Community radio pioneer and RM-2493 co-author Jeremy Lansman has died

His petition, filed five decades ago, sparked an urban legend that still continues to circulate to this day.

Jeremy Lansman - photo credit: Ineke Buskens (fair use)

On December 29, 2024, community radio icon Jeremy Lansman has passed away. Lansman was involved with community radio in the early days including KFAT, Gilroy, CA, KRAB, Seattle, WA and KDNA, St. Louis, MO. Lansman was also involved with one of the early “Franken FM” stations, KZND-LP, Anchorage, AK, which used its analog audio carrier on 87.75 MHz to operate like a radio station.

In 1974, Lansman, along with Lorenzo Milam filed a Petition for Rulemaking with the Federal Communications Commission which was routinely assigned RM-2493. The Petition challenged the eligibility of faith-based organizations to be able to operate noncommercial educational (NCE) stations in spectrum that was reserved for NCE broadcast stations. The Petition also covered other NCE related issues such as ownership caps, that were not directly related to the religious broadcasting issue. The Petition, especially the part that discussed religious broadcasting, was denied on the grounds that it would compromise the Commission’s neutrality.

Milam was also known for his book Sex and Broadcasting, which became the early handbook on how to start a community radio station.

During the RM-2493 proceeding, the FCC received an estimated 700,000 letters to the to oppose this petition. At the time, many of the letters mistakenly suspected that this petition was actually filed by Madalyn Murray O’Hair, the founder of American Atheists. According to the rumors that were spread at the time, RM-2493, if adopted by the FCC would ban all religious broadcasting including Christmas carols, the reading of the Gospel and television shows like “Touched By An Angel”. With the evolution of email and the internet, other variations of the rumor started including a ban on Christmas programs from public schools and even an article addressing the hoax by suggesting an alternate situation where the FCC is banning the forwarding of false rumors over the internet.

Years after the denial was finalized, the FCC continued to receive letters and phone calls, even to the point where they had to add staff in order to handle the workload. Despite attempts by newspapers, faith based and secularist organizations, fact checking websites such as Snopes and even from the FCC itself to debunk the RM-2493 myth, the hoax continues to circulate to this day, nearly 50 years after the FCC denied the Petition.

At the time of his death, Lansman was living in South Africa. He was 82 years old. Even near the time of his death, he had expressed an interest in starting an FM or shortwave station in the country. He will be missed by the many people he had touched over the years.