The Struggle For The Future of Community Radio:

Of the hundreds of potential frequencies in urban areas that the Commission intended to allocate to Low Power FM in 2000, probably 70-80% of them will be given away to a handful of speculators if the rules are not changed surrounding translators. Since the Commission is soon issued a report to Congress recommending completing the implementation of LPFM, it will be very ironic if there are no frequencies left for communities to apply for.

In March of 2003, the Commission opened a new window for applications for translator licenses. Translators are very similar to Low Power FM, fitting on many of the same potential frequencies. Translators cannot, however, originate their own programming; they must repeat the signal of a full power station. The translator system was designed in 1970 to help existing stations 'fill-in' coverage blocked by hills, mountains, and other geographic features that prevent stations from reaching their full city of license. Translators are governed under a more liberal set of rules than low power fm so it is often possible to get a translator frequency in locations where no low power fm is possible. From a physical standpoint, translators are nearly identical to low power fm radio stations. They use transmitters of similar power (from 10 to 250 watts), broadcast to similar ranges using the same equipment, and create similarly miniscule amounts of interference in the immediate vicinity of the transmitter site.

Translators are now being used as a tool to build loosely regulated radio chains. Out of the 13,000 translator applications received in March by the Commission, over 50% of them were submitted by just 15 organizations. Unlike Low Power FM or commercial radio, there is currently no limit on the number of translators that an applicant can own. The national organizations that have applied for these translators are poised to gain thousands more radio stations around the country at the expense of the scarce remaining bandwidth for stations for local broadcasting. For example, the Radio Assist Ministry has submitted 2454 applications – twice the number of radio stations that the Clear Channel Corporation operates in the United States! Many hundreds of these translator applications have already been granted, while low power radio applications from 4 years ago are still unresolved.

Translators like Radio Assist Ministry's will operate on many frequencies that the Commission intended to allocate for Low Power FM. Rather than small-scale community use of radio frequencies, the airwaves are poised once again to belong to the radio empires – only this time, satellite fed translator empires. In 1999, in a study of potential available frequencies for Low Power FM stations, the Commission found 279 channels in 54 fairly representative cities. After the translator window's applicants take their fill, however, an engineer at REC networks finds that only 4 of those 279 will still be available. While these studies used different methods, they are still broadly indicative of our point – that potential community licenses are disappearing as we speak.

When allocating frequencies, the Commission puts translators essentially on par with Low Power applicants – on a first-come, first-serve basis. The Commission intended to give low power FM stations the first bite at this apple. Unfortunately, due to the delay caused by the study imposed by Congress, the FCC just moved on and opened up a window for translator applications, allowing translators to skip the line. We believe that translators should have a "secondary" status with regard to locally based Low Power stations – if a bonafide local organization wants to use a channel for real, new, local broadcasting, they should not be pre-empted by a repeater. The licensing system as it stands gives preference to remote, out of state organizations looking to rebroadcast on thousands of channels nationwide, rather than to local entities who want just one community radio station.

There will be almost no opportunities for low power stations in the future if the speculators are allowed to get away with this. Tell the FCC Commissioners that the first thing they can do to promote local media is to clean up their act and stop the spectrum grab!