FM radio stations available to public Utility ranks below average

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Jul 26, 2000 by Kenneth Lassiter Capital-Journal

Project aims to allow noncommercial community access.

See RADIO, page 3-C

Radio

"I look at it as a way to provide information for neighborhoods and help empower them."

--- DON MILLER, coordinator of special projects for the city of Topeka

By KENNETH LASSITER

The Capital-Journal

An Oregon-based group is trying to educate the public about low- power FM radio stations and their benefit to the community through a workshop Friday at six Kansas locations.

The Microradio Implementation Project is a national LPFM initiative funded by the Ford Foundation and operated under the Office of Communication Inc. of the United Church of Christ, which has advocated public interest issues before the Federal Communications Commission for the past 30 years.

The FCC voted Jan. 20 to create a new low-power FM radio service to allow communities direct access to the radio. The service has been provided to 10 states, including California. Kansans will be able to apply to the FCC for the service throughout August. The FCC decision marked the first opportunity in more than 20 years for the public to apply for non-commercial community radio licenses.

The MIP and Don Miller, coordinator of special projects for the city of Topeka, coordinated the event, which will be conducted from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the KU Capitol Complex Center in room 201 of the Kansas National Education Association Building, 715 S.W. 10th. The free workshop will be shown through the Kansas Board of Regents' telnet equipment simultaneously to audiences in Chanute, Dodge City, Norton, Salina and Wichita.

Nan Rubin, a community media specialist from New York with 20 years of radio experience, will lead the workshop, which is geared toward community groups, activists, musicians, religious groups, municipal agencies, multi-cultural and language-specific organizations and other nonprofit organizations. Topics will include the possibilities for LPFM in the community, developing support for LPFM, filling out the FCC LPFM application and technical requirements for constructing a low-budget radio project.

Miller said the typical LPFM station has a listening area of two to five miles from where the signal is broadcast and can cost between $1,000 and $10,000 in equipment to set up.

"I work a great deal with at-risk neighborhoods in my job, and what got me interested in the project was thinking of the Hispanic community in Topeka," Miller said. "There is no news media outlet for Hispanics in Topeka if they don't speak English. I look at it as a way to provide information for neighborhoods and help empower them."

Miller said that, in states where LPFM has been opened to the public, about 50 percent of the applications have been from religious organizations. He said his mission as well as that of the Microradio Implementation Project is to expand the idea of low-power FM to more than just churches. He said it is also important to let people know about LPFM before the one-month window of opportunity to file for the service is gone.

"You've only got that month to apply, and then if you're approved, you have 18 months to get the station up and running," Miller said. "I think we could be far more creative besides just having faith communities running these stations."

Miller said the opening of low-power FM to the public has generated some opposition from commercial stations and public radio stations nationally but said he hasn't heard of any local opposition.

"The national opposition has mainly centered, from what I understand, on the potential for these stations to interfere with the other stations' signal," Miller said. "With the low wattage of these stations, I would say that interference isn't likely."

The workshop is free and open to the public, but a reservation is recommended. For a reservation, contact Miller at 368-4468 or MIP toll-free at (877) 468-8884, or microradioproject@earthlink.net.

Kenneth Lassiter can be reached at

(785) 295-1207 or klassiter@cjonline.com.

"It basically means that relative to other electric utilities there are some opportunities for improvement."

--- JIM GAZ, director of energy services, J.D. Power and Associates

See UTILITY, page 3-C

Utility

By JIM McLEAN

The Capital-Journal

Western Resources received a below-average ranking recently in a survey that charted customer satisfaction with the country's 75 largest electric utilities.

Conducted by J.D. Power and Associates, the survey placed Western behind 50 other utilities, including the Kansas City Power & Light Co.

The results were based on extensive interviews with 24,000 consumers about the reliability of utilities, the quality of customer service and the cost of power. Respondents also were asked to assess the overall image of their electric provider.

J.D. Power is a market research firm based in Agoura Hills, Calif., that is perhaps best known for the quality and customer satisfaction measurements it does for the automobile industry.

LG&E Energy, the parent company of Kentucky Utilities and Louisville Gas and Electric, scored 117 on the survey's customer satisfaction index, well above the industry average of 101. Western was one of 21 companies that fell short of the average. Their individual scores weren't listed.