New LPFM Stations Can be Sought Oct. 15-29 in What Clyburn Calls ‘Unique Opportunity’
Nonprofits, tribes and government agencies can seek low-power FM stations Oct. 15-29 in the first such LPFM filing window since 2001, in what Acting FCC Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn called a “unique opportunity.” The time to file Form 318s, which were revised for the window, fits with expectations of nonprofits that back low-power radio, their officials said. Officials from groups including Free Press and Prometheus Radio Project said they and others will work to alert would-be applicants. The agency had been working to hold such a filing window by acting on applications for FM translators that dated to 2003 (CD April 19 p10), said an FCC official.
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Nonprofit educational organizations can file a single application, while tribal LPFM seekers can file two, said a Media Bureau public notice Monday (bit.ly/11KWoQJ). “Not-for-profit organizations or governmental entities proposing to operate public safety or emergency services may file more than one application. However, applicants proposing public safety or emergency services must designate a ‘priority’ application if multiple applications are submitted.”
Applications that conflict with others, those deemed mutually exclusive, will be rated on a point system in which the bureau picks the highest-rated one. That’s “unless the applicants propose a settlement,” said the notice. Applications must protect all authorized FM, FM translator, FM booster and Channel 6 stations, and pending applications for such services that were filed before Monday, it said. LPFM, established in 2000 and subject of windows that year and the next, number more than 800 in the U.S., said the notice.
The difference between the upcoming window and past ones is that LPFM seekers now can seek waivers for stations two notches away from a full-power station on that band, said Prometheus Policy Director Brandy Doyle. Such a request requires “a more complex engineering study,” she said. “We've been working to prepare groups for that” and some have started work on requests, added Doyle. Such second-adjacent frequency waivers were approved at the commissioner’s December meeting as the agency implemented the 2010 Local Community Radio Act (CD Dec 3 p1). The December order included the Oct. 15 filing window “target date” so “community organizations could prepare their applications and begin planning new stations,” said Commissioner Ajit Pai in a Monday written statement (http://bit.ly/12Rd4wC). “I encourage interested organizations across the country to take advantage of this opportunity."
Clyburn noted groups in many mid-sized and larger markets will be able to seek an LPFM license. “This will create a broader LPFM service to augment the airwaves,” she said (http://bit.ly/11k2TO2). “I hope local communities across the country will galvanize in the next four months to take advantage of this unique opportunity.” NAB declined to comment.
"Barring unforeseen difficulties, there should be plenty of opportunity for a very successful filing window,” said Doyle, whose group represents LPFM stations. She called Form 318 “relatively simple.” Some applicants may be able to prepare a submission without outside help, while others will need to hire a consultant, she said. Free Press has “been preparing all along to help with outreach efforts led by Prometheus” for would-be applicants, said Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood. Such efforts are meant to “make the opportunity for local community radio a reality in as many places as possible,” he said. “We'll provide information to our activists, and potentially have them and our staff take part in events around the country.”