THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS Commission is holding its West Coast localism hearing Wednesday, July 21, 5:30 p.m., at the Monterey Conference Center, Steinbeck Forum, 1 Portola Plaza, in Monterey.

To participate in a carpool from San Francisco to Monterey, or for information on preparatory teach-ins in the Monterey area, go to www.media-alliance.org or call (415) 546-6334, ext. 300.

Whether or not you make it to the hearing, Media Alliance, together with Stanford University's Grade the News and the Media Studies Department at the University of San Francisco, urges you to help evaluate our local broadcast media by monitoring one nightly news broadcast of a commercial radio or TV station in your area. The results will be posted at www.media-alliance.org and www.stanford.edu/group/gradethenews, and the data will be presented at the FCC hearing. To participate, go to one of the two Web sites above.

Tune in to KPFA, 94.1 FM, July 21 at 5:30 p.m. to hear a live broadcast of the hearing.