As expected, the Federal Communications Commission has cleared the way for a new application window for non-commercial, educational (NCE) radio stations sometime in the fall.
On Thursday the FCC awarded NCE operation and construction licenses to 76 applicants, many of whom had waited years for a decision. Litigation and a lack of consensus within the agency on the approval process had delayed resolving these applications for a decade.
The FCC's news release called the move as a "major step" toward a filing period for new NCE FM applicants, scheduled in about six months.
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps hailed the announcement.
"This substantial lead time will give potential applicants—including non-traditional stakeholders, such as Native American groups—sufficient time to develop their applications, while at the same time ensuring that the new filing window opens in a timely fashion," Copps said.
Copps' fellow commissioner Robert McDowell called NCEs "crucial to the vitality and diversity of radio. In fact, while listenership for many commercial stations has been declining, more Americans are tuning in to noncommercial educational stations to hear what they cannot find elsewhere."
But the application process is difficult, and the applicant window may remain open for a very short time. Candidate groups will require the assistance of an engineer and an attorney to successfully apply.
Organizations like the Prometheus Project [2] and the National Federation of Community Broadcasters [3] have been mobilizing to help potential competitors prepare for the opportunity.
The FCC urges interested parties to watch the "headlines" section of its Media Bureau Web page (www.fcc.gov/mb/audio [4]) for new announcements.
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