One of the most frequent questions we get via email is, “how can I get a radio station license?” Most often the inquiry concerns a low-power FM license, but the correspondent isn’t always particular.
Aside from the years 2010 and 2013 – the last noncomm and LPFM license opportunities, respectively – our answer is usually “sorry, you can’t, unless you want to buy an existing station.” Looks like we’ll need to modify that advice soon.
As the Broadcast Law Blog reports, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai told Congress in written testimony that licensing windows are coming for both full-power non commercial stations in the reserved band (88.1 – 91.9 FM) and for LPFMs. The full-power window will come first, Pai says, because It’s been 13 years since the last opportunity, while the last LPFM window was seven years ago.
For those not acquainted with how radio station licenses are allocated, it’s important to understand that the Commission only accepts applications for new ones during assigned windows of time. Each window is reserved for a specific type of station – such as an LPFM, a translator repeater or a full-power commercial FM – and as you can see, they don’t come about very often. It’s only during these windows that one can apply for a new license, and the process can be very competitive. Commercial stations also require a monetary bid, which is not the case for non commercial stations, including LPFMs.
Just to give you an idea about how rare these windows are, note that there have been only two LPFM applications windows in the twenty years since the service was founded. The second followed the first by 13 years. So, hearing that a new one might happen in the next year sounds downright speedy.
Submitting an application for a full-power non-commercial station is significantly more complex than for an LPFM. It’s up to the applicant to identify an open frequency, and then to make an engineering case that a station can be located on that frequency, in a specific geographic location, without causing interference to existing stations. This will be difficult to impossible in most major metropolitan markets.
It’s also important to understand that in some markets the non-commercial licensing window will probably use up frequencies that could be used for new LPFMs. Once we get to the next LPFM window, it’s very likely that there will be very few eligible frequencies in major cities, except for the possibility that some shuttered stations’ channels might be available. Even so, expect tremendous demand and competition for those.
Despite the caveats, all of this is good news for organizations that are interested in starting new stations. But the time to start organizing is now. While you’ll receive something like fair warning that a license application window is coming – at least 6 months – that still may not be enough time for an organization that’s new to broadcasting to get their ducks in a row.
