Incumbents, LPFM Advocates Differ on Implementing Local Community Radio Act
Low-power FM (LPFM) advocates and incumbent radio broadcasters squared off this week in comments on how the FCC should implement the Local Community Radio Act (LCRA). Individual LPFM stations and the Prometheus Radio Project also solicited listeners and members of the public to file comments with the agency, resulting in hundreds of brief comments in the docket. In general LPFM advocates argued for broader interpretations of the statute allowing more flexible rules for LPFM operators while incumbent FM broadcasters made the case for more narrowly tailored rules that protect their services.
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The statute represented a carefully crafted compromise and the FCC shouldn’t undermine it through rulemaking, National Public Radio said in its comments (http://xrl.us/bm6ntm). That means resisting calls to allow certain rural LPFM licensees to boost power to 250 watts and providing necessary interference protections to existing FM stations, NPR said. “It is clear from the legislative history underlying the LCRA that Congress understood LPFM stations to operate with no more than 100 watts of power,” it said. Stations that want to broadcast at the 250 watt level can seek a Class A license, it said.
NAB and NPR both argued against weakening interference protections for full-power FM stations. The commission should only grant waivers of the second-adjacent channel spacing requirements for LPFM stations on a very limited basis, NAB said (http://xrl.us/bm6p54). “The plain language and structure of the LCRA demonstrates that Congress intended to allow LPFM stations to operate on third-adjacent channels, but in general no closer on the dial to full-service FM stations,” it said. “Given the clarity of the congressional directive ... the Commission should grant waivers only under truly unusual circumstances,” it said.
But the commission should grant LPFM licenses with power levels up to 250 watts in some cases, the National Lawyers Guild, the Committee on Democratic Communications and the Media Alliance said (http://xrl.us/bm6p6p). It also pushed the commission to eliminate second-adjacent channel restrictions for stations operating at 100 watts or less. Additionally, the FCC should set up a new rulemaking to eliminate what they called an “onerous” transmitter certification requirement, and replace it with a transmitter verification program.
The commission should get rid of its 10-watt class of service and introduce the 250-watt class in rural areas and other “non-core” locations, the Catholic Radio Association said (http://xrl.us/bm6qag). “We ... urge the Commission to move aggressively to allow the higher-powered facilities anywhere that such facilities can be shown to pose no actual interference,” it said.
The commission should relax restrictions on owning multiple LPFM facilities for Native American tribes and tribal applicants, Native Public Media and the National Congress of American Indians said (http://xrl.us/bm6qbj). “Limited exemption from the ownership rules would advance service to Tribal Lands without unfairly prejudicing the rights of other applicants,” they said.
Additionally, hundreds of listeners and members of the public wrote in the docket supporting the positions of Prometheus Radio Project. It solicited supporters to file a form letter (http://xrl.us/bm6qbu) with the agency before this week’s comments deadline. And Free Press collected signatures around the country (http://xrl.us/bm6qcg) on a petition urging the FCC to “do everything it can to increase the number of LPFMs that can go on the air.”