Rocking the Inauguration!

You may have heard that our town is gonna get pretty wild around inauguration. Factor in the legendary Chicago venue the Hideout bringing kick-ass bands to the Black Cat in D.C., and a raucous party is a given. And we'll be on hand to make sure.

On Monday January 19, Chicago's Hideout Club and Interchange are bringing some of the finest musical talent in the Windy City right here to Washington, DC. "The Big Shoulders Ball: Chicago Celebrates Change" features such incredible Chicago-based artists as Andrew Bird, Tortoise, Waco Brothers, Eleventh Dream Day, Jon Langford, Sally Timms, David "Honeyboy" Edwards, Ken Vandermark, Freakwater, Icy Demons and Judson Claiborne, plus special guests to be announced. (FMC Deputy Director Jean Cook will also be playing with one or more bands!)

Proceeds from this amazing show will go to the Chicago Public Schools marching bands program and FMC. Tickets are $50, and available at the Black Cat and Ticketmaster. A show like this is certain to sell out very quickly, so grab yours now!

You'll also get to play dress-up! Ball-goers are encouraged (but not required) to wear vintage, thrift-store, hand-me-down and ex-bridesmaid formal attire. New administration aside, this is a rock show.

We'd also like to take a moment here and recognize how incredibly awesome the Hideout is, as a venue and as a group of people. In addition to their regular venue schedule that includes some of today's best indie rock, bluegrass and jazz, they organize an annual Hideout Block Party that attracts thousands of music lovers to Chicago. They've also played host to FMC's own events and have actively worked to spread the word about FMC in the Chicago community.

We'd love to celebrate this incredible moment with you. There's plenty of work to be done in 2009, but before we roll up our sleeves, let's take a night to party with some incredible music and great company. Hope to see you there!

The Hideout Presents: The Big Shoulders Ball
Monday, January 19, 2009
The Black Cat
1811 14th Street, Washington DC
202-667-4490
Buy tix: www.blackcatdc.com or www.ticketmaster.com

Report from Chicago

On September 19, FMC's Jenny Toomey and Jean Cook headed to Chicago to host the Rock the Media party at Delilah’s in Chicago. The culmination of a week’s worth of trainings in advance of the final FCC Media Ownership hearing in Chicago, the party brought media activists and music lovers together to enjoy local hip hop from DJ Sean Doe, and a rousing performance by Jon Langford and Co. Sitting in with the band was FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein on harmonica, who played Johnny Cash covers late into the night.

The next day, over 800 people turned out at the hearing the next day at the Rainbow PUSH Coalition HQ on the south side of Chicago. From that evening, here's one of the most eloquent voices for hip hop, KRS-1, voicing his concerns about media ownership to the FCC.



Listen to his entire statement here.

For more amazing and inspirational testimony from some of the over 200 local community radio advocates visit Stop Big Media. For Chicagoans, you can view coverage of the entire hearing on CAN TV (Channel 21) on Sunday, October 14th from 9am-5pm.

Speak up for media diversity in Chicago!

On Sept. 20 in Chicago, the FCC will be holding a crucial public hearing on media ownership. If you care about getting more indie music on the air, the diversity of voices on the airwaves, localism, and breaking the grip of big media conglomerates, it's important that you attend.

The public hearing is the fifth of six the FCC is holding around the country as it prepares to revise rules on broadcast ownership. Public hearings can be sleep inducing, but as they go this one couldn't be more important. The FCC is reviewing limits on local television and radio ownership, limits on the cross-ownership of TV or radio stations and a newspaper in a particular market, and limits on television/radio cross radio ownership among other rules.

Anyone that's watched the homogenizing effect of Clear Channel on the nation's radio landscape knows how relaxing ownership limits can have a negative impact on the media. Clear Channel became a behemoth following deregulation of the radio industry in the mid-1990s. It's not just radio we need to worry about either. Many major cities are seeing an unprecedented waive of media consolidation. For instance, nearly every daily newspaper in the Bay Area is now owned by a single media company.

Chicago is no exception as our friends over at Free Press have observed in a recent study of media diversity:

Chicago has one of the lowest levels of minority ownership among markets of its size and diversity. Research conducted by Free Press, the national media reform group, found that racial and ethnic minorities make up nearly two-thirds of Chicago’s population but own only 5 percent of the city’s full-power commercial radio and TV stations. Despite comprising half of the population, women own just 6 percent of the city’s radio and TV stations.

The hearing will be held at the Operation PUSH headquarters on the south side of Chicago. It will run from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. and those interested in commenting during the public comment section of the hearing need to sign up before hand by e-mailing fcc504@fcc.gov or
by calling 202-418-0530. For the address of the hearing and further details, see the FCC press release.