captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2008 you have identified 75 i think that were at the commission, is that the right number? 70 something was the number. >> 72. >> 72, there's probably another three you could use i'm sure, too, and i think you're doing the right thing, and continuing to beat the drum and we have worked together for instance on reconstituting the diversity committee. i think that took too long. i've been speaking out on that, you were speaking out on that and it got reconstituted but reconstituted late i think. so you know, the way these things work in washington, a year from now we'll either have a new president or we'll have president obama being sworn in for a second term, but what happens usually later in a presidential election year is that things start to slow down in washington, and we have a lot that we need to do the at the commission. there's other things like universal service contribution reform which needs to get going, and when i, you know, i came from 16 years of private sector

experience before i got to the fcc, so my five and a half years here, one of the most frustrating things for me to adjust to and i'm still not adjusted to it is the pace, the slow pace of how things don't get done. and the chairman sets the agenda. it's not like congress where we can introduce a bill and maybe a chairman takes it up or not. the chairman sets the agenda. right now there are three of us and so it's cozy. >> that's one way of putting it. [ laughter ] >> and you know, that shouldn't limit our workload, however. i'm all for getting as much done as possible so you can get your tax dollars' worth. >> and my joke, we were at consumer electronics, it might be three of us but there are more than three people who work at the fcc, so the work continues to be done and again, i'm, david we've got an ongoing friendship and engagement that i

plan to not only maintain but enhance, so most of our goals are in line. i appreciate with you for working with me to be the best i can be and you have a commitment in terms of things within our influence and jurisdiction that you'll always have an open ear and open office. >> thank you. >> thank you all for that. [ applause ] one more question. please speak directly into the microphone so they can get this on c-span. tell us who you are, and who you represent. >> i'm charles evers from jackson, mississippi, and been in the radio for 23 years, public radio. >> yes, sir. >> my question is why there's such a difference when it comes to commercial radio and public radio. we have the light bills and same

tower and everything else and i don't think it's fair for the few of us that own the radio stations, the 100,000 watts we can't hardly make a living because the restrictions. is there some way the fcc can let us have relief? we're known as the community radio stations. why can't we get out our product as the commercial radio stations? and public televisions. >> right. the issues that you brought forth are ones i would like further engagement with you about particulars. theres' a gentleman in the back right by the camera. if you would exchange business cards he's my chief of staff. >> i'd be glad to. >> we'll talk about this more. again i am not insensitive. i had a weekly newspaper for 14 years and i had to go to the print shop like anybody else with trust me as many dollars as i have in my purse right now so

i do understand those sensitive things because you have baseline costs that cannot be avoided and so you're absolutely right. so if there are some particulars where you think that for our consideration i am again open to hearing that because diversity of the voices means a lot to me. the radio station where i got my start, i say, is no longer in the same hands. i see the former owner. i know you know him. i will speak to you offline as to who that is. he does not look happy since he left that station, and so it not only has affected him but it's affected too eed people who sue who did not have the opportunity for engagements and same freedoms of expression which i had that i think helped shape me and sometimes hurt me, depending on what the expression was, but you know, those are the things that are important for our growth as, you know, growth as

individuals as well as a growth in prosperity of our communities. so there's something that you think that's out of sync, and out of line, sir, we would be happy to have that engagement. we'll do everything in our power to address it. >> one more question. >> yes, sir. >> two set of licenses. those of us who don't borrow money from the government should we be separated from those who borrow from the government? >> in '34, when it agency -- is it 1934? >> yes. >> the communications act this commission was basically put in place because it was the airwaves wild, wild west out there, so we were founded because there was a need to regulate the public airwaves, and so i can't sit here and say whether or not it should be more or less enhanced. i can say that regardless of its

low power, full power, for-profit, non-profit, we're still talking about air waves that are in need of regulation so there will be some sunk costs, there will be a baseline cost that in efforts and filings that cannot be avoided but let's talk about the particulars that you think are out of sync with what you think is necessary in terms of that, given the fact, again, that we have a mandate to make sure the airwaves are you, you know, that your frequently that there is not that, we used to call it bleed, that there's not interference from that perspective. >> if i could just build upon the gentleen lady from the palmetto state's comments, i'm always looking for rules that we can take off the books that are harmful especially to small

businesses but for all businesses. you run a business that's not a for-profit business and public broadcasting has been a great success story in the past 30 years, gone from maybe 3 million listeners a week to 30 million nationwide. so it's been a tremendous american success story but when you're handing out your business card to her chief of staff, erin mcgrath is behind in the back as well, i'd love a list of rules that we have and we have by the way when you add up all of our rules it's a stack of books about this high in fine, fine print so i know there's got to be some more in there that we could take out that are holding you back, so i would love to hear from you as to what it is you're having trouble with, and -- >> one thing i know i'm out of time, but we just want to be compare. we can't say chevrolet is better than fords, can't say bud wiser

