- Introduced by U.S. Senators
John McCain
,
Maria Cantwell
,
Patrick Leahy
- After the FCC complied with the provisions of the Radio Broadcasting Act of 2000 by commissioning
the MITRE Report
to test if there was significant interference from LPFM stations on the full-power stations, the study showed that the interference of LPFM is minimal and won't have a significant effect on other stations.
[1]
- According to Sen. Leahy, "This bill will open up the airwaves to truly local broadcasting while protecting full-power broadcasters from unreasonable interference and preserving important services such as reading services for the blind."
[2]
Sponsored in the
U.S. House of Representatives
by Congressmen
Mike Doyle
and
Lee Terry
and in the
U.S. Senate
by Senators
Maria Cantwell
and
John McCain
the Local Community Radio Act of 2007 failed to be voted on. The House bill, H.R. 2802, was referred to the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet on June 21, 2007. Other than that nothing has come to the observation till now.
[3]
Since the bill was not passed in FY 2007, the bill was removed from the docket as Never Passed.
This bill was an update of the Local Community Radio Act of 2007. It required FCC to alter current rules in order to eliminate the minimum distance separation between low-power FM stations and third-
adjacent-channel
stations.
[4]
Previously, there had been a minimum distance requirement, however the FCC found that LPFM stations did not cause any interference on third-adjacent channel stations, thus eliminating the need for such a requirement.
[5]
The Local Community Radio Act of 2009 also required that the FCC keep the rules that offer interference protection to third-adjacent channels that offer a
radio reading service
(the reading of newspapers, books or magazines for those who are blind or hearing impaired.)
[6]
This protection was to ensure that such channels are not subject to possible interference by LPFM stations.
[3]
The final part of the bill required that when giving out licenses to FM stations, the FCC must make licenses available to LPFM stations and that licensing decisions be made with regard to local community needs.
[4]
The bill had unanimous bipartisan support from FCC leadership.
[7]
It was passed by the House and referred to the Senate.
The Local Community Radio Act of 2010 (based upon legislation originally introduced in 2005) was signed into law by President
Barack Obama
on January 4, 2011 as
Pub. L.
Tooltip Public Law (United States)
111?371 (text)
(PDF)
, after passage in the House on December 17, 2010, and the U.S. Senate on December 18, 2010. In a statement after the bill became law, Federal Communications Commission Chair Julius Genachowski said, "Low power FM stations are small, but they make a giant contribution to local community programming. This important law eliminates the unnecessary restrictions that kept these local stations off the air in cities and towns across the country." The Act states the following: The Federal Communications Commission, when licensing new FM translator stations, FM booster stations, and low-power FM stations, shall ensure that--
(1) licenses are available to FM translator stations, FM booster stations, and low-power FM stations;
(2) such decisions are made based on the needs of the local community; and
(3) FM translator stations, FM booster stations, and low-power FM stations remain equal in status and secondary to existing and modified full-service FM stations.
In General- The Federal Communications Commission shall modify its rules to eliminate third-adjacent minimum distance separation requirements between--
(1) low-power FM stations; and
(2) full-service FM stations, FM translator stations, and FM booster stations.
In July 2011, the FCC issued a
notice of proposed rulemaking
in response to the law. It proposes to put a "floor" on the number of community LPFM stations in each
media market
, without considering the land area which the market covers. This could be detrimental for community stations in markets with a lower
population density
, and could result in LPFM stations being pushed into the
exurbs
, where more
channels
are available, but far fewer potential listeners live within a small
broadcast range
.
A March 19, 2012 FTC ruling appears to address the concern that major corporations using "translator" stations as LPFMs, originating programming that could otherwise only have been heard on
AM
or on a proprietary digital radio system called
HD Radio
. This use, disallowed by the FCC, could have circumvented caps intended to prevent excessive
concentration of media ownership
, and violates the
noncommercial
,
localism
,
power
, and
height
rules that other community LPFM stations must abide by.
[8]
- ^
"Archived copy"
. Archived from
the original
on 2011-05-25
. Retrieved
2011-07-18
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link
)
- ^
http://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=8904246a-cd92-489c-81b1-48d8eddc4298
Archived at
https://web.archive.org/web/20170202083412/http://www.mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=8904246a-cd92-489c-81b1-48d8eddc4298
- ^
a
b
GovTrack.us. (2007) "H.R. 2802: Local Community Radio Act of 2007."
GovTrack.us.
Retrieved February 12, 2008, from
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-2802
- ^
a
b
WashingtonWatch.com. (2009) "H.R. 1147, The Local Community Radio Act of 2009." "WashingtonWatch.com." Retrieved May 23, 2009, from
http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_HR_1147.html#toc2
- ^
RADIO magazine - The Radio Technology Leader. (2004) "FCC Reports LPFM Interference Findings to Congress." "Media Access Project." Retrieved May 24, 2009, from
"Archived copy"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 2008-04-09
. Retrieved
2008-03-03
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (
link
)
- ^
KPBS Radio Reading Service. "About." "KPBS." Retrieved May 23, 2009, from
http://kpbsreadingservice.org
- ^
United States Congress
(September 18, 2009).
"FCC: Unanimous, bipartisan support for LPFM"
.
Free Press
.
Archived
from the original on 2021-12-20.
- ^
RawStory.com, FCC decision strikes critical blow to right-wing radio dominance, March 20, 2012