Market-by-Market FM Translator Awards Proposed in Draft FCC Rulemaking
The FCC would approve FM translators in radio markets with an eye toward how many low-power FM (LPFM) stations could be started in each market, under a draft order (CD July 6 p11) to be voted on Tuesday, commission and industry officials said. They said the rulemaking notice proposes a market-by-market approach to processing the remaining applications from a 2003 application window for FM translators. Such an approach has been backed by LPFM proponents. AM stations would get a boost because the draft rulemaking is said to propose that they can use FM translators awarded in recent years as part of Auction 83. The rulemaking also asks about issuing new LPFM licenses.
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The commission conducted an analysis of the number of frequencies that would be available in each market for new LPFM stations if the pending requests for FM translators were awarded, agency and industry officials said. They said the rulemaking proposes that in markets with little room for new low-power outlets, the regulator issue no or few permits for new translators. That’s meant to leave sufficient room in large markets, where there are few LPFMs now, for those low-power outlets, commission and industry officials said. “From what we've heard, we think this is a very detailed analysis that the FCC has done,” said Policy Director Brandy Doyle of LPFM proponent Prometheus Radio Project. “They've gone through enormous amounts of data to allow for LPFM licensing, while giving as much as they can to translator applicants as well."
Translator applicants, who have said the FCC should start issuing them construction permits, could get some grants under the item’s proposals, agency and industry officials said. They said the draft proposes to dismiss the pending requests for areas where there are few channels available for LPFM outlets. They said that would leave room on the dial for new low-power outlets in a future FCC allotment. A market-by-market approach “could be a fairer way for the FCC to move forward in ensuring channels for” LPFM and translator stations, said Doyle, who said she has not seen a draft of the item.
The rulemaking is part of FCC implementation of last year’s Local Community Radio Act. The Media Bureau item is on “the future licensing of low power FM and FM translator stations,” the commission said late Tuesday. Section 5 of the legislation deals with balancing the needs of LPFM and translators, and this item addresses that portion of the act, commission officials said. A bureau spokeswoman declined to comment on the draft. The commission this year issued a rulemaking notice on another part of the draft, dealing with the economic impact of LPFM on full-power FM stations, with the NAB saying commercial radio could be hurt (CD June 28 p9).
The draft seeks to undo a limit of 10 applications per entity the commission earlier imposed on Auction 83, FCC and agency officials said. They said it proposes to allow newer translators awarded from that auction to be used to retransmit the signals of AM stations. That would let AM stations that can’t broadcast at night, because their signal reach expands and that could cause interference, stay on the air using FM translators.
An application window for LPFM station seekers is envisioned by the rulemaking, agency and industry officials said. The item asks about doing that after translator requests in Auction 83 are either issued or denied, a commission official said. Such an application window would be the first opportunity low-power broadcasters had to seek stations since 2000 and 2001, the first time the commission considered such requests, FCC and industry officials said.