is better than miller. we can't say a&p has a sale on against kroger, that's not fair, when the public radio, the commercial can do all of that and we pay the same price. by the way, my license sup, tis too. >> your license is up, too, okay, got it. >> one more question and then we've got to let the commissioners go. so thank you all for your patience and please, go ahead. >> great, good morning, i'm crystal high, editor and chief of politics360degrees.com. in the spectrum crunch earlier you both talked about efficiencies and it brings to mind this notion of housing, right, so recently moved to washington, d.c., lots of people want to be in d.c., building housing out in woodbridge and mannasas does not help people out in d.c. in need of housing. when you compare spec frum what are short term solutions to address the needs are people who are already on the networks, experiencing a greater need to

have access, high speed, constantly, you know, to balance that against i understand the other interest of creating opportunities for new entrance in this space. >> can i? >> yes, of course. >> a couple of things come to mind actually. i've been a long time proponent of unlicensed use of the airwaves so what we call the tv white spaces. this is something that started under chairman michael powell back in 2002, in that era, in 2008 with he had an historic vote and in 2010 another vote to try to inch it along. right now it's sort of frozen as congress considers the incentive auction legislation that we talked about earlier to give tv broadcasters incentive to relinquish some of their spectrum. so that actually provides a tremendous -- unlicensed use of spectrum, of good spectrum, provides a tremendous opportunity for any individual to be a player in the media space, and this can happen with very low barriers to entry.

you don't have to purchase spectrum at auction. you don't have to be like a and application. you just have to abide by certain rules regarding your equipment and harmful interference and such and you can get going so unlicensed use if we can really unleash white spaces, tv white spaces finally i think it will have a tremendous effect across all socioeconomic parts of this country and it's going to help the economy. i think it's going to help freedom. i think it's going to be a very healthy, positive and constructive and disruptive force, so and then the other component has been a proponent of trying to find ways to enhance spectral efficiency. in other words, how much efficiency can we sort of squeeze out of the airwaves, if you have "x" amount of spectrum you have a constant amount of spectrum, how can we get more use out of that spectrum and technology such as cognitive radio, distributed antenna technology, smart antennas, things of that nature offer

tremendous amount of potential. i've asked the chairman to have the fcc host a workshop, our symposium to get together the best brains in the business, to figure out what we can do, whether it's removing rules from our books, or something else, or maybe something that congress can do, to help stimulate spectral efficiency so that we can all use our wireless devices in a more pleasant and productive way. >> and i concur. one of of the things that i notice within the last 24 hours or so, the city of wilmington just launched in terms of its unlicensed white spaces so again that's a place to watch to see how things evolve in that city, and we had a very strong statement as it relates to this unlicensed real estate, for the potential that it could have especially if rural communities, and the flexibility that it

would lend itself, so our office is definitefully sync with that. when we talk about spectral efficiency, one of the things that was good about my last -- not this one but what i guess is my second -- i can't remember, whenever, ces of 2010, whatever, experience was that, you know, i did see some of the machinery or technology was squeezing these out and one of the things again my last thing, i promise, debbie's like, i'm ready! -- that will coincide with the terms of spectral efficiency and opportunities in this space is channel sharing. you know, you see these subchannels, not all of them are optimally used from my perspective. i always joke i've known more about now in the last couple of

years than i have known in a lifetime, but there are so many opportunities there so when we talk about efficiencies and when we talk about the flexibility needed here and we talk about volunteering and engagement, all of those things could lend themselves to, you know, i've got you know, i've got a channel. i can't afford you know, the, the upkeep in terms of that real estate, if you come and you know, on one of the sub channels, you still are going to get me as i flip, so you still have that engagement, and you can kind of he stimulate it as it relates to diversity of voices in the space. there are a lot of good things. that's why it's important for the flexibility, for all ideas and series of engagements to be had in this space.

i know economically there's hardships but there's so many opportunities. the other night i was with the, nobel willman, senator brum, i don't know if she was joking or not, but i'm giving her a plug, her desire to be the next talk show host,don' know what you'll call t we'll work on that. i said don't limit yourself to television. there's so many senators that would give you literally millions a of exposure in terms of people. there are soy real estate is something you'll hear us talk about because i think that's an incredible opportunity for small -- well, wimby, women minority and disadvantagedent preess.

>> a terrific dialogue. >> use c-span's campaign 2012 website to watch video of the candidates' events in florida, see what they've said on issues important to you and read the latest from the candidates, political reporters, and people like you from social media sites, at cspan.org/campaign2012. >> today on c-span3, catch a discussion on selection issues, topics include voter outrage campaigns and state voter participation efforts, hosted by the national association of secretaries of state, live at 1:30 p.m. eastern. michigan governor rick s second state of the state address outlining his plans for the state this year. during his 50-minute speech at the state capitol in lansing he education and tax reform. >> please be seated. thank yo

thank you. appreciate it. please have a seat. thank you. well, thank you. it's an honor to be here tonight. i would like to start by thanking several individuals and groups. first of all i want to thank the speaker of the house, jace bu e bulger. wld like to thank my partner in this endeavor, lieutenant governor cally. he's slastnight. i'd like to thank another key part of our team and success, senatevie. to thank senate

majority leader witmer. minority leader. minority leader, sorry about that. [ laughter ] i'd like to thank house democratic leader hamel, who is feeling better. the members of the supreme court, welcome. attorney general schuti. secretary of state johnson. i'd like to thank all the members of my cabinet. thank you for being with us. ladies and gentlemen of the legislature, thank you for being here and thank you so much.

