Nexus Broadcast

FCC  promises "swift action to open the dial."

On Tuesday, January 04, 2011, the  President signed into law:  H.R. 6533, the  Local Community Radio Act of 2010, which modifies current restrictions on low-power FM radio stations.  This will make room on the radio spectrum for thousands of smaller, community-based radio stations.

The provisions were in place to prevent interference, and largely isolated low-power FM stations to rural areas where airwaves were less congested Prior to this act, low-power radio stations were only allowed to occupy frequencies within four dial positions of a full power radio station, officially called fourth-adjacent frequencies. Community radio advocates such as the Prometheus Radio Project said that placed too much of a restriction on the spectrum, and that more frequencies could be opened without interference issues.

The new act allows low-power stations on third-adjacent frequencies, or within three frequencies of a full power station. The two sides reached a compromise over language, and on Dec. 17, the NAB sent a letter of support to members of the House Energy and Commerce committee.

The NAB also issued a statement in support of the measure Dec. 17 after the House passed its version of the act.

Director of strategic planning at Prometheus Radio,Danielle Chynoweth, said that she anticipates that the act will allow low-power FM stations to open in urban areas such as Washington, D.C., where the spectrum had been deemed too crowded under the old rules.

Today is just the start of the process to bring more community radio stations to the air. There is a lot of work yet to be done, not the least of which is on the part of the FCC, which will now determine the rules of the next application window. The  Commission must  resolve pending translator applications which could use up a lot of frequencies that otherwise are appropriate for LPFM stations under the provisions of this new law. Speculation is that the translator processing will be put on hold until after an LPFM window can be processed.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski calls it "a big win for radio listeners." Both the current FCC and the Bush-era Commission supported the Local Community Radio Act, which finally passed in late 2010. Genachowski says "Low Power FM stations are small, but they make a giant contribution to local community programming." The bill strips away the third-adjacent channel protection for full-power stations but offers remedies for second-channel interference. Genachowski says "this important law eliminates the unnecessary restrictions that kept these local stations off the air in cities and towns across the country." LPFM activists estimate that at least a thousand new 100-watt stations can now be authorized, though the FCC will need to implement rules and open a window for applications. Genachowski promises "swift action to open the dial." The bill signed by President Obama also gives the LPFM service equal status with FM translators.

The House passed a revised bill in mid December (House News 12/17/2010) and the Senate followed three days later (Senate News 12/20/2010).

“I have been waiting for this day for a long, long time.”

So says FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps, reacting to the signing of the Local Community Radio Act, which will allow more low-power FM stations onto the dial. “Enactment of the Local Community Radio Act gives local radio stations, grassroots media and consumers nationwide genuine cause to celebrate,” he wrote, after President Obama signed the bill.

“In this day of way-too-much media consolidation, stifling program homogenization and the decimation of local news, new voices are critically important to sustaining America’s civic dialogue and citizen engagement.”

Both saluted lawmakers who helped pass the bill, particularly Reps. Mike Doyle (D-Pa.), Lee Terry (R-Neb.) and Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), and Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.)

This  victory ends a ten-year struggle for communities looking to grab a slice of the local airwaves. In the eleventh hour of the 111th Congress, the Local Community Radio Act sailed through the House and the Senate and made its way to the president’s desk yesterday. The new law will open up hundreds of new potential frequencies for licensing low-power FM radio (LPFM) stations - noncommercial,  stations that are run by non-profits.

What the bill does is very simple: It removes previous restrictions on the licensing of tiny, local radio stations, called LPFMs. But by getting this one small change on the books, the effects will be massive. Hundreds, potentially thousands, of new stations can take to the airwaves.

The FCC will now be working on applications to push forward licenses for LPFM radio stations. Look for these stations to be built everywhere, reaching from city neighborhoods to outlying rural areas. These new channels of communication will empower struggling music communities, grassroots organizations, and cultural hubs across the country, profoundly impacting the way local communities sustain and utilize local resources.