Cox Radio, Inc. announced that it has entered into an agreement in principle to acquire the outstanding capital stock of Marlin Broadcasting, Inc., which owns radio stations WTMI-FM serving Miami, WCCC-FM and WCCC-AM serving Hartford, Connecticut and WBOQ-FM serving Glouchester, Massachusetts, for approximately $125 million. As part of this transaction, Cox Radio will sell the assets of WCCC-FM, WCCC-AM, and WBOQ-FM to certain principals of Marlin Broadcasting for approximately $25 million.
With the addition of WTMI-FM, Cox Radio will own, operate or provide sales and marketing services for 4 FM stations serving the Miami market, the nation's 12th largest radio revenue market.
Cox Radio is the fifth largest radio company in the United States based on net revenues. Upon the close of all announced transactions, Cox Radio will own, operate, or provide sales and marketing services for 76 stations (57 FM and 19 AM) clustered in 15 markets.

Entercom Communications Corp. announced the acquisition of five radio stations in Wichita, Kansas and the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire an additional station in that market.
Entercom also announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire a station in Greenville/Spartanburg, SC.
In Wichita the completed acquisition is for stations KEYN-FM, KWSJ-FM, KFH-AM, KNSS-AM and KQAM-AM from the Wichita Stations Trust, a trust formed for the benefit of a Capstar divestiture in that market, and announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire KDGS-FM in that market from Gary and Viola Violet.
Entercom also announced the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire WHYZ-AM in Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina from WHYZ Radio, L.P. Entercom currently owns seven other stations in that market.
Upon completion of recently announced acquisitions, Entercom will be the fourth largest radio broadcasting company in the United States and will own or operate 92 stations in 17 markets, including Boston, Seattle, Portland, Sacramento, Kansas City, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Memphis, Buffalo, Norfolk, Greensboro, Rochester, Greenville/Spartanburg, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Wichita, Gainesville/Ocala and Longview/Kelso, Washington.

At its recent Board meeting the Pacifica Foundation elected new leadership which will take charge later this year.
New officers and five new Board members were elected. When Chairperson Dr. Mary Frances Berry's term ends in September, David Acosta, current Vice-Chairperson, will succeed her. Ken Ford, a board member and current member of the Executive Committee, will succeed Acosta as Vice Chairperson...The Foundation also announced that Lynn Chadwick is resigning as Executive Director but will remain as a consultant, tracking litigation, regulatory issues and other matters. Dr. Berry and the Board expressed their gratitude to Chadwick for her service during difficult times. Bessie Wash, manager of WPFW FM in Washington, one of Pacifica's most successful stations, was named Executive Director to succeed Ms. Chadwick. She will also remain as station manager.
In announcing these changes at the meeting, Berry pointed out that "the network is fiscally sound and growing in some sectors. Greater financial resources for national programming, exploiting the possibilities of new technologies, and greater attention to community service remain problem areas. Challenges lie ahead," Berry added, "but I believe the new leadership team has just the right mix of commitment and talent to extend the reach of the progressive voice in the new Millennium."

A new noncommercial low power FM radio service created by the Federal Communications Commission last month came under fire from major broadcasters in a recent court challenge.
The National Association of Broadcasters said the new service, expected to be used primarily by churches, schools and community groups, would create too much interference with existing radio stations.
The group asked the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to throw out the FCC plan.
"The FCC has violated its most sacred trust to the American consumer," NAB President Edward Fritts said in a statement. "It has turned its back on spectrum integrity. The plan to cram in hundreds, if not thousands, of low power FM stations will create unacceptable interference across the radio dial."
Backers of the new service said the FCC would be upheld, pointing to test results showing no undue interference.
"The FCC was on absolutely solid legal ground," said Cheryl Leanza, who represented low power proponents and is deputy director of the Media Access Project. "It had a wide ranging technical record before it and made a very conservative decision."

