We need more diverse ownership. We need more people, especially women, minorities and the LGBT entering the broadcasting field as more than just DJs, but as owners, directors and major stakeholders of commercial and noncommercial stations. Chairman Pai's broadcast "incubator" experiment fails to establish a mentorship program but instead creates a free-pass for large corporate broadcasters to get favors where it comes to ownership caps. We do not know how this impacts the Prometheus v FCC litigation but we are hoping that "Prometheus 2"/Georgetown Law is going to pursue this. As a consolation, REC has happy that the Commission did take our recommendation and require both the incubating and incubated stations to file periodic reports on the progress of the incubation. REC still feels that incubating stations should be rewarded with rebates on regulatory fees in return for bringing more people into radio. Instead, we have another Pai attempt to diminish ownership diversity. In the TV world, we have the restoral of the UHF discount, and now in the radio world, we have the broadcast incubator.
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About REC Networks: REC is a leading policy voice supporting a citizen’s ability to access radio spectrum. The advocacy side of REC was responsible for the writing of RM-11749, the 250-watt LPFM proposal and RM-11810, the LPFM improvement petition. Other REC advocacy initiatives include alternate spectrum for community radio expansion in areas where FM spectrum is not available, driving changes to the FCC rules to allow more flexibility for LPFM stations while remaining compliant with the Local Community Radio Act. REC serves all six segments of LPFM including cause-based organizations, public sector agencies, micro radio stations, community media organizations, secular educational organizations and faith-based organizations. REC also provides consulting and filing services for LPFM stations, FM translators (including FM translators related to smaller AM broadcast stations) and full-service FM stations. REC operates several radiocommunications related websites and REC-FM, the official audio stream of REC Networks in conjunction with the Riverton Radio Project. More information about REC is at our website http://recnet.com.
