Groups making post-shutdown plans for LPFM support
October 5, 2013
By Paul Riismandel
RadioSurvivor.com
http://radiosurvivor.com/2013/10/05/groups-making-post-shutdown-plans-for-lpfm-support/
The government shutdown was the topic of our weekly email newsletter,
the Radio Survivor Bulletin, this week. In it we touched on its effect
on the upcoming low-power FM licensing window, as well as the impact on
indecency and unlicensed broadcast enforcement. Here is an update on the
LPFM front.
Four business days of government shutdown means that the FCC’s website
and low-power FM resources, such as the online frequency finder and
application form, have been offline, too. Understandably this is causing
some anxiety amongst some groups hoping to apply for their own license
during the window which is otherwise scheduled to open on October 15.
I contacted the LPFM advocacy groups Common Frequency and Prometheus
Radio Project to get their perspective on the situation. They assured me
that their support for LPFM applicants is continuing and they are
planning to work with the FCC as soon as the shutdown is over to make
sure applicants are not harmed by the effects of the shutdown.
Ahead of the the shutdown, Clay Leander, president of Common Frequency,
said that on September 28 he spoke with FCC legal staff to express
concerns of the probable shutdown with regard to the LPFM filing window,
and to thank them for recognizing CF’s work at the September 26 open
meeting.
“This past Wednesday,” he told me, “we joined a conference call and have
had continual communications” with representatives of other groups
active in LPFM, such as the National Association of Community
Broadcasters, REC (Networks), Native Public Media, the National Hispanic
Coalition, the Alliance for Community Media, as well as Prometheus.
Leander explained that “The upshot is that our colleagues have agreed to
have the three leading contributors to the 99–25 LPFM Docket–namely,
Prometheus, Common Frequency and REC–to prepare a joint letter to the
Commission requesting to explore with staff upon their return remaining
options to either extend or move the LPFM window, preferably before the
close of 2013.”
Prometheus policy director Sanjay Jolly said that “Once the shutdown is
over we do plan to press the Commission to make fair accommodations to
those applicants who may require additional time due to the shutdown.
This might entail asking for a delay of the window.” He added that “the
specifics depend on when the shutdown ends, where LPFM applicants are at
that point and the (FCC’s) Audio Division’s capacity to get everything
up and running.”
Leander said that because the groups were advised that paperwork
submitted now during the shutdown is “piling up unread,” their letter
“will be cued and sent immediately upon resumption of business.”
With the FCC’s own online LPFM tools and engineering databases
inaccessible, Leander said CF will continue to prepare the technical
portions of applications using professional and open source software
tools. He also noted that REC Networks’ myLPFM tool is still available
and being updated in light of the shutdown. Yet, Leander cautions that
“we all depend on confirming the latest (and) greatest data from the FCC
website,” in addition to elevation data from the US Geological Survey
and flightpath data from the FAA.
At this point it is fair to assume that the shutdown will not stop the
expansion of LPFM. It is also reasonable to believe that Commission
officials share a good faith interest in seeing the LPFM window go
smoothly and be as broadly accessible to qualifying community groups as
possible. The question is really about how much delay there will be, and
how much accommodation the FCC is able to make for the applicants who
have been table to use the Commission’s online tools.
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