"National Public Radio (NPR), Public Radio International (PRI), the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), and the hundreds of public TV and radio stations across the U.S. are the institutions which, in aggregate, are known as public radio and television. Over the past 10 years, these publicly funded organizations have collaborated with corporate interests to erode the distinctions between commercial and non-commercial broadcasting, leading to the creation of a privatized "public" broadcast system that meets the needs of corporate and governmental sponsors but leaves local communities, ethnic "minorities," and the listening public out in the cold.

The recent response of these "public" entities to two new broadcast technologies--Low Power FM radio (LPFM) and satellite radio--hint at what public radio will likely become in the future, unless grassroots producers and listeners mobilize to reverse the current trends...

...Satellite radio, on the other hand, will allow two multinational corporate consortiums to broadcast up to 100 radio channels each--direct from space--to specially equipped radios anywhere in the U.S. It will require the manufacture of millions of new receivers, costly and risky launches of multiple satellites into stationary orbits over the U.S., and millions of dollars from advertising and mandatory monthly subscriptions to keep it functioning. Content will be determined by two private corporations, Sirius and XM Satellite Radio, with none of the channels mandated to provide public broadcasting. Sadly, most of "public" radio has thrown its support behind satellite radio, and used deception and insider political clout to limit FCC licensing of Low Power FM stations."

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