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Home arrow International arrow New Mexico: Santa Fe Screwed: No new FM radio channels available in Santa Fe
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New Mexico: Santa Fe Screwed: No new FM radio channels available in Santa Fe

Copyright 2001 New Mexican, Inc.  
Santa Fe New Mexican (New Mexico)

April 12, 2001, Thursday

SECTION: Local; Pg. B-1

LENGTH: 402 words

HEADLINE: No new FM radio channels available in Santa Fe

BYLINE: STEVE TERRELL

BODY:
The deadline for New Mexicans to apply for a new low-power, noncommercial FM radio station is just around the corner, but if you were thinking of creating such a station in Santa Fe, don't bother.

Because of new restrictions imposed by Congress -- spurred by the protests of large broadcast-media companies and the organization that represents them -- there apparently will be no place on the FM dial available for low-power stations in the Santa Fe area.

Last year, when the Federal Communications Commission approved the low-power radio program, FCC Commissioner Gloria Tristani, originally from New Mexico, said the action could mean about four new stations in Santa Fe.

However, on Wednesday Tristani said she did not know how many signals would be available under the new restrictions.

The "Low Power FM (LPFM) Radio Channel Finder" on the FCC Web site indicates no channels are available in the Santa Fe area.

The application period for New Mexico and 21 other states and territories is June 11 through June 15.

Referring to legislation passed by Congress last year, Tristani said Wednesday, "They didn't kill (low-power radio), but they curtailed it."

The new law, she said, imposed new rules that in effect cut into the number of signals available for low-power radio.

The FCC approved low-power radio -- FM channels that would have power from 50 to 100 watts and a service radius of about 3.5 miles -- in an effort to allow educational and other community organizations to be heard on the air, Tristani said last year.

Low-power radio, Tristani said, is meant to bring a wider variety of voices and return a sense of localism to radio.

In recent years, large broadcasting companies have been buying more and more local stations, resulting in fewer and fewer locally owned stations and increasing homogenization of radio.

Currently, Santa Fe has only two locally owned radio stations -- KSWV 810 AM, owned and operated by former Santa Fe Mayor George Gonzales, and KSFR 90.7 FM, which is owned by Santa Fe Community College.

The broadcasting giants, through their organization the National Association of Broadcasters, fought the low-power proposal, claiming low-power stations will interfere with the broadcasting giants' signals.

The FCC denies this. But the new law requires the FCC to conduct a study on possible signal interference from low-power stations.

LOAD-DATE: April 13, 2001