FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                          News Media Contact:
May 13, 1999                                                        David Fiske at (202) 418-0500

          Statement of FCC Chairman William E. Kennard
            at Roundtable Discussion on Low Power FM

     Thank you Reverend Mack, Reverend Campbell, Reverend Parker.  

     Many of you may not know this history, but in 1964, on his own, Reverend Parker
reviewed the practices of local television stations in Jackson, Mississippi. He found that the
black population of Jackson-- 45 percent of the audience -- was ignored by the local media. 
Even worse, when the national networks ran an interview with Dr. Martin Luther King, the
local stations replaces the network feed with a sign indicating network signal problems.  

     Reverend Parker joined with the NAACP and challenged theses stations'  licenses. 
While the FCC expressed regret at the actions of the television stations, they approved their
licenses anyway.  Reverend Parker then took the FCC to court.  And won.  In an opinion by
the future Chief Justice of the United States, the court held that the FCC failed in its duty to
protect the interest of the community.  

     That the FCC has a duty to ensure that licensees of the public airwaves serve their local
communities.

     In the last few months, I've heard from thousands of people who want to use the
airwaves to speak to their communities -- churches, community groups, elementary schools,
colleges, and minority groups.   In the Commission's proposal for a low power radio service,
these people see the opportunity to have their voices carry through their communities.  To
have their voices heard.  And to bring together their communities through a shared message
broadcast to all -- whether a church service, a school concert or assembly, or a speech by a
local public official. 

     As FCC Chairman my job is ensure that the public spectrum is used to benefit all
Americans. But we must do it in a way that protects existing broadcast signals and does not
impede the conversion to digital radio. We need to work together   and together with existing
broadcasters   to make this work for everyone.

                                                               - FCC -