Citizens Committee on the Media (Chicago, Ill.) records, 1971-1984

Processed with funding provided by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

This collection is open for research use.

Copyright may be retained by the creators of items, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law, unless otherwise noted.

Gift of Citizens Committee on the Media (accession #: M1984.0123)

Citizens Committee on the Media (Chicago, Ill.) records (Chicago History Museum) plus a detailed description, date, and box/folder number of a specific item.

Correspondence, minutes, financial records, surveys, petitions, newsletters, press releases, and other records of Citizens Committee on the Media (CCOM), a non-profit organization to improve media programming and access. Most of the collection relates to cable television in Chicago and work with organizations such as the Cable Access Corporation (CAC), Alliance to End Repression, Action for Children's Television (ACT), the Committee of Hispanics on Cable Access Television (CHOCA), and Business and Professional People for the Public Interest (BPI). Also present are records of Chicago City Council, the FCC, and the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Cable Television.

Citizens Committee on the Media (CCOM) was a non-profit organization established in 1972. Its stated goal was to encourage the general public and interest groups to influence the formation and development of the media in terms of programming and access. CCOM achieved its goals through meetings with media members, forums, workshops, and conferences. When cable communications were proposed in Chicago in 1980, CCOM held public meetings which led to the creation of the Chicago Citizens Cable Coalition (CCCC). During the cable negotiations in Chicago, CCOM encouraged private citizens and local non-governmental organizations to shape the city's cable ordinances. In the early 1980s, CCOM together with CCCC and other non-profit organizations also held meetings and forums to discuss media ownership in Chicago and the surrounding areas.

Related materials at Chicago History Museum, Research Center, include the Chicago Cable Television Study Commission records, as well as publications of the Citizens Committee on the Media, cataloged separately.

• Subject
  • Cable Television--Illinois--Chicago--20th century
  • Cable Television--Law and legislation--Illinois--Chicago
  • Mass media--Illinois--Chicago--20th century
  • Municipal franchises--Illinois--Chicago--20th century
• Names
  • Citizens Committee on the Media (Chicago, Ill.)--Archives
  • Action for Children's Television
  • Alliance to End Repression
  • Business and Professional People for the Public Interest
  • Cable Access Corporation (Chicago, Ill.)
  • Chicago Cable Television Study Commission
  • Committee of Hispanics on Cable Access Television
  • United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Subcommittee on Communications
• Geographic Coverage
  • Chicago (Ill.)--Commerce--20th century
  • Chicago (Ill.)--Politics and government--20th century

The collection is arranged in six series.

Series 1. Administrative records, 1971-1984 (box 1-21, 38-42)

Series 1 consists of correspondence, minutes, financial records, newsletters, newspaper clippings, press releases, surveys, petitions, mailing lists, membership applications, and other administrative records of CCOM. Also present are reports and grant proposals pertaining to the Cable Education Project (1981), a joint effort by CCCC and CCOM.

Series 2. Other organizations, 1974-1984 (box 22-27)

Series 2 contains meeting minutes, memoranda, newsletters, surveys, and petitions of Chicago non-profit organizations. Present are materials concerning the Chicago Cable Television Study Commission, the Cable Access Forum (1982), the Chicago Taskforce on Cable Access (1982), and the Citizens Cable Caucus (1981). Also in this series are materials from Cable Access Corporation (CAC), Alliance to End Repression, Action for Children's Television (ACT), the Committee of Hispanics on Cable Access Television (CHOCA), and Business and Professional People for the Public Interest (BPI).

Series 3. Chicago City Council, 1980-1984 (box 28-29)

Series 3 consists of correspondence, memoranda, minutes, and testimony from Chicago City Council committees, including the Mayor's Committee on Cable Television, Committee on Finance, and the Finance Subcommittee on Cable Communication. Some materials relate to the Chicago Cable Communication Ordinance. Also present are petitions to Mayor Byrne and Alderman Vrdolyak on neighborhood interests in cable television.

Series 4. Cable franchises, 1982-1984 (box 29-34)

Series 4 consists of cable franchise analysis reports by Malarkey-Taylor and Associates, a consulting firm which advised cable companies. Present are materials from cable companies, including Cablevision, Group W Cable, Chicago Cable Communications, and Continental Cable Vision. Also includes correspondence and newspaper clippings concerning John McGuire, cable administrator for the City of Chicago.

Series 5. FCC documents, 1971-1982 (box 35-36)

Series 5 contains correspondence, press releases, and records of FCC hearings concerning complaints filed by CCOM against WGN (1976) and CBC (1979), among other topics. Also present are booklets outlining FCC rules and regulations.

Series 6. U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Cable, 1974-1983 (box 36-37)

Series 6 contains testimony from hearings of the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Cable, as well as correspondence, newsletters, and petitions concerning the Cable Telecommunications Act of 1983.