Local Community Radio Act Clears House of Representatives

The Local Community Radio Act passed the House of Representatives Wednesday evening with a resounding voice vote and now moves to the Senate. The bill will open the airwaves for hundreds of new non-commercial stations across the country, bringing low power radio to urban areas for the first time. Following the recommendations of the Federal Communications Commission, the House of Representatives voted to remove technical restrictions Congress placed on low power radio in 2000 at the request of commercial broadcasters. These restrictions have kept low power radio out of the top 50 radio markets, which reach over 160 million Americans. Because of new requirements for LPFM stations in the 2009 bill, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) dropped its longstanding opposition to the Local Community Radio Act. These changes require LPFM stations to resolve interference to other stations, if it were to occur.