IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    Washington, D.C., Feb. 17, 2000 – Citing concerns over increased interference for radio listeners, the National Association of Broadcasters today urged Congress to support bipartisan legislation to overturn a Federal Communications Commission rule creating a low power FM radio service.

    In a split decision, the FCC recently voted to relax channel spacing protections on the radio dial and authorized hundreds of new 10 and 100-watt low power FM stations. The action came despite an admission by the agency that many radio receivers will experience additional interference as a result of the decision.

    In testimony before the House Telecommunications Subcommittee, NAB President/CEO Edward O. Fritts said the FCC "has abandoned its historic mission and forgotten the American consumer." by authorizing LPFM. Fritts noted that "just five years ago, the Commission said that low power radio `would lower the quality of the FM broadcasting service.’" LPFM, said Fritts, "will simply create islands of service in a sea of interference."

    Also testifying at the hearing was Bruce Reese, President/CEO of Bonneville International and Chairman of the NAB Spectrum Integrity Task Force. Reese, whose company owns 15 radio stations – including WTOP AM-FM and WGMS-FM in Washington – said "millions of American listeners" will be subjected to additional interference on the radio dial as a result of the FCC decision.

    Reese noted that new LPFM stations will "suffer substantial interference" as well as the full power stations. "Thus, the FCC will be licensing new interfering stations that will be largely unlistenable for the intended audience," Reese said. "The cost of the ineffective spectrum allocation is the creation of a Swiss cheese coverage pattern for existing full-service broadcasters."

    Reese said the FCC lacks the resources to police LPFM, citing the agency’s inability to prevent pirate radio stations from flourishing. Reese said that as an alternative to LPFM, the FCC should be promoting Internet radio to accomplish its stated goal of establishing additional "diversity" on radio.

    The Internet radio option was ignored, said Reese, because "the FCC won’t get to regulate it and the FCC won’t get credit for it."

    Fritts said the FCC’s goal of promoting diversity is "laudable." However, he said the FCC’s own study indicates that there are more program formats today than before Congress passed legislation permitting industry consolidation. He noted that there are now more than 600 Hispanic format radio stations, up from 400 in 1996.

    Independent engineer Chuck Jackson also testified at the hearing, and provided examples of interference that radio listeners will experience as a result of LPFM. He chided the FCC for a "significant flaw" in its engineering analysis of LPFM, and said the "FCC’s claims about the harmful effects of interference approach junk science."

    Bipartisan legislation has been offered in the House of Representatives by Mike Oxley (R-OH) and Frank Pallone (D-NJ) that would overturn the LPFM rule. It currently has more than 100 co-sponsors. Fritts said that "given the FCC’s unwillingness to follow its core obligations to protect the spectrum, I see no other option for Congress but to say no to low power FM."

    NAB serves and represents America’s radio and television stations and major broadcast networks.

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Contact: Dennis Wharton
                    202-429-5350