- WASHINGTON (AP) - For disc jockey wannabes, it's a ticket to the airwaves.
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- Thousands of low-tech, low-cost radio
stations sprouting up across the country airing church services, city council
meetings and high school basketball games.
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- In a 4-1 vote, the Federal Communications
Commission on Thursday took the first step toward creating a very local
radio service that would help community and regional interest groups get
on the air.
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- The FCC will offer proposals to create
thousands of new low-power FM radio stations. These "micro" radio
broadcasters would operate with low power levels from 1 watt to 1,000 watts
and would be licensed by the FCC.
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- "It is an opportunity to create
new alternative voices on the airwaves," said FCC Chairman Bill Kennard.
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- Depending on the height of the antenna
and the terrain, a 1-watt station typically serves an area with a diameter
of about two miles - and a 1,000-watt station an area with a diameter of
up to 18 miles.
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- The proposals also address the issue
of consolidation in the radio industry, which has made it increasingly
difficult for the voices of minorities and community groups to be heard.
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- A 1996 law triggered rapid consolidation
in the industry by relaxing limits on the number of radio stations held
by any one owner.
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- "This would bring radio back to
the neighborhood," said Cheryl Leanza, an attorney with the Media
Access Project, a public interest law firm.
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- Wilmer Urgelles wants to start a low-powered
station to air Sunday services, Bible studies and Christian music in Spanish,
something he says would be useful to the many elderly members who have
trouble getting around.
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- "We are in such need of a station
like this," said Urgelles of the Iglesia Cristiana El Buen Samaritano
in Princeton, Fla.
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- In an effort to help regular FM stations
grow and become financially solid, the FCC stopped licensing low-powered
FM radio stations around 1978. As a result, just 133 mostly educational,
low-powered FM stations now exist.
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- Some city governments have expressed
interest in starting a low-power FM station to air transportation and weather
information in the mornings, plus community news and city council meetings
later in the day.
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- But the radio industry opposes the idea,
saying it would create interference with other radio stations, said National
Association of Broadcasters' spokesman John Earnhardt.
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- Sharing those concerns, Commissioner
Harold Furchtgott-Roth dissented by proxy from the plan.
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- Kennard, a strong supporter of the new
licenses, countered broadcasters' predictions, saying his agency will protect
existing radio services. "We don't want to do anything that is going
to prevent consumers from getting good, interference-free radio,"
he said.
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- The proposals are subject to revision,
public comment and another vote before they would take effect. The FCC
is supposed to seek public comment on whether the stations should be noncommercial,
commercial or a mix.
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- It's also unclear what standards any
group - including special-interest groups - would have to meet to get a
low-power license. Right now to get a higher-power license, companies generally
must show they want to serve a particular area - plus provide information
about any past criminal record or discrimination dispute.
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- Low-powered stations are cheaper to build
because the equipment isn't as expensive. In addition to avoiding the big
expense of building a tower for antennas, stations likely will have an
easier time getting zoning approval for smaller rooftop antennas.
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- Costs can be as low as $2,500 for a 1-watt
station to $100,000 and up for a 1,000-watt station, FCC officials said.
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- Separately, the FCC postponed a vote
Thursday to release an audit of the five Bell telephone companies showing
that billions of dollars in equipment can't be accounted for.
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- The FCC, however, agreed to:
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- * Require that long-distance companies
compensate pay-phone owners 24 cents for each calling card or access code
call. * Release a report on availability of high-speed Internet and data
connections.
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