Home » About Us » Press Room
.jpg) | California's 5th Largest Public TV Station May be Scrapped for Wireless Spectrum
by Tracy Rosenberg, Media Alliance
November 16th, 2012
At a Board of Trustees meeting on Wednesday November 14th, the San Mateo Community College District, which operates 3 community colleges (Skyline College, Canada College and the College of San Mateo), discussed the fate of the noncommercial television license they have owned since 1964 - KCSM TV. KCSM's signal reaches 10 Bay Area counties and is broadcast on 60 municipal cable systems throughout the Bay Area. |
_1.jpg) | KCSM-TV Sale Postponed
October 25th, 2012
On October 24th, the San Mateo Community College District Board of Trustees voted unanimously to reject the final two bidders (of an original six) for the broadcast license for KCSM Television, bringing to an end an 18-month process by the District to try to sell the television broadcast license housed at the College of San Mateo since 1964. |
 | Sale of KCSM-TV still in limbo; District holds out on public information request
American Federation of Teachers Advocate
September 30th, 2012
In May the District announced the upcoming sale of KSCM-TV, the noncommercial TV station it has owned and operated for 48 years. Their action was part of an epidemic of higher education institutions nationwide ridding themselves of educational TV and radio licenses. At that time, Media Alliance, a Bay Area public interest group that advocates for press freedom and media access and accountability, filed a public information request to make the list of bidders public. |
 | Petition Filed to Halt Sale of WRVU
Nashville, TN – July 5, 2012 – Attorneys Michael Couzens and Alan Korn, acting on behalf of WRVU Friends & Family, have filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deny the renewal of license for the Vanderbilt University radio station WRVU Nashville.
|
 | What's Left of the Dial
by Steve Haruch, Nashville Scene
For a surreal stretch of hours last June, a radio tuned to 91.1 FM in Nashville did nothing but emit bottomless, hissing static. The erstwhile WRVU, which for decades beamed out an engaging, erratic mishmash of everything from punk rock to country classics, jump blues to hip-hop, had been sold to local NPR affiliate WPLN, its signal cut off abruptly. |
 | Questioning the KCSM Sale
by Tracy Rosenberg, The Advocate - AFT Local 1493
February 17th, 2012
As part of an epidemic of higher education institutions ridding themselves of educational television and radio licenses, the San Mateo Community College District has announced the upcoming sale of KSCM-TV, although not (yet) KSCM-FM, the district’s jazz radio station. Bids were due on February 14th to the District’s Board of Trustees. |
 | Public TV For Sale
by Tracy Rosenberg, San Francisco Bay Guardian
February 4th, 2012
The San Mateo Community College District Board of Trustees has announced the upcoming sale of its independent public television station, KCSM-TV. Some potential new owners are cause for alarm. |
 | AT&T / T-Mobile Merger Bites the Dust
Washington DC - Signaling the tail end of a regulatory process that hasn't been going AT&T's way for some time, the telecom giant made formal the abandonment of plans to acquire T-Mobile USA from Deutsche Telecom. |
 | FCC Comes Out Against AT&T Takeover
by Media Action Grassroots Network, Pitchengine
On November 22nd, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski released a draft order recommending AT&T and T-Mobile appear at a hearing in front of an administrative judge before the $39 billion deal between the two corporate giants goes through. |
 | Regulators Focus Eye on the Sale of KUSF
by Reyhan Harmanci, Bay Citizen/New York Times
When KDFC, the popular commercial classical radio station, was sold to the University of Southern California in January and bumped down to 90.3, the nonprofit end of the dial, hundreds of thousands of classical music fans lost the ability to hear the station’s offerings, thanks to the downgraded signal strength. |
 | The Public Access Crisis
by Eric Arnold, Alternet
Public-access television has always had a low-budget, amateur reputation. Yet Rod Laughridge's alternative news program "Newsroom on Access SF" was anything but that. Though San Francisco's public-access station had its share of offbeat shows —- like the risqué DeeDeeTV, hosted by self-described "pop culture diva" Dee Dee Russell — "Newsroom" took itself seriously. Its mission, as described on its website, was to "bring community-based, community reported and produced independent news and interviews from a grassroots viewpoint — unhindered, uncensored and unaltered." |
 | Where Are The Jobs AT&T Promised?
