Almost everyone has signaled thumbs up on a Federal Communications Commission plan that would allow AM radio stations to duplicate their programming on FM translators. The formal comment period for the proceeding has concluded, but filings keep arriving. The latest came in on February 8th from Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD), endorsing the remarks of his constituent, Richard Gelfman, owner of Chestertown AM oldies station WCTR, "The Town."

"We strongly urged the Federal Communications Commission to adopt new rules which would allow daytime only stations such as ourselves to better serve local communities by granting the right to use FM translators (or any other means) to operate at night," Gelfman wrote. "As a matter of fact, without this ability, I do not believe that daytime AM stations can continue to survive."

Over 200 comments have been filed in this proceeding, most of them in favor of the idea. But several media reform groups have raised questions about the proposal, especially its impact on communities that hope to build Low Power FM (LPFM) stations in their area.

Filling in "coverage gaps?"

Many AM stations have to dramatically reduce their signal power at night because of "skywave propagation"—in the wee hours the AM frequency can hit the ionosphere and travel hundreds of miles beyond its designated local service area, causing interference. Unless the FCC has designated the station as a "clear channel" licensee, allowed to broadcast long distances at night, or permits it to operate on "flea power"—greatly reducing its signal—the station must shut down.

Since 1970, the Commission has limited the use of FM translators for extending the broadcasts of other FM stations. But in July of 2006, the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) petitioned the FCC to allow AM stations to operate FM translators as well. The NAB argued that such a rule change would allow many of the nation's estimated 4,814 stations to fill in "coverage gaps" and provide more local programming.

"For instance," NAB wrote, "daytime stations that currently air tape-delayed coverage of the local high school's sporting events or a local political debate because they must turn off their transmitter at sundown, will now be able to do so live." NAB filings on this issue also point out that women and minorities have a significance presence in AM radio.

And so the Media Bureau of the FCC launched a 90-day proceeding on the question in early November of last year. Their proposal would allow FM translators as long as the night time service does not extend beyond a 25-mile radius of the AM site, or the daytime coverage area of the station, whichever is smallest.

A hodgepodge of smaller, locally-based AM station owners quickly wrote in to support the proposal, among them Virginia's Christian Broadcasting Service, which operates six AM stations, and a consortium of AM "daytimer station" groups in and around Kentucky led by Big River Radio, Inc. Many complain that they have lost audience to the iPod, and satellite and Internet radio. "All daytimer stations are at a competitive disadvantage, and generally cannot provide good nighttime service to their communities of license," the Big River group wrote to the FCC in early December.

Other station filings, such as Gelfman of WCTR's, extol the unique local coverage that they provide: high school and college sports, local government meetings, and agricultural weather forecasts. "In our town, Chesterton, there is one newspaper—a weekly—and we are the only other source of local news and events," Gelfman wrote. "Our service to our local community should not be so seriously limited by rules that require us, a vital community resource, to go off the air."

Giving to AM; taking from low-power FM



But a sympathetic filing submitted by Clear Channel Communications in January probably did not help the cause of these local broadcasters. Clear Channel owns 1,100 radio stations across the US and praised the plan as one that will "enhance competition, foster localism and promote diversity." Shortly after their comment came one of the few statements critical of the proposal, jointly filed by the LPFM advocacy group Prometheus Radio Project and the Media Access Project (MAP).

The Prometheus/Media Access comment reminds the FCC that not all AM stations provide local coverage to their communities; many, in fact do not at all. But the translator proposal could take spectrum space from potential LPFM license owners, whose applicants have to prove to the Commission that they enjoy an "established community presence" and are committed to "local program origination."

"Allocating FM spectrum to AM stations that may or may not provide local content is not an effective way to increase localism," Prometheus/MAP wrote to the Commission on February 4, "a more effective way to promote localism is to allocate spectrum to LPFM licensees who pledge a commitment to localism."

The FCC has launched another proceeding on operation and licensing rules for these community based, nonprofit stations, which can broadcast at a maximum of 100 watts of power. And Representative Michael Doyle of Pennsylvania has proposed legislation that would liberalize the rules for LPFM, since an FCC commissioned study indicated that these licenses do not threaten full power stations, as the NAB and National Public Radio claimed in the late 1990s. In late November, the Commission recommended to Congress that it remove requirements that LPFM stations protect full power stations operating on third adjacent channels.

The Prometheus/MAP filing also notes that while female and minority ownership rates are better for AM than for FM stations, they're still "abysmal," at 6.63 percent for women and 10.65 percent for minorities. "The proposed rule would do nothing to increase the number of minority and female owners," the comment warns, and could make the situation even worse by making AM stations more valuable, "attracting women and minority buy-outs from well funded corporations."

But the statement does suggest conditions for AM to FM translator rules that Prometheus and MAP see as acceptable.

AM stations may access FM translators only as a "fill-in"—presumably when some important event requires broadcast coverage in the early morning, evening, or night

Only "standalone" stations may employ FM translators. "Many AM stations are owned by large companies," Prometheus writes, "and the interests of large companies should not be allowed to hide behind the interests of survival of genuine small businesses"

One FM translator per standalone AM station

No translator should go to an AM station that also owns an FM outlet in the same market.

It's unclear when the FCC will make a decision on this issue, but given that even the most skeptical commenters make allowance for the proposal, chances are that we'll eventually see some relaxation of the Commission's FM translator rules.