Below is a letter for you to customize to send to your Senator or Congress person:
Dear Representative_____,
Dear Senator ___,
(In this first paragraph, introduce yourself and say that you reside in their district. If you are a radio professional, mention that too.)
I want my local radio back because I care about my community. Radio is the only communications infrastructure that reaches everyone, young and old, rich or poor. It has the potential to unite cities and jump-start new music movements, charities and small businesses.
Not too long ago, you and I would have heard radio stations competing for our attention with the best programming that they could create. Today they are understaffed, automated, and lifeless. Some try to blame the Internet, but the downsizing of radio occurred before the Internet came to prominence.
Radio became vulnerable when the Telecommunications Act of 1996 opened the floodgates to consolidation. Our local cultures and economies are suffering without the nurturing presence of local commercial radio. Please help America take back the diverse voice that it lost when these locally-owned stations were forced into corporate groups. I urge you to enact legislation to undo the Telecommunications Act provisions that consolidated radio.
Respectfully,
your name here