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Market-Based LPFM Tiers

Radio Uses Spectrum Efficiently, Genachowski Says

Radio stations are making efficient use of spectrum, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Tuesday as the agency approved a rulemaking on low-power and translator stations in the FM band. The number of listeners of terrestrial broadcast radio has been rising, and the spectrum is used “efficiently,” he said. The rulemaking notice eying a tiered system for the commission to leave space for future low-power FM (LPFM) stations when processing thousands of pending translator applications is “managing spectrum wisely,” Genachowski said. There are about 6,500 pending requests for translators from a 2003 filing window, Commissioner Robert McDowell said at the agency’s monthly meeting. He and other agency officials spoke of the longstanding tension between LPFM and translator stations for new channels.

FCC members portrayed the rulemaking notice on implementing the portion of last year’s Local Community Radio Act dealing with LPFM and translator outlets as beneficial to both types of stations. The notice proposes to approve applications on a market-by-market basis, as expected (CD July 7 p6). Other parts of the notice, including lifting a cap of 10 applications per entity the FCC imposed in 2007 on Auction 83 and letting AM stations use FM translators from that auction so they can broadcast at night also had been expected. The commission unveiled some specifics of the market-based approach during the meeting. The item hadn’t been released at our deadline, and a news release on the rulemaking is on www.fcc.gov.

Under the “tier system” sought in the notice, the FCC wouldn’t award any pending translator applications in the 20 largest radio markets unless there would be room for eight future LPFMs, Audio Division Chief Peter Doyle of the Media Bureau told reporters. In markets from 21-50, the notice seeks to leave room for seven stations, and it’s six in markets 51-100 and five in No. 101-150. The upshot is that all pending Auction 83 requests for translators would be dismissed in about half of the top 150 markets, while the bureau would process requests in the other half, Doyle said.

The rulemaking won’t necessarily mean there will be eight channels available for new low-power stations in big cities, Policy Director Brandy Doyle of LPFM advocate Prometheus Radio Project told us. The group said it backs the market-based approach. The proposed “rules impose a floor” on LPFM availability, “but in many top markets, channel availability will depend not only on the dismissal of translator applications, but on other technical rules as well,” Doyle said. That includes a waiver standard that’s “flexible” for LPFMs that are two notches away on the dial from a full-power station, she said: That will “likely be addressed in the next rulemaking, not this one.” An agency official had said a forthcoming rulemaking will address such issues.

Many would-be low-power broadcasters will seek licenses in the next window for LPFM stations, which the rulemaking seeks to hold in about a year, Doyle predicted, saying he couldn’t give a specific estimate. “There is community radio infrastructure that may be able to generate additional interest in new low-power stations,” he said. “That’s the wonder of a window: You have a party, you see who shows up."

The item “breaks a longstanding logjam on spectrum,” by processing the thousands of pending translator requests, Genachowski told the meeting. “This is an initiative to promote spectrum efficiency, particularly in larger, congested markets.” The commission is “going to make sure the spectrum is going to be used efficiently for a combination of LPFM and translators,” he told the news briefing.

Advocates for each type of station “for years have been competing for the same limited spectrum,” said Kelly Donohue of the bureau during a presentation of the rulemaking. “Applicant behavior was, without a doubt, skewed” in the 2003 auction, she said. “A small handful of filers submitted one half of the 13,000-plus applications filed.” The item asks about “preventing abuses” when an auction winner seeks a license only to try to sell it, Donohue said. With about 500 AM stations now using FM translators, the commission’s decision to allow such cross-band translator use “has proven to be a very successful deregulatory measure,” she said: “In light of the success, we seek comment on whether to allow translators from the Auction 83 pool to use FM translators to broadcast at night” to “align translator outcomes more with demand."

"Low power to the people,” Commissioner Michael Copps said of the item, drawing laughter from the audience. “A year ago the chances of this happening looked pretty bleak,” but LPFM advocates like Prometheus “overcame a lot of obstacles along the way” to get the act passed, he said. The rulemaking “in a measured and generally balanced matter” seeks to implement the legislation, and there are about seven times as many translators in the top-50 markets as there are LPFMs, he said: “LPFM should not be relegated” to smaller markets.

Commissioner Mignon Clyburn envisioned LPFM stations serving areas like Anacostia in Washington, D.C. But “we have some tough decisions upcoming on the best way to handle translator applications,” she said. “Reconciling the apparent tensions between LPFM and FM translator applicants has not always been easy nor handled with the greatest alacrity,” said Commissioner Robert McDowell. He said he’s “delighted” the commission is reconsidering the 10 cap, on which he had dissented at the time it was adopted four years ago.