and i'd like to thank all of my. public service is a for your service to our state. i'm. pi to see several representatives here tonight. i give thanks to the men and women of our state of michigan for serving in our armed forces. [ cheers and applause ] thank you for your service. it is truly something special. and i want to thank all the

citizens of michigan. last but not least i want to give special thanks to my family. [ applause ] in my first state of the state address i spoke about the need to reinvent michigan, with job one being continuation of that journey. in the 1800s, we had the natural resources era, michigan 1.0. 1900s, we had the industrial era, michigan 2.0. this century, it is innovation. we are on that path. we're getting it right and we're getting it done.

to reaffirm the need to reinvent michigan let's briefly look back michigan had been in decline for several decades with the last decade being particularly difficult. we were essentially tirednd broken, in 2011, we made large strides to make michigan a great state again. we came together andke relentless positive passion at a dog year's pace. while we should be proud of the progress, much remains to be done, so with that, let me get started. first let's review the 25 measures in five different areas. don't panic auto i'll not doing all 21 but i did want to highlight five of them, and for those at home you can find the entire dashboard at www.michigan.gov/midashboard. number one is an exciting one.

our unemployment in the last 12 months has dropped from 11.1% to 9.3%. [ cheers andla in november we dropped below 10% for the first time in three years. in fact, we added nearly 2011. we've shown faster improvement than the united states average. and in mention the jobs we've added have been higher paying than the average for the rest of the united states. [ applause ] now number two is one we haven't

done as well, obesity in our state has increased one percentage point to 32% of our population. this is a disturbing trend. everyone knows that health care costs are exploding and unsustainable in addition to the human damage from obesity. the key to the solution, though, is not government, but personal responsibility. we as michiganders need to work together to do a better job on obesity. [ applause ] number three, college readiness, increased from 16% to 17%. while it's a 1% increase, this is unacceptable. we need to be100% college and career ready for our young people. number four, our bond rating. our actual ratings didn't change bu'r

direction. one of the bond rating agencies has increased outlook from neutral to positive, a good sign that w h number five, our crime statistics statewide have this is good, we have four of the top ten cities on the most violent crime list for the united states, saginaw, pontiac and detroit and in 2012 we're going to focus on this and resolhi [ applause ] thank you. i'd also like to mention some non-dashboard indicators about

our state. first the autome major comebac. last week i was at the north american auto sheen i was proud to sha is still the undisputed auto capital of the world. [ cheers and applause ] the next group i'm going to mention has been too often not talked about, and forgotten, but they're critically important. they've been the unsung heroes of our economy and that's the people in agriculture. over the last decade they've been one of the shining lights for our state, and we need to remember we'ret second most diverse agricultural state in the nation and we're going to continue to grow and do better so i wan dustry.

finally tourism is on a positive path. pure michigan is doing well. now we just need more snow. [ laughter ] as an extra note, i'm very excited about dropping the flag on the supe 500 in the next couple of weeks, one of the premiere winter snowmobile competition. [ applause ] and now i'd like to give special recognition, i'm pleased to say dan mussrue is here with us tonight in the audience. dan, stand up.

most of us know dan's representing the grand hotel on mackinaw island, and we want to wish him happy birthday, 125 years and going strong. i also want to mention our team has been working with senator casperson and respective hookie among others on exciting opportunities ndinin thehiga so. we are rebuilding michigan's image as a great place to do business. we had a very successful trade mission to asia. we're delivering on substance

now so it's time to spread the message and that's why i'll be making trips to both europe and asia to talk about why michigan is the place to do business in the world. and i want to mention one other index that doesn't get mentioned often, the atlas van line moving index. for the past six years we had more people moving out of michigan than we had moving in. in 2011, we've stopped that trend. now tonight i'm excited, cop tain james of the united states army is among those who has chose on it call michigan home becath

here. captain james, where are you? stand up, please. now while captain james has traveled the world and been recently stationed in michigan, as he ends his military service this year, he's chosen michigan to stay to join the family business, a 40-year-old business, the james group international in detroit. the james group international is a very successful organization. it's already working with the detroit, wayne county port authority to be part of a port revitalization plan. because of this partnership, the company estimates it will create 50 new jobs this year, so we're pleased that captain james is here tonight, along with his dad, john, and his brother, lauren. so thank you, gentlemen, for being with us.

so now let's discuss 2011. both in terms of accomplishments, initiatives started that we need to finish, and challenges. 2011 was the year to attack our legacy problems and to change course from downward to upward. the key targets were to create an environment that encourages job creation and to create a financially sound state government. i truly want to thank my partners in the state legislature. through partnership, we accomplished a lot. overall, we passed 323 public acts in 2011, but more important than quantity was quality. thank you so much. working together we passed a financially sound budget.