Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell announced Wednesday a series of initiatives aimed at ensuring broadcasters serve the communities in which they operate.

The move comes amid intense criticism of the FCC’s decision in June to revamp media ownership rules, which opponents said would promote more mergers and limit local programming.

“We heard the voice of public concern about the media loud and clear,” Powell said. “Localism is at the core of these concerns, and we are going to tackle it head-on.”

Powell said the FCC would form a task force that will make recommendations to the commission within a year on promoting localism in broadcasting. The FCC also will speed up the licensing of hundreds of low-powered radio stations, often run by churches, community groups and schools. And Powell directed his agency’s staff to begin an inquiry seeking comment on FCC rules aimed at promoting localism.

An advocacy group said the announcement doesn’t go far enough.

“Talking about new rules to protect media localism, particularly when those rules creep into the area of content regulation, is merely an effort to divert attention from badly reasoned and badly written ownership rules that won’t stand up in court,” said Mark Cooper, research director for the Consumer Federation of America.

Powell, a champion of deregulation who critics say is too pro-big business, led the FCC’s effort to ease decades-old rules governing ownership of newspapers and television and radio stations.