[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 4040]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                LOCAL RADIO BROADCAST EMERGENCY SERVICES

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, on Wednesday, March 15, 2006, I joined 
Senator Snowe and Senator Baucus in introducing S. 2418, a bill to 
preserve local radio broadcast emergency and other services and to 
require the Federal Communications Commission to conduct a rulemaking 
for that purpose.
  Growing up in my home town of Pascagoula, MS, I had my own radio 
show. Through local radio, I had the opportunity to have a voice in my 
community. Local radio keeps communities informed about what is going 
on in their back yards, and gives local leaders an opportunity to 
communicate with their supporters.
  Over the years, I have been actively voicing my concerns on the issue 
of media ownership. I believe that the problem of the pervasiveness of 
indecency in broadcasting is related to my concerns about media 
ownership. When media conglomerates become too large, they are less 
responsive to the concerns of the American viewing public and less 
accountable to local communities. Media companies which use publicly 
owned airwaves must become more responsive to public needs, respectful 
of local values and reflective of community standards which seem to be 
constantly ignored by executives in east and west coast high-rise 
office buildings.
  In order to ensure that radio remains an independent source of 
information for local communities, I am pleased to introduce a bill to 
preserve local radio broadcast emergency and other services and to 
require the Federal Communications Commission to conduct a rulemaking 
for that purpose.

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