SAN ANTONIO - Dozens of citizens, many forcefully expressing their frustration and anger at big media companies and broadcasters, told members of the Federal Communications Commission on Wednesday that broadcasters aren't always serving the community.

Hundreds lined up to speak during one of two open microphone segments of the FCC hearing in San Antonio, Texas on Wednesday. The FCC's hearing Wednesday is its second on localism. The first one, in Charlotte, N.C., took place last October and drew 350 people. (Photo/Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News)

A standing-room-only and often intense crowd packed into the City Council Chambers to testify at one of six public hearings being held around the nation.

About one-fourth of the 500 people at the 51/2-hour hearing lined up during the question-and-answer session to talk to FCC commissioners. Some had waited more than 12 hours to explain, in sometimes emotional statements, why they are opposed to deregulation of media ownership.

Many spoke out against profane, violent and sexually explicit information being broadcast on the TV and radio and others blasted corporate ownership of local media. Still others expressed a desire for low-band FM radio stations in San Antonio and nationwide.

Some of the speakers turned out early to get a seat inside the public hearing.

A few lined up outside the municipal building before 4 a.m. They brought coffee, sleeping bags, cots and even a tent to shield themselves against the cold.

Once inside, many told FCC commissioners that the "airwaves belong to the people" and said deregulation of media ownership leads to more corporate control of the airwaves.

FCC Chairman Michael Powell extended the hearing until everyone who'd lined up to talk had a chance to speak. Commissioners Kathleen Abernathy, Kevin Martin, Michael Copps and Jonathan Adelstein and most of the panel members, including activists, industry executives and artists, listened until the last speaker — at 11 p.m.

Powell said the purpose of the hearing was to judge how well local radio and TV broadcasters are serving the public's interest to decide whether a radio or television station should have its license renewed.

"I see these hearings as an opportunity to bring these license renewals to life," Powell said. "Renewals are not just a Beltway phenomena."

At an open microphone session, Scott Frost, 16, a junior at Marshall High School, implored the FCC commissioners to listen to the public more than corporate America.

"What I'm asking is you protect our interest," said Frost, who got permission from his mom to miss school to line up at 8 a.m. to speak to commissioners. "You protect our views and you protect us."

Second-grade teacher Anita Cisneros, 30, said San Antonio needs high-quality bilingual, educational and other local programs that represent Mexican-Americans and Chicanos.

"I want quality and accessibility," Cisneros told the commissioners.

Some thanked local broadcasters for providing help with disaster relief, emergency alerts such as the Amber alert and support for local nonprofits and charities.

Margarita Chavez, 30, of Abilene, told the FCC Commissioners the Amber alert broadcast warning system helped save her daughter, Nancy, 18 months old, when she was kidnapped from a Wal-Mart parking in August of 2002. She thanked local broadcasters for helping save her daughter.

Michele Brown with the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation credited San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications for sponsoring a foundation fund-raiser and helping raise awareness of the disease in San Antonio.

But Clear Channel's supporters were outnumbered by speakers who berated the company for what they said is homogenized music and information over the radio airwaves. Clear Channel's critics repeatedly have said that the company has become too powerful and that it doesn't promote local news, music and views. The company has grown from 40 stations to 1,200.

Ray Benson of Austin, who founded the band Asleep at the Wheel, said today's radio music is the same in San Antonio as it is in Cleveland. The lack of independently owned stations has led to a lack of diverse music on the radio.

"A lot of great music is not being heard," Benson said.

Things were different in the early '70s, Benson said. Then, regional musicians with hits in local markets had a chance to make it big. Now, he said, access has now been limited to small handful of players with a lot of money.

Tom Glade, vice president of Clear Channel in San Antonio, defended the radio giant, saying localism is the focus of all of its radio stations. If the radio station doesn't cater to the public, listeners simply turn the dial, he said.

All of Clear Channel's stations provide local newscasts, traffic and weather, Glade said. Last year, the stations donated more than $3 million in commercial time and raised $6 million for San Antonio charities and civic causes.

"Clear Channel may be a big company that operates a lot of radio stations, but I can tell you that it is my job as a local market manager to run my stations as I best see fit to meet the needs of our local audience," Glade said.

Aside from media ownership and diversity, another big concern at the hearing focused on indecent material on the airwaves.

"Hollywood isn't interested in what America wants, so our local broadcasters need to be," said Ray Rossman, director of Parents Television Council in San Antonio, whose remarks were punctuated by applause.

Robert McGann, president and general manager of KENS-TV in San Antonio, said local broadcasters place a premium on creating high-quality local news and non-entertainment information to serve local audiences. Localism is driven in every local television market by community service and the principal of economics, he said

"Localism is what we are all about," McGann said. "It is the business of local television."

Lydia Camarillo, vice president of Southwest Voter Registration Education Project in San Antonio, said diversity of media ownership "breeds competition and competition breeds better journalism."

She urged the FCC to encourage more minority ownership of local television and radio stations.

"If our stories are being told, they are not being told by Latinos," Camarillo said.

The FCC's hearing Wednesday is its second on localism. The first one, in Charlotte, N.C., took place last October and drew 350 people.

Copps, who last year held hearings on localism, said: "Media ownership is totally germane to any discussion of localism."

Broadcasters have been given very special privileges and they have a big responsibility to serve their local audiences, he noted.

© 2004 San Antonio Express-News.

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