Mo’ Power for Low Power
In 2000, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began accepting LPFM license applications from community groups around the country. But the broadcast lobby, including the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and National Public Radio (NPR) opposed opening up the airwaves. By the end of 2000, Congress—folding under industry pressure—passed the "Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act" to block urban LPFM stations, based on the radio industry’s claim that adding 100-watt, low-power stations into the FM spectrum would endanger full-power broadcasters’ signals.
Mo’ Power for Low Power
Activists hope Congress will allow low-power FM radio stations in urban areas in 2009.
January 20, 2009
By Jeremy Gantz
CHICAGO —The Chicago Independent Radio Project (CHIRP), an all-volunteer radio group formed in 2007, will begin webcasting this winter—though millions of city residents who live close to the station won’t be able to hear its programming.
That’s because urban Low Power FM (LPFM) radio stations remain illegal.
In 2000, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began accepting LPFM license applications from community groups around the country. But the broadcast lobby, including the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and National Public Radio (NPR) opposed opening up the airwaves. By the end of 2000, Congress — folding under industry pressure — passed the "Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act" to block urban LPFM stations, based on the radio industry’s claim that adding 100-watt, low-power stations into the FM spectrum would endanger full-power broadcasters’ signals.
However, in 2003 the Mitre Corporation, funded by a $2 million grant from the government, found that LPFM stations do not interfere with the signals of existing full-power stations. In late 2007, the FCC recommended that Congress eliminate the interference regulation that blocked LPFM stations from entering urban airwaves.
"I don’t know what more evidence they need," says Joe Torres, government relations manager for Free Press, a media reform organization. "There is no legitimate basis for NAB and NPR to claim that LPFM will interfere with broadcast stations."
Since 2000, more than 800 rural LPFM stations have begun broadcasting. In some cases, they provide listeners with local emergency updates and information unavailable on commercial stations.
But urban groups like CHIRP are gearing up for swift passage next year of legislation that could finally bring independent community radio to a city near you.