by Tracy Rosenberg, The Advocate
May 10th, 2013
Updating the San Mateo community on the sale of the non-commercial TV station KCSM-TV, which has been housed at the College of San Mateo since 1964, is no easy task.
Press Room
Recent press releases issued by Media Alliance. Sometimes we'll post newspaper, radio and broadcast interviews here as well.
| San Mateo Community College District Refuses to Be Open About KCSM TV Sale by Tracy Rosenberg, The Advocate May 10th, 2013 Updating the San Mateo community on the sale of the non-commercial TV station KCSM-TV, which has been housed at the College of San Mateo since 1964, is no easy task. |
.jpg) | Alameda: Community radio holding entertainment, information event by Nanette Deetz, Alameda Times-Star Alameda Community Radio will host an evening of entertainment and information from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday about new plans for low power FM radio in Alameda. |
_10.jpg) | Keep KCSM TV in Public Hands - The Advocate by Tracy Rosenberg, The Advocate: American Federation of Teachers Local 1493 April 2nd, 2013 Article in the American Federation of Teachers newspaper on the KCSM-TV threatened dissolution via spectrum sale. |
_1.jpg) | KGO Feature on Low-Power Radio and Common Frequency by Jonathan Bloom, KGO Evening News The ABC Evening News featured low-power radio, Common Frequency and Media Alliance and the Local Community Radio Act. Watch the Video! |
_3.jpg) | Project Censored Radio Show: Media Change 2013 by Project Censored Radio, KPFA Radio Morning Mix Corporate media hegemony, top down managed news propaganda, and grassroots resistance with Prof. Robert Hackett of Simon Fraser University and Tracy Rosenberg of Media Alliance. |
.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. |
 | Pacifica's WBAI Radio Station in New York, Silenced by Sandy, is Back on the Air! http://www.pacifica.org The Nixon administration couldn't do it. Neither could the Clinton or Bush administrations. But yesterday, hurricane Sandy turned off the mics at WBAI, the historic Pacifica Foundation New York radio station that has been a listener-sponsored gadfly afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted since 1960. |
 | Tavis Smiley Announces the Return of Smiley & West to the Chicago Airwaves With Two New Affiliates by Joe Zefran, Smiley & West Smiley Radio Properties, Inc. (SRP) celebrates the second anniversary of its popular radio program, Smiley & West from Public Radio International (PRI), with the addition of two new affiliates in Chicago, IL. |
_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. |
 | MA Founding Member Gar Smith Publishes "Nuclear Roulette:The Truth About The Most Dangerous Energy Source on Earth" by Tracy Rosenberg, Media Alliance In Nuclear Roulette, award-winning journalist Gar Smith dismantles the core arguments behind this “renaissance.” Some critiques are familiar—nuclear power is too costly, too dangerous, and too unstable. Others may surprise, such as the industry’s historic links to nuclear weapons, its impacts on indigenous lands and lives, the unforeseen hazards of earthquakes and climate change, the costly challenge of dismantling plants, and the unsolved problem of storing radioactive waste. |
 | GROUPS URGE CONGRESSWOMAN LEE TO PUSH BACK AGAINST KICKBACKS Prison Phone Justice Campaign A delegation of organizations from the California Bay Area met with the Deputy District Director of Congresswoman Barbara Lee to discuss the high cost of receiving a phone call from a prison, jail or detention center. |
 | 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. |
 | Save KUSF and MA Advocate Against Loopholes in Fundraising Rules Save KUSF volunteers and Media Alliance filed comments with the FCC pointing out loopholes in proposed rule changes which put public airwaves at risk of further consolidation. |
 | MA and NLG-Committee on Democratic Communications File LPFM Comments by Peter Franck, Daniel Senter and Mike Lee, National Lawyers Guild Committee on Democratic Communications Media Alliance and the National Lawyers Guild Committee on Democratic Communications File Comments in Final LPFM Rule Making. |
| Low-Power Radio Final Rulemaking: Common Frequency Comments by Todd Urick, Common Frequency West coast radio support group and LPFM gurus Common Frequency submitted these comments to the final FCC rulemaking prior to the implementation of the Local Community Radio Act. |
 | MA and NLG-Committee on Democratic Communications File Wireless Shutdown Comments On Monday, April 30th, several prominent national and California groups filed formal comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) condemning the 2011 wireless shutdown by the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART). |
 | 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. |
 | LA Clearchannel hosts John and Ken Suspended for Calling Whitney Houston a Crack Ho by Tracy Rosenberg, Media Alliance Los Angeles-AM shock-jock hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou were suspended by management at Clearchannel station KFI-AM in Los Angeles on Thursday, after referring to the recently deceased entertainer and singer Whitney Houston as a "crack ho". |
 | 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. |
 | Dept of Justice Files Suit To Block AT&T/T-Mobile Merger Earlier this morning, the United States Department of Justice announced that it would be filing a lawsuit to stop the planned AT&T purchase of T-Mobile USA. |
 | 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. |
 | California Public Utilities Commission Votes to Investigate California-Specific Impacts of Proposed AT&T /T-Mobile Merger
California Public Utilities Commission Votes to Investigate California-Specific Impacts of Proposed AT&T /T-Mobile Merger Commission Votes 3-2 to Support Commissioner Sandoval’s Proposal for Informational Proceeding |
