section could be expanded. Are there any quotes from an FCC official. I thought that a quote form previous President Clinton and/or President Obama would be a thoughtful and helpful addition because thy have both been involved the modern evolution of LPFM. 

Another part I believe that could be expanded is the pros and cons of LPFM. IT seemed like good points were presented but more detail could definitely be supplied. Things like how each advocacy felt or how corporate radio stations have felt and feel now. It would be interesting to see the corporate side presented more in an unbiased manner.Overall I believe that one of the two additions would be helpful. Below, arethe pages that I found related closely with our subject. 

Low Power FM broadcasting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LPFM#Opinions

FCC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Communications_Commission

Controversy of Low Power FM Radio

 For this blog I decided to concentrate on the controversy of low-power FM radio versus commercially owned radio. More specifically I decided to look at  the recent passing of the Local Community Radio Act that president Obama signed. This bill states that they will issue more low-power radio licenses. Moreover it will lift restrictions that Congress put on LPFM stations back in 2000's. One of the major changes is that LPFM radio is now approved to work in cities.  

I present the sides of why this bill is a controversy to the people in support of local radio, the commercial stations, politics and society. Although this act has gone unnoticed for many it will impact many. 

Society- 

-Society is able to learn more about local people and events in their own community

-Aware of more relevant information

-Hear information they want to hear

Commercial Broadcasters-

Argued that LPFM stations that are too close to their stations cause interference so their programs would be distrupted. (http://www.mediaaccess.org/2010/12/local-community-radio-act-enables-low-power-fm-stations/)

-National Association of Broadcasters

-Fear more competition

- Making them look bad because they can't target information to their consumers

- Going after Radio

LPFM-

Larger Support Organizations- Prometheus Radio Project, Media and Democracy Coalition, Media Access Project, national Hispanic Media, etc

-Proving small organizations can prove a point and win battles even in Congress

-“If commercial radio takes the mass expansion of LPFM seriously, we could see a positive influence on mainstream media, especially in small and mid-sized towns where small interventions have large consequences,” Chynoweth said.

-hope to gain strength in communication 

-inspire others to utilize what is local to them

Politics-

-With an election coming up it is vital for politicians to gain presence on the spectrum

Articles-

Evaluation and Findings of Articles-

Most the information I came accross was from Media Access Project.org. 

Searched: Ixquick (  a metasearch engine)

Article- Local Community Radio Act Enables Low-Power FM Stations 

Dan KN6NU, Ham's Radio Blog

December 20, 2010

President Obama Signs Local Community Radio Act

DJ Pangbum

January 2011

Terms- commercial versus low power FM radio

Overall Site- Media Access Project

Funded-Non-profit

Current Info- The site contains articles from years past but the articles I found were very recent ranging from 2000-2011. Most though were 2008-2011. 

Evaluation- Overall I found this site very credible and reliable. It is a non profit advocacy organization. I liked that there were multiple articles on one topic because they are all devoted to researching more and telling people about current events in the radio world. The only problem I could see is that because this site is more in support of local radio that there articles could contain a slight bias. Most the articles did end on the note that the bill passed was good and will open many doors for small radio stations. 

Searched: Google

URL:http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/6872/keeping_up_with_community_radio/

Article- Keeping up With Communit Radio

Megan Tady

January 20, 2011

Terms: Viewpoint local community radio act

Overall Site- In These Times

Funded-Non-profit

Current Info- The article was written in 2011 so it is very current information

Evaluation- In These Times provides  wide range of articles on many current topics. It was a highly useful website. I felt that because this was not an advocacy site the information was less biased and provided both sides of the controversy in a succint but excellent manner. 

A Basic Understanding of Radios

Search Engine- BING.com

Site: 

LPFM.com

Materials to start LPFM radio-

Transmitter

Antennae

Case “station in a box”

Microphone

Mixer- for audio purposes

EAS- Emergency Alert System (required to receive alerts from AM, FM, NOAA and Internet)

Cost-

$3000- and up

URL:

http://www.lpfm.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=47&Itemid=54

The site was reliable but did not offer more technical information about how the technology works. 

I believe it is a small site and privately funded by the site owner who is, Fred R. Morton.

The site was missing information about the technology in detail. It was tailored more towards people that were ready to establish a station.

Level of power- determines how much transmitting equipment will be needed

Level of power- 3.5 mile radius

http://www.howstuffworks.com/question330.htm

How Radio Works-

By- Marshall Brain 

URL: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/radio3.htm

“radio waves”

Terminals of a 9-volt battery rubing against a coin can create radio waves

Early days- transmitters were referred to as “spark coils”

Modern Radios- use continuous sine waves- to accompany all the different devices used to transmit info

Each signal uses a different frequency so that they do not overlap and get mixed signals

2 most important parts- Transmitter and Receivers

Transmitter- the part that someone talks into or takes in information, like the picture on a TV

Receiver- part that decodes the radio waves to make sense of the messages

Antennas- are used to capture radio signal

Evaluation:

The site looks relatively stable and trustworthy because it has bios for each article by whom it was written by. It was the most straight forward  and basic description of how a radio works that I found.

