House Passes New Low Power FM Radio Legislation With Support from NAB, LPFM Advocates
The House passed new legislation that would expand the number of low power FM (LPFM) stations in larger markets while protecting full-power stations from interference. HR-6533 was passed after lawmakers addressed concerns of the NAB, which some LPFM supporters said held up the original bill in the Senate. The bill was introduced by Reps. Mike Doyle, D-Pa., and Lee Terry, R-Neb., and sponsored by Sens. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and John McCain, R-Ariz. “This bill will allow churches, schools, neighborhood groups and others to put community-oriented programming on the air” and help first responders provide those communities with critical emergency information, Doyle said in a press release.
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The original Local Community Radio Act was held up in the Senate over the NAB’s requests for the bill to ensure that full power stations are protected from interference through minimum distance separations (CD Dec 15 p6). The NAB preferred a method called spacing to determine whether new LPFM licenses could be allocated. The contours method, which considers topographical features as means of blocking interference, is preferred by LPFM advocates. There were minor changes that were made to the bill, said a spokesman for Doyle. The bill’s sponsors “worked with broadcasters to resolve their concerns and they did,” he said.
The bill allows the FCC to grant a waiver of the second adjacent channel distance separation requirement to LPFM stations “that establish, using methods of predicting interference taking into account all relevant factors, including terrain-sensitive propagation models, that their proposed operations will not result in interference to any authorized radio service.” Any low power station that receives a waiver “shall not resume operation until such interference has been eliminated or it can demonstrate to the FCC that the interference was not due to emissions from the low-power FM station,” the bill said.
"It puts into statute an FCC rule stating that full power stations have primary status in the community of license,” NAB spokesman Dennis Wharton said. It also clarifies that “the FCC will more adequately protect full power stations against interference,” he said. With the amendments, NAB expected the Senate to pass the bill over the weekend, Wharton added.
The legislation also aims to repeal the requirement that radio stations in the same market be positioned four intervals apart, Doyle said in a press release. Prometheus Radio Project is “very happy about the progress being made on the bill,” said Executive Director Pete Tridish. “We don’t think the amendments were necessary to protect broadcasters, but we're happy that they're happy."
Other LPFM supporters, like the Media Access Project and United Church of Christ, heralded the House action. “At long last the 160 million Americans who have been deprived of the opportunity to apply for a local low power radio station will get a chance to be a part of the American media,” said Cheryl Leanza, a UCC policy adviser. The interference protections in the new bill “go far beyond any interference protection for any broadcast station in the history of the medium,” she said. MAP is looking forward to “Senate enactment of this important legislation,” the group said in a statement. “We've got some momentum now, and we're hopeful that lawmakers can beat the clock and send the bill to the President before they adjourn,” Consumers Union said in a statement.” In the absence of the opposition of NAB, we fully expect it to pass the Senate,” Tridish said.