For those interested in the welfare of the first, best and most-potentially democratic form of the electronic mass media (I'm speaking of radio of course) then this is a great book to add to your collection. If you are new to the issues facing LPFM and radio in general, this is a great place to start. Ruggiero does a great job of presenting the LPFM case, the roadblocks it faces and in a neat twist, tells us what we can do to help change things. Of course, you can only go so deep in 63 pamphlet-sized pages, but the book is definitely a good first step. For anyone who wants to dive in deeper, check out Chomsky, McChesney, Bettig or Jhally, just to name a few.
On the down side, the book is a bit dated in its description of the LPFM movement, but that shouldn't be held against it. The biggest problem I have with the book is the number of typos - I mean come on - if you want people to take your message seriously you should do a better job of proofreading. But if you are not so narrow-minded that you can't get past it, then the book is solid.
For me, the message is more important than picking at the mistakes. Radio has the unique power - over TV, computers, the internet - to be the world's best democratic force in terms of dissemination of messages, cost and portability. If the day comes where anyone can go to the drugstore, buy a *computer* for under five bucks, get free access to the outside world, and not get a hernia from carrying it around, then radio may have to hang it up. Since that won't happen anytime soon however, radio is still the way to go. Its just a shame that there is a need for the LPFM movement to exist, given the current dearth of truly public programming on the radio.
Anyone who wishes to debate this issue, feel free to email me - I need to sharpen my teeth a bit :)
Viva la radio! Power to the people!
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