FCC LPFM Window to Open “Before Presidential Election”:

via email:

For Immediate Release: February 6, 2012
Contact: Austin Airwaves jimedia@grandecom.net

FCC LPFM Window to Open “Before Presidential Election”

Austin Airwaves Predicts 10,000 Applicants

The Audio Division of the Federal Communications Commission confirmed to Austin Airwaves on January 20th that the Commission is “shooting for the Fall” for the opening of the highly-anticipated ‘window’ for applications for new Low Power FM (LPFM) educational radio stations. The previously-reliable government source asked not to be named. Another source outside the Commission, long familiar with the LPFM issue, stated she thought that the FCC wanted to get “the process rolling before the presidential election."

Austin Airwaves predicts that nationwide there will be as many as ten thousand applications for the new LPFM licenses.

When asked if he felt this number was a good guestimate, the FCC source said, “We never know what a particular demand will be until we open a window. We have stopped conjecturing about how many applications there may be. It depends in part on supply and demand, availability of spectrum in major markets. There are “mysterious, serendipitous aspects to it.” The “new second adjacent rules” contained within the Local Community Radio Act (LCRA) “certainly has opened up more channels.”

Noting past incidences when the FCC’s servers have crashed under the load of hundreds of applications, Austin Airwaves asked if the “FCC servers are up for the job.” “Absolutely! [but] “Nobody should be filing in the last 15 minutes of the very last night” of the application process. “But will some people do that? Oh yeah, absolutely!”

“I have consistently under-guessed how many applications are going to be filed. I have stopped guessing,” said the veteran broadcast regulator.

Prometheus Radio Project Community Radio Director Vanessa Maria Graber said “Prometheus and our many partners are gearing up for an application window before the presidential election this year. We are helping groups prepare to apply during a potential five day window, most likely in September or October.”

Noting that during past application windows the FCC servers have crashed, “I’m not sure of the capacity of the FCC servers. They have had problems in the past. We support having multiple windows for different regions of the country because of the limited number of engineers and lawyers who are qualified to help organizations apply. Breaking up the windows makes it easier for everyone to have access to them. Regardless of whether or not the FCC will have multiple windows, groups should waste no time in preparing to apply for a construction permit”

“I could see anywhere from five to ten thousand applications submitted nationally.” The FCC’s Proposed Rule Making (PRM) regarding translators is expected later this month. It will finally resolve the questions as to what to do with thousands of translator applications remaining from the 2003 application window. Translators are low power FM stations that carry an existing station’s signal into other areas. They operate on the same frequencies as LPFMs. Community radio groups have been advocating protecting these frequencies for local, community and minority applicants, especially in larger markets. Depending on the number of frequencies made available after the PRM, “a significant number of frequencies could be made available, especially in major markets.”

After a decade of effort by community radio advocates, the Local Community Radio Act (LCRA) was passed by Congress on December 20th, 2010 and signed into law by President Obama on January 5th, 2011. With only days to go before the end of the session, Austin Airwaves played a key role in the lifting of the so-called “secret hold” in the Senate. Once the hold was lifted, the full Senate voted on the LCRA, passing it by a wide margin. Advocates for the LCRA fought years of strident opposition from National Public Radio and the National Association of Broadcasters.

There are currently 838 LPFM stations on the air across the country, of the nearly 15,000 licensed stations, as of January, 2012. LPFM stations are locally-licensed, non-commercial, educational broadcasters limited to 100 watts.

At the National Conference for Media Reform in Boston, Congressman Mike Doyle (D-PA) praised the years of work by LPFM advocates, including the Prometheus Radio Project and Austin Airwaves.

http://austin.indymedia.org/article/2011/05/09/austin-airwaves-praised-n...
Austin Airwaves predicts that when the five day window for applications for new LPFM licenses opens this year as many as 10,000 applications will be submitted. "I sure hope the FCC servers are up for the job," quipped Austin Airwaves’ Jim Ellinger.

Sources:

Prometheus Radio Project http://www.prometheusradio.org/

http://prometheusradio.org/we_won http://prometheusradio.org/node/2445

Radio World http://bit.ly/r5NEBh

Radio Survivor http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2012/01/06/radio-still-growing-in-u-s-accor...

Austin IndyMedia http://austin.indymedia.org/article/2011/05/09/austin-airwaves-praised-n...

Rep. Mike Doyle http://doyle.house.gov/press-releases-1/2012/01/fcc-study-confirms-value...