Broadcasters Want FCC to Let AM Stations Use FM Translators

Translators would help many AM stations that must turn off or greatly reduce power at night to serve their entire coverage areas at any time of the day, the NAB said. Stations power down at sunset to avoid interfering with other AM broadcasts, a step required because AM signals travel much farther at night than in daylight. Coverage areas shrink as much as 95 percent, the NAB said. “Many stations are unable to broadcast during the critical morning and evening drive times or may serve only a small fraction of their audience.” Mountains and buildings block daytime broadcasts, it said.

FM translators would help minority broadcasters, the NAB and Clear Channel said. Ownership of AM stations “is very diverse,” the NAB said, noting that women or minorities own 438 of 4,814 AM broadcasters in the U.S. Translator reform could “increase the value of AM assets and spur further minority ownership opportunities while allowing the commission to avoid potential constitutional difficulties,” said Clear Channel. Such concerns may be inherent in any effort to specify ethnic groups in regulations, commissioners have said. The rulemaking has the backing of owners of single stations, religious broadcasters and other industry groups. Enthusiasts include Saga Communications, owner of about 100 stations, Christian Broadcasting System and WDJZ(AM) Bridgeport, Conn. The FCC already has authorized several AM stations to use FM translators by granting them special temporary authority, said Clear Channel. WRHI(AM) Rock Hill, S.C., was the first authorized to boost its signal that way (CD March 2/06 p3).

The FCC has had good reason not to grant blanket approval for such arrangements, said NPR. “The commission has long prohibited cross-service translating,” it said. “The different propagation characteristics of AM and FM radio transmissions are such that translators serve an important augmenting role for FM stations but have long been considered unhelpful to AM stations.” FCC approval of the NAB plan could bring a deluge of filings at the agency and complicate efforts by full-power FM stations to monitor granting of licenses as they try to protect their coverage areas from interference, NPR said, citing congestion in the FM band. “FM station licensees would also face diminishing opportunities to establish new or relocate existing translators,” NPR said, urging a “phased implementation of such authorization,” but not offering a timetable.

The Prometheus Radio Project fears low-power FM stations will have a harder time getting licenses if the band is used by AM stations, said the LPFM lobbyist. “Incumbent broadcasters continue to try to find ways to hoard the FM band, even though few desirable channels remain and few significant opportunities for channels have opened up in recent history for new entrants,” it said. Would-be LPFM broadcasters could be displaced if AM broadcasters “crowd the FM band,” Prometheus said. If the FCC allows cross-band translators, they should be permitted only for locally owned AM stations, the group said. Each AM station owner should be able to use only one FM translator, with the facilities denied to any company owning an FM station in the same market, it said. Graig Jenkins, chief engineer of LPFM station WLWZ Cassopolis, Mich., endorsed the NAB plan but said LPFMs should be able to rebroadcast local AM stations’ signals and vice versa: “We do not endorse LPFM station[s] becoming de facto translators, but we do support the flexibility to allow such operation when desired by both stations.”