by Art Brodsky, Huffington Post
While most of the labor union leadership has decided to blindly follow AT&T off of a cliff in the company's quest to conquer T-Mobile, it's refreshing to find that someone who has finally, if too late, saw the light. He, apparently alone, recognized the value of AT&T's promises of new jobs if the company gets what it wants. Zero. |
 | Council Tree Vs FCC - To The Supreme Court
A Communications Daily article on Council Tree vs FCC (Media Alliance is a public interest co-plaintiff) which just filed a petition to overturn flawed spectrum auction sales in the United States Supreme Court. |
 | Constituents Push Congress For A Level Playing Field Online:
San Francisco – Members of Media Alliance, Common Cause, Amnesty International and the Media Action Grassroots Network are meeting with Representative Pelosi's office today at 3:00pm to urge her to sign a letter calling on Federal Communications Commission Chair Julius Genachowski to ensure a level online playing field by using his authority to reclassify the Internet. |
 | MA Press Release on KPFA - November 9th
Berkeley-After a slow motion buildup for several months, The Pacifica Foundation, the Berkeley-based 501(c)-3 not-for-profit organization that holds the licenses for five educational radio stations across the country and provides content for 150 affiliated stations, has finally moved to stanch financial bleeding at the network's Berkeley unit KPFA-FM by laying off 7-8 employees after posting a million dollar loss over the past two years. |
| MA Press Release on KPFA November 4th
Berkeley-At noon today, a handful of employees at Pacifica Radio's Berkeley unit KPFA-FM, have announced a picket of their parent 501(c)3 organization, the Pacifica Foundation, which owns 5 educational radio licenses around the country and provides programming to 100 other affiliated stations. |
 | Victory in Council Tree vs.FCC
On August 24th, the DC Third Circuit Court upheld the Council Tree et al vs FCC case (MA was a plantiff) releasing anti-competitive restrictions on spectrum sales. |
 | Public Interest Groups Demand Reversal of Media Consolidation: Hearing Friday May 21st at Stanford University
On the eve of a Federal Communications Commission field workshop on media ownership at Stanford University on May 21st, a coalition of public interest groups, including Media Alliance, Prometheus Radio Project, The Office of Communications of the United Church of Christ and Free Press, represented by the Media Access Project and the Institute for Public Representation, have filed a brief with the US Court of Appeals, stating a 2008 decision to significantly weaken media ownership rules was unreasonable and against the law.
|
| Making Contact: Race, Immigration and the Fight for an Open Internet
On this edition, excerpts from “Race, Immigration and the Fight for an Open Internet,” a panel discussion presented by the G.W. Williams Center for Independent Journalism and New America Media. The topic? Net neutrality. What is it? Who will it impact most? And why should we care? |
| Affordable Broadband Week of Action
San Francisco-A broad array of community groups across the country – under the leadership of the Media Action Grassroots Network (www.mediagrassroots.org) will visit members of the Senate and Congress and sponsor forums and teach-ins for the public on universal, affordable and unfettered broadband access for all. |
| Media Alliance Adds to Outpouring of Support for Net Neutrality
After years of discussion and public statements of support from over 1.6 million Americans and 850 public and private organizations, the Federal Communications Commission, acting on the call to action by new Chairman Julius Genachowski on September 21st, is poised to go ahead with basic net neutrality regulations to assure an open and unfettered Internet future. |
| Media News - November 5, 2009
Subject: Prop 8, the Media and the GLBT Community
Guest: Juan Barajas, Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
Host: Al Kielwasser |
| McDowell: Cross-Ownership Could Save Newspapers
by Erik Sass, Media Post
(Media Alliance is a plaintiff in media ownership litigation pending before the Federal Communications Commission. In this article, Republican FCC Commissioner Robert Mcdowell takes umbrage at the public interest lawsuit).
|
| Public Interest Groups Criticize ‘Privatization’ of Broadband Mapping
Oakland-CA - The $350 million broadband mapping program required by the recent stimulus bill would be set back if there is widespread participation in it by a group called Connected Nation, according to a new report issued by Public Knowledge and the Media and Democracy Coalition.
