The FCC just released the tentative agenda for its March open meeting, to be held March 21. LPFM and translator stations are on the agenda: Creation of a Low Power Radio Service Report and Order: The Commission will consider a Report and Order to implement a market-specific FM translator processing scheme, adopt application caps to […]
Underwriting represents a very modest percentage of the budget of most Low Power FM radio stations in the United States. So reports the Prometheus Radio Project in a filing to the Federal Communications Commission. The latest data comes from a 2011 study conducted by Prometheus in collaboration with Keith Brand, Associate Professor of Radio, Television […]
Yesterday 28 members of the House of Representatives, led by Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA), sent a letter to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski [PDF] urging the Commission to ensure there is space reserved in urban areas for new low-power FM station licenses. They observe that the nation’s largest urban markets “have lacked access to new noncommercial […]
Thanks to the quick work of LPFM advocate Michi Eyre at REC Networks, the FCC granted a one week extension on the comment window for the Third Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on low-power FM. In asking for the extension REC told the FCC that Hurricane Irene would interfere with commenters’ ability to submit on […]
As expected, at today’s open FCC meeting the Commission released a Third Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making which lays out a plan of action to both clear out the queue of pending translator station applications and to begin taking new applications for low-power FM community radio stations. An application window for new LPFM stations […]
Ever since the passage of the Local Community Radio Act, the big question has been how the FCC will deal with its backlog of applications for translator repeater stations. Translators are low-power stations that may only rebroadcast the signal of an existing full-power station, and can be fit in many of the spaces on the […]
Yes, the Local Community Radio Act of 2010finally passed both the House and Senate almost two weeks ago. But it’s not official until the president signs it. And that he did, today. Today is just the start of the process to bring more community radio stations to the air. There is a lot of work […]
It’s darn cold in DC today, but I don’t think hell has yet frozen over. Nevertheless, the National Association of Broadcasters just sent out a press release praising the LPFM bill that passed the House this morning. NAB President and former Oregon senator Gordon Smith said, “The revised legislation will expand the number of LPFM […]
Seems that things are starting to move again on LPFM. The House passed HR 6533 this morning, “to implement the recommendations of the Federal Communications Commission report to the Congress regarding low-power FM service, and for other purposes.” The bill was introduced by democrat Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania and co-sponsored by republican Terry Lee of […]
Grassroots heat has been getting hotter this week as the Senate runs out of time to vote on the Local Community Radio Act, expanding low-power FM. There are some signs that the action is having some effect. Free Press campaign director Tim Karr tweeted on Thursday, NAB lobbyists overheard at DC event: “We’re getting beat […]
