At the end of last year, public radio scored a huge victory in Congress and with the FCC. Congress passed a bill which would allow churches, community groups and schools all across the country to establish low power, FM radio stations in their respective markets. The FCC now had the power to grant possibly thousands of new, noncommercial licensees. This bill was one thing that Republicans and Democrats seemed to agree on, as it passed rather easily and had overwhelming support due to it's build up from a grass roots following.
This builds upon the creation of low power service radio in 2002. This type of radio was created to counter the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and hoped to increase and diversify the number of radio owners. Under pressure though from commercial broadcasters however, congress put up a number of barriers to make the ability to create these stations nearly impossible. As a result, only a few, very rural stations were created. This law wipes out the barriers and allows the unused spots on the FM dial to be filled. The only real requirement is that stations must be limited to 100 watts.
People who promoted the bill hail this as a victory for local radio. They feel now that community oriented programming now has a voice, whether it's local news in both English and Spanish, or putting local or less known music on the radio, it now has a platform. I also agree with the passing of this bill. I'm glad to see true community stations get a shot to shine again. While NPR and commercial news has some local focus, these stations can thrive off just local news for those who are only interested in that. It also gives a place from more amateur broadcasters to learn the tricks of radio which is cool to see. Over the next few years with the passing, expect small stations to be on the rise in your town.
Source: http://www.reclaimthemedia.org/deepmedia/senate_passes_community_radio_1950
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