Funding:

It is funded by the discovery company. 

Missing/Problems-

The site is not specific with material. Although it does show how stuff works, there are lot of different outlets on the site that could be searched. It can get a little overwhelming with the amount of advertisements. 

Histoy of Radio (LPFM)

Crucial Technical Advances

FM- “frequency modulation”-a type of radio transmission, the frequency of the combined waves changed to reproduce the audio signal- http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/kidszone/faqs_radio.html

1. Transmission of radiation-electromagnetic waves 1877- Heinrich Hertz
1. Guglielmo Marconi- Morse Code through the air over short distances

1. Large Corporations Took Over Radio Industry- 
1. RCA- Radio Corporation of America- owned by GE
1. Expanded into “nearly every area of communications and electronics” and could do so because they had most patents and receive royalties
2. Radio spectrum was apart of public domain-
3. Radio Act 1927-gave right to deny registration to amateurs to stop chaos
4. 1921- 5 radios      1922-30 radios     1923- 556 radios
5. Problem of financing radio -those with preferred channels and sophisticated stations and, indeed in opposing any expansion of broadcast band”
6. Build stations that would blanket regions- intense pressure on smaller stations-sponsors preferred stations with wider coverage
7. Change - serving the public became concentrated on getting the most listeners for their advertisers

1-2- info taken from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3106503?seq=21

http://www.prometheusradio.org/inside_LPFM

1. At first no formal radio stations
1. NBC- started to take over industry- “network of stations” (http://www.prometheusradio.org/inside_LPFM)
2. FCC wanted professional stations- took away amateurs who were unprofessional
3. FRC- overlooks radio waves
4. Licenses started to become harder to get- eventually little stations that could not afford to grow would cease
5. “Micro-broadcaster”- rebel 
1. Mbanna Kantako- she used a 1 watt transmitter to still have a station- her station talked about neighborhood issues
2. Stephen Dunnnifer- Berkley- kicked off a legal case because he said he wouldn’t stop 
2. Solution- creation of the Low Power Radio Service in 2000
1. Was commercial free- radius of 3.5 miles of he antenna
2. Used to organize a group of people
3. Provide communication during disasters
4. Some still interfere with other larger frequencies and therefore have to move- sometimes so far away that they do not serve the community the station aimed to serve
3. Many say that LPFM is not a “dead” technology
1. Many have a web stream
4. Search Tool:

I used Google Scholar because I needed a broad basis of understanding a radio. I felt that Goggle Scholar provided a greater range of articles. 

Terms Searched:

Google Scholar

Words: movement against FCC regulation of radio 1920

Allocating the Spectrum: The Origins of Radio Regulation

Hugh G. J. Atken

Pg. 686-716

Published by: THe Johns Hopkins University Press on behalf of the Society for the History of Technology

http://www.jstor.org/stable/3106503?seq=21

How is the site funded?

This is actually a book. This site was not provided by any organization

How current is this information?

The book was published in 1994. Although it is not the most current I believed that it would still be a credible site because we are analyzing past events that have already happened, so date of the article does not matter as much. 

Was there useful information about how your technology works on the site?

There was not a lot said about the actual workings of a radio. The book concentrated more on the history of the appartus. 

Missing or unreliable?

There might be missing information about how exactly the radio was created. There was a very vague history on the early radio. The info concentrated on the mid 1900’s more than the late 1880’s to early 1990’s. 

Evaluation of the site-

I liked the google search although it would have been more helpful to sort the articles by publishing date. The reading itself was short and to the point. It supplied useful information but could have expanded on where the although thought the technology of radio was going. I believe that not much was said about the corporations becoming involved and hindering other amateurs because it was written later. Otherwise the book was published by a known publisher and the author is credible. So I thought that the book provided accurate information. 

1. Search Tool: Google

Terms searched:

why the low power FM movement is a reaction against commercial network control of radio. 

Low Power Radio Broadcasting

URL:http://www.prometheusradio.org/inside_LPFM

Inside the Low Power FM Movement

How is the site funded?

From gifts and donations

How current is the information?

The information is very current. They have news articles from this year as well as social media usages such as Facebook and Twitter.

What useful information about how your technology works on their site?

They have different pages for different topics about LPFM. Most of it is broad but they do give a general overview of the technology. 

Evaluation-

I believe that this is a credible site and looks up to date, tthey even have a “latest headline section”. I liked that the site is very accessible and you can even contact them. The information is thorough. Morever, you could tell the site is updated frequently and put pictures of the staff. This makes it seem that the page is important to them. I also liked that the supplied a Library page. The library page references other readings that might be helpful. I did not feel that this site was a “fraud” or supplied inaccurate information.