 | Public Interest Groups Call for Community Inclusion in CA Broadband Buildout by Mera Szendro Bok, New Media Rights |
 | California Public Utilities Commission Suspends Approval of AT&T /T-Mobile Merger California Public Utilities Commission Suspends Approval of AT&T – T-Mobile Merger. Commission Votes 5-0 to Open an Informational Proceeding on Impacts to the State of California |
 | 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. |
| Local Organizations Advocating for Real Net Neutrality: Representative Lee Asked to Intervene to Protect Wireless and Mobile Internet Users
Members of Media Alliance, PUEBLO, First Voice Media Action, Mujeres Unidas Y Activas and others are meeting with Representative Barbara Lee's office today at 11:00am to urge her to demand that any net neutrality orders presented to the Federal Communications Commission for a vote next week provide the same consumer protections to users of wireless and mobile broadband services. |
| 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. |
| Amid Rumors of Google-Verizon Deal, FCC Pulls out of Industry Net Neutrality Talks A series of much-criticized stakeholder meetings on the contentious issue of “network neutrality” or open internet regulations collapsed today as the Federal Communications Commission pulled out of negotiations with AT&T, Google, Verizon and Skype. |
 | House Judiciary Committee Schedules Los Angeles Field Hearing on Comcast/NBCU Proposed Merger for June 7 Los Angeles, CA-With one week's notice, the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee has announced a field hearing on the proposed merger between cable giant Comcast and the NBC/Universal broadcasting network. |
| 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. |
| The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Returns to Stanford University Campus; Media Ownership Hearing Set For May 21st at Dinkelspiel Auditorium Stanford - Two years after Comcast hearings led to sanctions on the cable giant for "net neutrality" violations, the Federal Communications Commission is returning to the Stanford campus for an en banc hearing. This time, the subject of discussion is cross-ownership rules that limit the number of print and broadcast outlets in a market that can be owned by the same entity. |
| DC Appeals Court Upholds Comcast on 2008 Net Neutrality Sanction The US Court of Appeals in DC upheld on Tuesday Comcast's legal challenge to a 2008 sanction for violating net neutrality rules. |
| 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. |
 | Fox News is No News Outlet MA Op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle November 13, 2009 |
| Why Public Access is Important and You Should Fight for the CAP ACT by Tracy Rosenberg, Huffington Post MA Op-Ed in the Huffington Post - February 10, 2010 |
| 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. |
| SF Public Access Producers Picket Soon To-Be-Closed Facility |
| 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 |
| Media News - October 15, 2009 Subject: One Web Day Guest: Nathan James |
| Media News - October 1, 2009 Subject: Media Coverage of ACORN Guest: Richard Hopson, ACORN |
| Media News - September 17, 2009 Subject: Community Radio and Media Democracy: KPFA Elections Guest: Henry Norr |
| Meda News - September 3rd, 2009 Subject: SF Hate Speech Resolution Guest: Aurora Grajeda, Hispanic/Latino Anti-Defamation Coalition |
| Media News - August 20, 2009 Subject: Loss of Public Affairs Desks in Broadcast Television Guest: Jackie Wright |
| Media News - August 6, 2009 Subject: The Allied Media Conference Guest: Shanina Shumate, TEMPO |
| Media News - July 30, 2009 Subject: San Francisco Public Acccess Guest: Ron Vincent |
| Media News - July 16, 2009 Subject: Media Coverage of Iranian Election Guest: Roshan Pourabdollah - United for Iran NC |
| Media News - July 2, 2009 Subject: The Media and Male Body Image Guest: Tommy Morahan, San Francisco State University |
| 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). |
| National Civil Rights and Public Interest Groups Ask FCC to Immediately Fix Wireless Auction Rules Meant to Help Small Businesses Compete with Large Companies http://www.bizjournals.com/losangeles/prnewswire/press_releases/national/District_of_Columbia/2009/04/02/PH93879 Leaders from ten prominent civil rights, women and minority interest organizations have been making the rounds meeting with FCC Commissioners asking them to reverse 2006 rule changes that, since adopted, have virtually eliminated the ability of small and minority businesses to compete against large wireless companies for valuable spectrum at FCC auctions. |
| 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. |
| Eloise Lee on the Digital Television Transition - Hard Knock Radio MA program director Eloise Lee in conversation with Anita Johnson about the digital television transition, community media and where we go from here. |
| National Broadband Policy for the Twenty-First Century: Thoughts from the Grassroots This Media Alliance report is a compilation of several events held in the state of California in 2008 where grassroots groups and members of the community gathered to discuss the the Internet. |
| Oakland Digital Television Center Assistance Center Launched Now open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 11am-5pm at 1431 23rd Avenue in Oakland. (510) 533-7266. Update February 4, 2009 - Transition date rescheduled to June 12, 2009 |
| The Day TV Goes Away: The Digital Television Transition KQED Interview with Tracy Rosenberg (Op-Ed) On February 17, 2009, analog television signals will stop. |
| 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? |
| Digital Infrastructure: By the Community, For the Community by Eloise Lee
In East Palo Alto, we’ve realized that it’s not a case of ‘if you build it, they will come.’ |
 | 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. |
 | Media Alliance in Mother Jones |