FCC Action Will Determine Worth of LPFM Legislation, Some Say
Senate passage of the House version of the Local Community Radio Act Saturday puts implementation in the hands of the FCC, said agency officials and advocates for full-power stations and the low-power ones targeted by the legislation. The bill means the commission must develop a sensible structure to strike a balance between protecting full-power FM stations from interference and creating opportunities for LPFM stations, low- and full-power station advocates said.
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When licensing FM translator stations, the FCC shall ensure that “licenses are available to both FM translator stations and low-power FM stations” and that such decisions are made based on the needs of the local community, the bill said. Commission rules are to remain intact regarding LPFM station interference protections for full-power noncommercial stations broadcasting radio reading services via a subcarrier frequency, the Senate bill said. The legislation was introduced by Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. FCC rules limit the number of low-power stations “that can practically be licensed in urban and suburban areas,” Cantwell said. The act allows for more LPFM stations to be licensed, “but doing so in a manner that addresses the interference concerns of full-service FM radio stations,” she said.
Passage of the legislation may jump start efforts at the FCC to implement a draft rule, before commissioners since March, which proponents say would help LPFM seekers get new stations. An order capping at 10 the number of FM translators any applicant in 2003’s Auction 83 can get from the regulator (CD Oct 12 p9) has largely been dormant as career agency staffers and commissioners’ offices awaited resolution on the bill, FCC officials said. A vote on a final FCC order isn’t imminent, and might occur after changes are made to the draft reflecting the legislation, they said. Once President Barack Obama signs the bill into law, the FCC will work “promptly” to implement it, said a spokeswoman for the Media Bureau, which drafted the order.
To help make the bill worthwhile for LPFM stations, the FCC must figure out how it will proceed on pending translator applications from the 2003 window, Prometheus Radio Project Executive Director Pete Tridish said. Translators could get in the way of stations obtaining licenses, he said. “Some people applied for hundreds or thousands [of translators] across the country.” Although they applied “while our bill was in limbo, we think a local LPFM station should be given priority in that situation,” he said. “The LPFM folks say if the order keeps the cap, it lets the translators use up the channels,” said broadcast lawyer John Crigler of Garvey Schubert. “That issue isn’t solved by the bill.” The commission has “a greater basis of information on which to act on how it'll sort out residue from the 2003 window,” said broadcast lawyer Harry Cole of Fletcher Heald. Cole represents full-power stations, and Crigler represents some LPFM stations.
The LPFM advocates “probably aren’t as tickled pink” with the remediation section of the bill, Cole said. “It puts a shot clock on the FCC to work quickly to terminate operations if there’s a complaint” about interference, he said. “On the other hand, the elimination of third-adjacent protections isn’t tickling full-power broadcast stations pink.” It’s likely to be a few months before the FCC opens a window for new LPFM, Crigler said. More than one low-power station could crop up in small cities, he said. “Based on early studies, there will be major cities where low powers can’t sneak in because the spectrum is too saturated.” A possible problem for LPFM is that “squeezing in radio stations” in the radio band in larger markets may be difficult because the airwaves in such cities “is very congested right now,” said an NAB spokesman. There will be some opportunity for LPFM stations in some larger markets and more in medium and smaller markets, he said.
The House version of the bill, which was approved by the Senate lets the FCC grant a waiver to LPFM stations to use an alternative method for finding a frequency when none can be found using the spacing method. The FCC must “come up with an intelligent structure for granting the waivers,” Tridish said.
The action in the Senate garnered support from LPFM advocates and full-power broadcasters. “The bill’s final passage reflects what our board had been seeking,” the NAB spokesman said. It’s a historic milestone “in the effort to provide local communities with greater opportunities for local, independent and niche music on the FM airwaves,” said the LPFM supporter Future of Music Coalition. It’s a victory for the many organizations across the country that have been waiting for an opportunity to get on the air, Free Press said. The bill “eliminates a final obstacle to adding thousands of new LPFM stations to about 800 stations already on the air,” said a spokeswoman for the Media Access Project.