House members want FCC to license more low-power FM stations

Twenty-eight House members wrote to the Federal Communications Commission, urging the agency to license as many low-power FM radio stations as possible while implementing the terms of the Local Community Radio Act.

The law, which President Obama signed in January, is designed to increase the number of noncommercial, community radio stations that transmit at 100 watts or less. The FCC created LPFM as a new class of radio stations in 2000; about 800 have been on the air since then. “In communities where they already operate, low-power FM radio stations have often served enormously important roles to educate the public about news and public affairs; to provide rapid, local response during emergencies; and to serve and enhance cultural, ethnic and artistic diversity,” wrote the lawmakers, including Reps. Mike Doyle (D-PA), Lee Terry (R-NE) and Ron Paul (R-TX). The lawmakers wrote that the original legislation authorizing LPFM placed severe interference restrictions that prevented the FCC from authorizing stations in almost all major cities.