Tell the FCC to open more opportunities for LPFM!        Tell the FCC to save stations from encroachment!

What the heck is an FNPRM? And what do I know from an R & O?

Do the letters F-C-C bring to mind endless mountains of paperwork, a crowd of blank-faced bureaucrats, and the convoluted labyrinth that is federal regulatory process? Do the words Kevin and Martin make you cringe? Put your stereotypes and frustrations aside, take hope, and don't be shy about telling the FCC how you feel! Ordinary citizens are now filing comments by the thousands, and participating in the FCC's rulemaking process on a variety of telecommunications issues that affect their lives. Read a great introduction to the rulemaking process on the FCC's website.

Right now, there's a very important Rulemaking on LPFM at the FCC. The FCC wants to love Low Power FM, and the vitality and vigor these small stations bring to the stagnating FM dial, and it is actually home to scores of real people who really care about local broadcasting. We promise. And they read your comments, every single one, and take them into consideration when crafting rules. Indeed, the FCC created LPFM in the first place because citizens across the country demanded it.

In December 2007, the FCC introduced measures to expand and protect Low Power FM with a Report & Order (new rules) and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ideas that could become real rules) on LPFM. Many of the issues the R & O and FNPRM take up are routine matters, but some of them are of utmost importance to the future of LPFM service and stations on the air in communities like yours. We urge, enjoin, cajole and beseech you to comment to the FCC on the issues taken up in this Rulemaking--Low Power FM depends on it! Read our sporting guide, What Does the FCC Really Care About?, to learn more about what kinds of comments are most persuasive.

If you want to skip the full text of the Rulemaking (a whopping 63 pages of pretty good reading for wingnuts, rabid radio lovers, and FCC wonks and wonkettes like us), read Who's On Second, What's on Third?, our handy summary of the FNPRM.

Follow the links below for more background and useful documents about filing comments with the FCC!

What does the FCC really care about? - Learn what sorts of arguments are effective in an FCC comment.
Who's on second, what's on third? - Our summary of the new and proposed LPFM rules! (Thats the 3rd Report & Order and Second Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, in FCC-speak)
List of key questions in the 2nd Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking - prepared by our good friends Tom and Karen!
3rd Report & Order and 2nd Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking - straight from the FCC!
Earlier Prometheus comments on this debate
Radio Controlled - A media activist's guide to the FCC.