[BC] LPAM Info
Richard Fry
rfry
Fri Oct 28 08:21:14 CDT 2005
Here is a paste about a proposed LPAM service, from the DIY Media website:
http://www.free103point9.org/newsroom.php
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Low power AM petition for rulemaking accepted at FCC
10.23.05
>From DIY Media
RM-11287 is a multi-party petition that calls for the opening of the AM
band to small broadcasters. Two of the five parties involved also filed the
original petition for rulemaking that led to LPFM's conception.
This has been a long time coming: citizen interest in LPAM has percolated
since the 1990s, and there's been open discussion of the idea since at
least 2002. In 2003 a respected broadcast engineer submitted a proposal to
the FCC which called for the creation of 30 and 100-watt "neighborhood
radio" AM stations with 1-5 mile broadcast ranges. The FCC never formally
acknowledged receipt of this document. In 2004 efforts were made to revive
the proposal, to no avail. Building on these previous efforts with copious
field experimentation led to the petition the FCC finally accepted.
RM-11287 attempts to differentiate LPAM from LPFM in several respects. The
most significant is its commercial nature: LPAM seeks to "fill the current
gap between small stations and megacorporations...where mid-sized
businesses used to be" in the broadcast industry. Petitioners contend that
while LPFM addresses a "community coverage gap" opened by the consolidation
of radio since 1996, "[t]here remains, in radio and in other mass media
industries, a separate, but similarly dangerous, 'small business gap'"
which "harms the nation by hindering economic growth and also by limiting
the free flow of information and ideas." It is proposed that one entity may
own up to 12 LPAM stations nationally, although no more than one in any
given market.
Multiple options are presented for the technical requirements of an LPAM
service, with power levels ranging from 1 to 250 watts. All are geared
toward keeping administration of the service simple. It is believed that
under such conditions LPAM stations may provide opportunities for access to
the airwaves that LPFM simply cannot: for example, according to cited
analysis from REC Networks, metropolitan Detroit is currently off-limits to
LPFM, but as many as four possible LPAM frequencies exist in the city.
Some components of the petition, like asking the FCC to make licensing
decisions between competing applicants based on their proposed broadcast
content, will simply not fly. And given that the Telecommunications Act of
1996 requires the FCC to auction off all commercial broadcast licenses,
implementation of the proposal as written would require the blessing of
Congress. But the fact that the FCC is at least open to a rudimentary level
of discussion about LPAM is encouraging. Comments on RM-11287 are due in
mid-November (on or around November 20).
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