Wave of New FM Translators Could Come Into Conflict With Full-Power FM Stations
The influx of FM translators expected from the two FCC translator application windows could cause a rise in interference conflicts with existing full-power FM stations, and some broadcasters believe the rules for those conflicts are due for reform, broadcasters, attorneys and industry officials told us last week. “I believe we are gonna see a spike in these kinds of battles,” said Fletcher Heald broadcast attorney Frank Montero. It's far too easy for a full-power FM station to accuse of a translator of interfering with its signal, said Cromwell Group President Bud Walters, who owns both full-power FM stations and FM translators. “There needs to be some standards,” Walters said, saying broadcasters should work toward a consensus on how to address interference issues between translators and full-power stations. Several radio industry officials said NAB is looking into the matter. “NAB is working closely with our members on this issue. It is important that there is a reasonable way to deal with interference complaints as new translators come on line,” an NAB spokesman said in an email. “We are confident the FCC will work with us to develop meaningful solutions for all involved.”
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Since FM translators are a secondary service, they aren't allowed to interfere with full-power FM stations, even if that interference occurs outside the full-power station's contours. In some areas, a powerful full-power station's signal can be heard states away, even if its actual contour is limited to a metropolitan area, Walters said. Even if the interfering translator is interfering with reception many miles away from a station's FCC-defined contour, the full-power station can complain to the FCC that the translator is interfering, as long as it can find some unaffiliated listeners to tell the FCC they can no longer receive the full-power signal. This can happen to a translator that's “legally situated” and compliant on paper, Montero said.
Translators can respond to full-power complaints by trying to discredit the listener complaints, but the process is difficult, arduous and expensive, said Womble Carlyle radio attorney John Garziglia. Sometimes the listeners turn out to be affiliated with the complaining full-power station, and even interference with reception on a car radio counts, making it easier for an FM station to find a place where its signal is blocked by a translator, he said. Though an FM translator is rebroadcasting an AM station, to a nearby FM station it's effectively a new FM competitor, Montero said. That can provide incentive for a full power to see if an interference complaint is a possibility, he said.
Several broadcast officials said they believe such conflicts will rise with the increase in translators. Audio Division Chief Peter Doyle said he expects more than 900 translators to be approved from the translator relocation application window that closed Oct. 31 (see 1610250061), and more will be made available in another window in 2017. Many of the recently relocated translators were moved closer to metropolitan areas, and the first ones that were approved are likely starting to come online now, Montero said.
The problem could be further complicated if the FCC creates a new class of full-power FM stations, as suggested by Commissioner Ajit Pai, broadcast attorneys said. Though Pai said the translators granted during the AM revitalization process would be protected from being bumped by the new FM C4 class, fitting all those signals in could be problematic, Doyle said (see 1610130055). Walters also said it's important to protect the FM translators, because they make local AM stations more viable, and such stations “do a lot for the community.” AM stations provide “a community service,” Walters said.