Musicians, Community Groups Support Expanded Low-Power FM Stations

Stokely Baksh

WASHINGTON, June 21, 2007 – A bill introduced in the House Thursday would expand low power FM (LPFM) radio licenses to noncommercial and other community radio stations.

Introduced by Reps. Mike Doyle, D- Penn., and Lee Terry, R-Neb., the House bill mirrors a 2005 measure introduced by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

McCain and Cantwell's bill, in the 109th Congress, S.312, became part of a major telecommunications overhaul packaged that died last year in Congress. McCain and Cantwell are expected to introduce an identical bill later this afternoon, said Doyle.

Doyle, speaking on a Thursday conference call organized by three non-profit groups, said that LPFM stations meets the needs of communities seek to broadcast at affordable costs.

They can also create greater diversity in programming and political views at a time when many are dissatisfied with the choices on commercial radio station chains owned corporations like Clear Channel Communications, CBS Radio and Entercom Communications Corp. Advocates see churches, schools, labor unions, and other community groups being able to launch an LPFM station.

"Enactment of this legislation would improve the quality of life in communities across the country by providing new and different programming – and especially programming addressing local interests and events – to these communities," Doyle said.

"It's so important for noncommercial entities to be empowered," Terry added. "There are several groups in the Omaha area that want to apply for an LPFM station, and that's why I am working to push this legislation forward."

The FCC authorized LPFM radio service in 2000. But lobbying by the National Association of Broadcasters persuaded Congress to attach a rule limiting LPFM to more-rural areas. Thousands who submitted applications with the FCC to operate stations have been blocked.

The congressional condition required LPFM stations not to broadcast within four frequency intervals – an interval is 0.2 Megahertz (MHz) – of a full power station. The Doyle-Terry bill would change that to three adjacent intervals.

In other words, if a full power station were broadcasting at 90.1 Megahertz (MHz), an LPFM station could seek to broadcast at 90.7 MHz, if that channel were not currently occupied by another station.

Congress also required the FCC to undertake a study on interference. Doyle said the study confirmed that three adjacent intervals caused no interference to full-power FM stations.

"People feel really abandoned by the radio," said Indigo Girl's Amy Ray, on the current state of radio. She said that LPFM "will keep the radio healthy."

Mike Shay of WRYR, a low power station in Chesapeake, MD., considers his station to be an electronic town centers like a community shopping mall. "This is radio made by the people, for the people," Shay said.

Doyle and Terry said they were optimistic that the bill would pass both chambers. They also hoped that the NAB would see this as a fight not worth fighting.

"While NAB does not oppose LPFM in areas where low power stations would not cause interference, we will actively oppose today's proposed legislation," NAB spokesman Kristopher Jones said in a statement about the bill's introduction. "The 232 million weekly listeners of local radio should not be inundated with the inevitable interference that would result from shoehorning more stations onto an already overcrowded radio dial."

The conference call with Doyle and Terry was organized by the Future of Music Coalition, the Prometheus Radio Project, and the media advocacy group Free Press.