In a move that may usher in a brand new world of radio broadcasting, Federal Communications Commission members voted Thursday morning to allow non-commercial, low-power radio stations to share the FM airwaves again for the first time in twenty years. The four-to-one decision in favor of low-power FM radio comes after a year of fierce lobbying for and against the proposal, with musicians like the Indigo Girls, Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne siding with the grassroots Low-Power Radio Coalition against heavy opposition from the National Association of Broadcasters, which has argued that a glut of new stations vying for already tight radio real estate would cause interference across the dial.

"It's great to see the FCC is moving ahead with Low Power FM radio," Raitt said in a statement. "I met with Chairman [William] Kennard several weeks ago, and expressed my belief that the radio waves belong to all of us. There is so much great music in the world that never makes it to radio, and the FCC deserves credit for opening up as much room as possible on the dial."

Low-Power Radio Coalition member Jenny Toomey called the FCC's decision "absolutely unprecedented."

"What's totally amazing about this victory is that it was really kind of a rag-tag group of activists talking to each other on the Internet who managed to beat the NAB, who sent money to lobby every single member of Congress," said Toomey, a Washington, D.C. musician who's played with the bands Tsunami, Grenadine and Liquorice. "Basically, what we were saying was, money controls the radio, which is a national resource, and we as members of the American public should have access to our airwaves."

Toomey credits much of that victory to the efforts of musicians spreading the low-power FM gospel. "I feel that the alliance of musicians is really what pushed the issue into the press and through to victory. If it wasn't for artists like Amy Ray or Mike Watt, it really wouldn't have gotten the press profile that it has, and that's really what won this battle."

The FCC could be accepting applications for the new low-power signals as early as May, with the first mini-stations going on air before the end of the year. Licenses for the new low-power stations will be awarded to community groups committed to using their signals for strictly non-commercial, local-oriented programming. This could include schools, religious groups, health organizations and even music stations -- provided they can sell their case to the FCC.

"Basically, the FCC voted to make these non-commercial, education licenses," said Toomey. "[Regarding] the language of 'educational purposes,' we're going to get a more clear statement hopefully next week about what they actually mean by that. But we're already lobbying them to include as educational purposes the idea of a community-based radio station where, among the many functions it would serve, it would also serve as a vehicle for under-performed or under-supported music, educating people about everything from jazz and blues to new, innovative forms of music, like punk, rock and folk."

In deference to the NAB's concerns about signal interference from the new stations, the FCC has scaled back its initial blueprint allowing for 1,000-watt stations with a near-twenty-mile broadcast radius and ruled that the low-power stations will be limited to 100 watts, allowing broadcasts in a radius of up to three-and-a-half miles (typical high power, commercial FM stations start out at 6,000 watts). The NAB has argued that such measures still won't prevent interference, but Cheryl Leanza, deputy director of Media Access Project, a non-profit public interest law firm that has worked historically to increase the diversity of voices on the nation's airwaves, said that the FCC's ruling should stand despite the inevitable further opposition.

"I've heard that the National Association of Broadcasters is intending to take some court action," Leanza said, "but, in general, what happens when somebody goes to court against an FCC rule is the rule stands in place while the court decides whether or not the rules are okay. So that means that low-power radio should pretty much move forward."

So, could the FCC's promise of low-power radio herald a return to the heyday of free-form FM radio? Not necessarily, admitted Toomey, but she said it is a promising first step in the right direction.

"Twenty years ago, you had payola, so there's never been a perfect radio world," she laughed. "But I am incredibly optimistic. I went to bed last night, and there weren't 1,000 new radio stations, and tomorrow there's going to be 1,000 new ones."

RICHARD SKANSE
(January 20, 2000)