|
| Digital switch goes smoothly for local stations
by Ryan Kim, San Francisco Chronicle
Local broadcasters who made the switch to digital television at midnight Tuesday reported fewer than expected complaint calls Wednesday, easing fears that the early transition from analog signals would cause widespread disruptions.
|
| 4 Bay Area Stations to Shut Off Analog Signals Early
by Carolyn Saed, San Francisco Chronicle
our Bay Area Television Stations, including KOFY and KICU to Shut Off Analog Signals on February 17th, 2009
Major Bay Area Network Affiliates to Go Digital-Only on June 12th, 2009
Oakland-The Federal Communications Commission publicly released a comprehensive list of broadcasters who petitioned for an early analog shutoff. In the Bay Area, major broadcasters making the request included KICU – Channel 6 and KOFY – Channel 20, along with KCNS and KFTY. |
| Our Vision for the Future
It's easy to criticize. Too easy. But what is the affirmative vision for a 21st century media that works to advance peace, justice and social responsibility?
|
 | Police Incident at KPFA
Community journalist roughed up after KPFA-FM calls police on volunteer. Training program graduate and former Elemental Roots co-host Nadra Foster forcibly removed from radio station offices.
|
 | The Low-Access People: Tiny Grey-Garcia's Notes on the NCMR
It's the snow that appears late at night on our TV... it can reach across oceans and mountain ranges and beyond...it has the potential to provide a channel of access to many independent broadcasters, which is why the big telecoms are trying to seize it,"explained Eloise Rose Lee, from Media Alliance based in California, one of five people speaking at "The Future of the Internet" panel at the National Conference of Media Reform held in Minneapolis last week. |
| The FCC Bus: One Person's Story
I sat in a dark, foreboding hall at Stanford University listening to the words of resistance of Gloria Esteva (staff writer of POOR Magazine/PoorNewsNetwork and member of the Voces de Immigrantes en Resistencia at the Race, Poverty and Media Justice Institute at POOR). As I listened I felt truly inspired.
|
| FCC Got an Earful on April 17th at Stanford
Thanks to Media Alliance members and our SavetheInternet allies, the FCC hearing at Stanford on April 17th was a stirring call for a free and open Internet, a strong condemnation of random telecom interference with data traveling over their networks, and a clear statement on media in the public interest. Pictures from the hearing: The Raging Grannies, commissioners and panelists , public testimony . 40 of the 75-person public comment participants were trainees from Media Alliance speaker workshops or passengers on the "FCC Bus" that traveled from the Bay Area to Stanford with folks from Poor News Network, KPFA First Voice, the Bayview Newspaper and Allen Temple Baptist Church. Video archive of the hearing and an audio mashup |
| The Tangled Web of SF Wi-Fi and New Opportunities in Oakland
Editorial: The recent collapse of the Google-Earthlink San Francisco municipal broadband initiative (as well as the creaking of all the other Earthlink-linked efforts nationwide) is both sobering and in some ways, an opportunity for digital inclusion advocates. Seeing a lot of effort come to nothing is always frustrating: especially in the face of an acute digital divide.
|
| Media Alliance and UCC Delay Tribune Lawsuit
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decided to put off hearing Tribune's challenge of the FCC's decision to grant it waivers to complete the deal to sell the company to investor Sam Zell due to a lawsuit filed by Media Alliance and the United Church of Christ Media Justice Campaign. |
| DTV Help Centers Team Up to Deal with E-Waste
The digital television transition, completed successfully by the United States on June 12, 2009, is generating a large flow of electronic waste as consumers continue to upgrade their televisions. We all want to recycle responsibly, but how? |
 | What's Left of the Dial
by Steve Haruch, Nashville Scene
For a surreal stretch of hours last June, a radio tuned to 91.1 FM in Nashville did nothing but emit bottomless, hissing static. The erstwhile WRVU, which for decades beamed out an engaging, erratic mishmash of everything from punk rock to country classics, jump blues to hip-hop, had been sold to local NPR affiliate WPLN, its signal cut off abruptly. |
|
.jpg)
_10.jpg)
_1.jpg)
_3.jpg)
