Take Action to Expand Community Radio
November 2012 Update: The FCC will announce the final rules on Friday, Nov 30. Stay tuned! Because the comment period is over, the links below no longer allow you to send comments to the FCC. This page remains up as a guide to the issues at stake for community radio.
The FCC may allow community radio in urban areas for the first time in decades, but commercial broadcasters are trying to keep the public airwaves as their personal turf. Use the easy form below to tell the FCC that all our cities and towns need community radio!
What's at stake? Check out these radio forecast maps, watch our short video, and read on. Then send your comment to the FCC to make your voice heard.
The Local Community Radio Act directed the FCC to expand community radio. But in many cities, there won't be room for new community radio stations under the current FCC rules. Fortunately, Congress authorized special waivers of the FCC rules to allow low power FM (LPFM) community radio stations to squeeze in more places, as long as they won't interfere with neighboring stations. The new rules would more than double the number of channels available for community radio in the urban centers of the top 150 markets.
So what's the problem? Big Media is at it again. Lobbyists from the broadcast industry think their stations should get to play by a different set of rules than the rest of us. The broadcast lobby is arguing that these waivers shouldn't be easily available for all community radio stations -- even though their own stations already use the same engineering standards.
FCC comments are due May 7! Use the form below to send a comment to the FCC and let them know that all our cities and towns deserve community radio. If stations won't cause harmful interference problems, they should be located wherever there is room on the dial.
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Available channels under current rules |
Available channels with 2nd adjacent waivers |
The map on the left shows how many channels will be available for community radio in major cities under the current rules. The map on the right shows how many channels will be available in these cities if the FCC allows special waivers. As the thermometer key shows, cooler colors (purple, blue and green) mean fewer channels. Warmer colors (yellow, orange and red) show locations with many more channels. In many cities, the number of open channels could double or triple, giving local groups a much better chance to get on the air. Click on the maps to zoom in and explore.
Keep in mind that both maps only show the number of channels available around the cities in the Top 150 radio markets. Rural areas will have many more channels available! To learn whether there might be room for community radio in your town, try our zip code checker.
