As we reported on our podcast last October, the FCC plans to open up opportunities to apply for non-commercial FM radio licenses in 2021. The Commission just announced that first application window for full-power Non-commercial Educational (NCE) licenses, from November 2 – 9.
What this means is that qualified parties may apply for a full-power NCE license during those dates. However, there are still a lot of unknown details. Most importantly, we don’t yet know what frequencies, in what cities will be available. Because these are full power licenses, we can expect there will be very few frequencies open in major markets, where the FM dials are already pretty full.
Keep in mind that the requirements for applying for an NCE license are much more technically complex and stringent than for low-power FM (LPFM) licenses. Only qualified non-profit corporations may apply, and you’ll be best off retaining the services of an experienced radio engineer to consult.
While the initial investment of time and money is higher than with LPFM, the payoff is that a full-power NCE signal can serve a relatively large geographic area.
If you might be interested in applying, we highly recommend listening to our interview with broadcast attorney Frank Montero who explains all the details.