Commerce Chairman Tom Bliley (R-VA) is scheduled to deliver the following statement today at a Telecommunications,Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee hearing on "Low Power FM: A Review of the FCC's Spectrum Management Responsibilities and H.R. 3439, the Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act" ... "It is obvious by reading the testimony of today's witnesses that this issue is a controversial one that warrants Congressional consideration. I am pleased that this Committee can at least have the opportunity today, that we did not have last month, to delve into both the policy and technical issues surrounding this newly proposed service"...(visit story link for full statement)

Future Committee Action
Thursday, February 17, 2000 10:00 am in 2322 Rayburn House Office Building.
Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade and Consumer Protection hearing titled "A Review of the FCC's Spectrum Management Responsibilities in addition to H.R. 3439, the Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act."
The audio of all public Committee hearings are broadcast via the Internet. The Committee's webcasting capacity is limited, so please visit http://www.house.gov/commerce 15 minutes prior to the beginning of the hearing. The free Real Player is also required. (http://www.real.com)

Under pressure from religious broadcasters and conservative lawmakers, the Federal Communications Commission reversed a recent ruling yesterday that would have meant religious programming could no longer qualify as educational.
In their 4 to 1 vote, FCC commissioners admitted that they had created "less certainty rather than more."

Religious radio stations are condemning new government restrictions on broadcasting as unwise, unfair, and quite possibly unconstitutional.
The Federal Communications Commission has ruled that such radio stations might have to nix shows devoted to religious "proselytizing."
The agency's little-noticed decision published on 30 December said some types of religious stations will have to spend at least half their broadcast time on "general educational" programming, and talking about personal religious views and beliefs doesn't count. Church services? Not a chance. Translation: Effective immediately, radio stations that don't meet the new FCC standards could have their licenses yanked.

Protesters Take Aim at KPFK, Host's Statements
By JUDITH MICHAELSON, Times Staff Writer

About 40 demonstrators carried placards and chanted slogans in front of public radio station KPFK-FM (90.7) for two hours late Monday afternoon, protesting what they characterized as KPFK's censorship, as well as statements by Marc Cooper, a major on-air personality, about Mumia Abu-Jamal, who is on death row in Pennsylvania for the slaying of a policeman in 1981. "Free press, free speech, free Mumia" was a frequent chant, as protesters reacted to a Jan. 6 article in New York Press by Cooper--host of a daily show from 4 to 5 p.m. on KPFK and the syndicated show "Radio Nation" (Fridays at 7 a.m.)--which was the focal point of Monday's demonstration. While arguing against the death penalty--"even for the guilty"--he wrote, "If I go to one more lefty event, and see one more 'Free Mumia' poster, I might just have to switch sides. . . . What collective affliction has overcome my
fellow pinkos?" John Martinez, a former volunteer producer host of "Radio Chicano," an arts and public affairs show that was dropped by the station last fall, and a spokesman for the Los Angeles Coalition for Free Speech Radio, which organized the protest, said that the free speech argument does not prevail in this case, calling Cooper's attack on Mumia "biased [and] vicious." A long list of other complaints not tied to Cooper were outlined in a Pacifica Reporters Against Censorship letter dated Jan. 24 to Mary Frances Berry, chairwoman of Pacifica Foundation, and distributed during the protest. Martinez said the protest was timed to coincide with the opening day of an on-air fund-raising drive at the Los Angeles Pacifica outlet. It was part of a nearly yearlong fight by grass-roots community groups, which has included at least seven staged protests, against the Pacifica network and KPFK over programming and on-air dissent, he added.
On Tuesday, KPFK General Manager Mark Schubb called the censorship charges "ridiculous," and dismissed the protesters as "just a tiny faction." "Any time any person is dropped for any reason, their response is to glue 'censorship' to it. Freedom is unprecedented [at KPFK]. If someone loses a show, most often it's because no one's listening to it." The protesters have a long list of what they deem to be censored programs as well as a "gag rule" they say the station has in place against reporting on the Pacifica turmoil, which limited on-air coverage to Associated Press reports. Schubb countered the charge, saying at the height of the Pacifica protests last summer the station opened phone lines for listeners to call in and discuss the issue. While protests last summer at Berkeley involving sister station KPFA-FM erupted in sit-ins and arrests, Monday's demonstration at the North Hollywood station was noisy but peaceful.

More than 40 free-lance reporters for Pacifica News went on strike yesterday to protest censorship at the free-speech radio network after months of turmoil that began with the firing of a popular station manager at KPFA in Berkeley.
The journalists say they will not contribute to national and international newscasts until the network ends its gag rule
preventing reports of continuing conflicts between Pacifica and the staffs of its five radio stations.