How do I petition the FCC? Our local PBS station is being sold to a religious broadcaster!

[Lorien]

Can someone here please tell me how so send a petition to the FCC.gov? I've searched their site and can't find a link.

WMFE sale: Dallas religious broadcaster is the buyer


Jose Fajardo is in charge at public broadcaster WMFE. Photo credit: Sean Pitts/Orlando Sentinel

Daystar Television Network, an evangelical Christian broadcaster based in Dallas, plans to buy public television station WMFE-Channel 24 for about $5 million, several sources knowledgeable about the deal said Sunday.

WMFE announced Friday that it was selling the PBS station because it is no longer financially viable. Jose Fajardo, WMFE president and CEO, said he couldn’t confirm the buyer and price until the information becomes public in a Federal Communications Commission filing. The information could be released today.

Daystar bought Dallas PBS station KDTN in 2004, but it failed in attempts to purchase KOCE, which is now the main PBS station in the Los Angeles area. The public can object to the WMFE sale by petitioning the FCC and raising concerns at fcc.gov. Daystar officials could not be reached Sunday night.

More: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2011/04/wmfe-sale-dallas-religious-broadcaster-is-the-buyer.html

BTW- Fajardo is a Right Wing nutjob who hated working for PBS, but he was so incompetent that no one else would have him.

[SharonAnn]

1. Daystar searches for "mus carry" stations so that they'll be on all local cable networks.

Then, they have lots of guaranteed households who can view their "pray for pay", 24 hour, beg-athons.

They bought a great little local channel here, guaranteeing that they'd provide local coverage also, and switched it to their HQ lineup except for one local Sunday morning service. Not sure if they're still doing that.

They're pure greed. They're the "religious" rich.

[Lorien]

2. We already have FIVE religious stations like that in Orlando

but no other PBS station that can be accessed by anyone without cable.

[southernyankeebelle]

22. We have alot of religious stations. I feel like we are being taken advantaged of. I don't want all

those religious channels. We finally got a catholic channel in my rural area. We only have one catholic church in my town. But I don't want all those religious channels. I wish they would let us take them off and let us choose other channels in their place.

[Lorien]

3. Anyone?

[KamaAina]

16. Try this

[e-mail]

They should at least be able to tell you where to go, so that you can tell Daystar where to go. :evilgrin:

[snagglepuss]

4. I have no idea but why not call the station and ask them how you can best help.

Good luck.

[AndyTiedye]

5. So He Runs the Local PBS Station Into the Ground and Sells it to the Fundies

BTW- Fajardo is a Right Wing nutjob who hated working for PBS, but he was so incompetent that no one else would have him.

Perhaps this was his mission all along, to run the PBS station into the ground so they would be 'forced' to sell to the Fundies.

[Lorien]

6. Could be. His coworkers said that he hated anything "liberal" and had no interest

in most of the programming. I wouldn't be surprised if he was embezzling from the studio. It was great before he took charge. Now Orlando will just be another hicksville.

[alp227]

7. Seriously? Religion replacing PBS?

I just read about this on Broadcasting & Cable. It was disappointing enough to learn about another PBS station going down, but now a religious network buying it? When society's been corrupted enough by religion, and Fox News and the right-wing fundamentalist noise machine have successfully controlled the American political dialogue and intimidated our politicians? Really? Is this what we need now?

So HOLLER AT THE FCC! I don't know if you can receive the secondary PBS stations in Orlando as they're located in other places in the metro area.

It seems that most of the reps in the Orlando area are Republicans, including "Taliban" Daniel Webster, but you can maybe get something productive from Corrine Brown.

[AndyTiedye]

8. That is Much of What is Behind the Push to Kill off Public Broadcasting

The fundie broadcasters are waiting in the wings to grab up all those stations on the cheap.

[alp227]

13. meanwhile PBS Newshour anchor Jim Lehrer just won a Natl Press Award

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=109x40074

[Lorien]

20. Indeed. I truly miss Grayson. He would have helped us fight against this. nt

[KamaAina]

9. This AGAIN?!

Those slime very nearly succeeded in hoovering up KOCE in Orange County. Good thing we stopped them -- KCET in Los Angeles just left PBS in a dispute over membership fees, so KOCE is now the flagship PBS station in SoCal.

