Copyright 2000 Plain Dealer Publishing Co.
The
Plain Dealer
January 20, 2000 Thursday, FINAL / ALL
SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. 1A
LENGTH: 557 words
HEADLINE:
FCC PLANS TO APPROVE LOW-POWER FM RADIO
BYLINE: By STEPHEN LABATON; NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
Moving to open the radio airwaves to hundreds of small broadcasters, the
federal government is planning to approve rules to allow educational, religious
and community groups to run inexpensive, low-power FM radio
stations.
Over the objections of the nation's largest broadcasters, the
Federal Communications Commission is expected to adopt licensing rules tomorrow
that will permit the addition of noncommercial stations with broadcasting ranges
of as much as seven miles.
Government officials say the rules, proposed
a year ago, hold great promise to transform the airwaves at a time when the rise
of broadcasting conglomerates has sharply reduced the diversity of voices. Such
low-power station licenses have not been issued for more than 20 years.
"This will bring many new voices to the airwaves that have not had an
outlet for expression, and it happens at a time when the radio business has
consolidated in very dramatic fashion," FCC Chairman William E. Kennard said in
an interview yesterday.
"I've been struck by the outpouring of interest
on this issue as I've talked to people around the country," he added. "From cops
and clergy and community groups of all kinds."
Local governments, Indian
tribes and a whole range of subcultures, such as the Creole community in
Florida, zydeco fans in New Orleans, and others who would love to have an
outlet."
The nation's largest broadcasters have fought to block the
rules through intensive lobbying and legislation, asserting that the so-called
micro-radio stations could create interference for established stations in the
form of static or distorted signals.
Last week, after the National
Association of Broadcasters, the industry's trade group, failed to delay the
commission's vote, it issued a statement vowing to "aggressively seek ways to
undo the damage."
Officials at the association said yesterday that they
were considering seeking a court order to strike down the new rules. "In our
view, this comes down to one issue: interference," said Dennis Wharton, a
spokesman for the group. "If tens of thousands of people cannot hear their
hometown radio station, it's hard to understand how this benefits the public.
"The FCC has come up with a way to confound the laws of physics," he
added. "We've documented in an unassailable case that this will result in
additional interference on already crowded airways."
FCC studies have
concluded that the airwaves in the nation's three biggest markets - New York,
Chicago and Los Angeles - are so crowded that the commission cannot issue any
licenses for 100-watt stations, which could cover a broadcast area seven miles
in diameter.
Engineers at the FCC are studying whether smaller 10-watt
stations, with a range of two to four miles, could be licensed in those markets.
Kennard said FCC studies had convinced him that the new rules would not
lead to any significant new interference. He said some broadcasters had told the
commission that they were as concerned about losing their own listeners as they
were about interference.
"They shouldn't see this as a threat," he said
of the broadcasters. "As I envision this, the broadcasters will have a whole new
pool of talent they can incubate, and since these will all be noncommercial
stations, there will be no threat that they will be going after the same
advertisers."
LOAD-DATE: January 21, 2000