Bear in mind that those frequencies are reserved for noncommercial EDUCATIONAL use. Being told that I'm going to Hell 24/7/365 hardly qualifies as "educational". :eyes:

[KamaAina]

14. There is precedent for stopping this

a different fundy group tried to buy Pittsburgh's secondary PBS station, with assistance from none other than John McCain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WQEX#Controversy

WQED's initial application to take WQEX commercial was rejected outright by the Federal Communications Commission,<10> leaving it to pursue an alternate plan by which the station was almost sold to religious broadcaster Cornerstone Television in 1999. The original plan was to move WPCB-TV from channel 40 (a commercial license) to channel 16 (non-commercial educational WQEX), with Paxson Communications buying channel 40 and converting it to a Pax TV affiliate. This move, which would have led to a $35 million payout being split equally between Cornerstone and WQED, was approved conditionally by the Federal Communications Commission in 2000, after lobbying by Republican Senator John McCain on behalf of PAX's Lowell Paxson, an intervention which Senator McCain would later deny having made. However, in response to vociferous concerns from members of the Pittsburgh local community, the FCC did impose one condition on the sale: half of Cornerstone's programming needed to be of educational value, effectively respecting the non-commercial educational condition of WQEX's existing license. Cornerstone flatly refused, abruptly backing out of the proposed deal. Religious programming doesn't qualify as educational if it's "primarily devoted to religious exhortation, proselytizing or statements of personally held religious views or beliefs," according to the FCC's ruling conditionally allowing religious broadcaster Cornerstone TV to take over WQEX and add educational content to the station. Although the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) abruptly reversed its position less than a month later removing the condition in response to intense political and legislative pressure (from whom, I wonder? -Ed.), Cornerstone withdrew its application and the sale was cancelled, keeping WQEX as a WQED-TV simulcast.

[Lorien]

19. Thanks for that. I'll send this to my friends who work for WMFE

This could give them something to work with as they fight the sale.

[KamaAina]

10. Brevard Community College has a PBS station whose signal covers Orlando.

Might be wise to cozy up to them as sort of a Plan B.

[KamaAina]

12. As, it turns out, does Daytona State.

So there's no way the fundies can turn Central Fla. into a Big Bird- (and Frontline-)free zone. Still, best to stop them here, before they buy out CBS or something. :scared:

[KamaAina]

11. Wait for the official filing to come out

possibly as soon as today. Instructions for public input should be on it. Use them early and often!

[KamaAina]

15. Read it and weep

https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101422630&formid=314&fac_num=12855

still can't find the public comment section.

One of the directors is listed as a Lee Janzen of Orlando. Culd that be the golfer?! Edit: Yeppers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Janzen#Professional_career

Janzen has lived in various places in Central Florida since becoming a professional golfer. He frequently speaks about his Christian beliefs. :puke: Wonder if he tells his audiences he used to credit Tony Robbins for improving his game?

[AndyTiedye]

17. Here a Link to the FCC's Electronic Comment Filing System

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/ecfs/

[Lorien]

18. Thanks Andy! nt

[AndyTiedye]

21. BTW, A Good Antenna Might Get You a Lot More PBS Stations

This one worked wonders for my TV reception:


Terrestrial Digital XG91

[Raine]

23. Those EXACT same asshole tried to buy KOCE in CA

luckily they were beaten back but KOCE still has to have continuous fundraising because of the damage they did. :mad:

[Armstead]

24. Maybe another avenue -- Like challenging the sale from an...

...organizational standpoint.

Did the stations have a lot of support and one guy ran it into the ground? if so maybe maybe help raise a legal or simply public support challenge.

Just a thought.

[KamaAina]

25. Other fundies are going after noncommercial radio hard

especially NPR, of course. They briefly succeeded in knocking it off the air in Lake Charles, La.. by applying for a full-power station on the frequency the NPR affiliate in nearby Lafayette was using for a translator (repeater) station. (Full-power stations always take precedence over translators, as the fundies knew quite well.) Eventually the Lafayette station had to move its main transmitter site west, at considerable cost, in order to also serve Lake Charles.

Another favorite trick of theirs is to abuse the notion of translator stations, which are meant to provide coverage either in areas near the main station that are blocked by mountainous terrain, or at the fringes of the main service area (like Lake Charles). And yet somehow or other, there's a station in Twin Falls, Idaho that has a translator station on O'ahu. :wtf: (There may be one near you, too: it spews vapid Xtian pop and calls itself "The Effect". :puke: )

[upi402]

26. Propaganda disease is a devil that PBS never should have kissed

Now PBS is getting fucked and wondering- "why?... somebody save us!!!"