FCC: Legal Low-Power FM Broadcasting Coming Soon

Arctic Fox writes "In an article (login needed) in today's NY Times, it is announced that the FCC will be allowing individuals and groups the ability to run low powered FM (yes, FM) radio stations. It seems that many would-be DJs will get 100-watt stations with 7 mile operating radii, but the large markets - NY, Chicago, LA - will only be allowed to use 10-watt (4 mile) stations."

Comments

Coolness

[linuxonceleron]

I've been waiting for something like this for a long time. How much would the transmitting hardware cost? I'd love to hook up my PC to one of these and start a radio station using mp3s that I have. Probably too expensive for a poor high school student though.

Re:Coolness

[pyr0]

I don't think broadcasting your mp3's would be such a great idea. I think that would be a red flag for the RIAA to track you down and nail you. They don't want anyone having mp3's on their computers, so what do you think would happen if they found out people were broadcasting "illegal" mp3's to mass amounts of people? On a side note, I wonder if the censorship rules would still apply to what you broadcast....

Re:Coolness

[Kaa]

what do you think would happen if they found out people were broadcasting "illegal" mp3's

And what makes you think they'll be illegal? I can perfectly well rip my CDs and broadcast them (provided I get no commercial gain), cannot I?

Kaa

Re:Coolness

[Devil Ducky]

For that matter, how could they even tell they were mp3's and not a buch of cd's set to random or something?

Re:Coolness

[Strog]

I'm not sure what all the legal in's and out's are but if you did do something illegal then you only have a 7 mile radius to hide in.

Re:Coolness

[vectro]

no. That would be distribution, and still illegal.

You can only broadcast content that you own or that you have licensed for radio distribution.

Re:Coolness

[turg]

Well, I don't know about the US, but in Canada you would definitely have to pay a royalty for each song you played, but it would probably be relatively small. I know for the 1000-seat auditorium where I used to work it was 8 cents, and for a radio station (with a large coverage area) where I worked, it was $1.25.

========

Re:Coolness

[radish]

You need to be licensed and you must pay royalties to broadcast anything which you do not own the Performance Rights to (note this is NOT the same as copyright).

Re:Coolness

[JamesKPolk]

Seems to me that a low-power (10-100 watt) station would be no different, really, than just playing a CD on my porch, with loud stereo.

Fair use would probalby apply.

Personally, I've always wanted that sort of thing, just so I could listen to my stuff anywhere, with just a little (power-conserving) radio. Shower radios exist too, after all :-)

Re:Coolness

[jedi@radio]

As I recall, it depends on whether your station is commercial or non-commercial, and whether you are for-profit or non-profit. If you're for-profit, you have to pay ASCAP fees, but if you're non-profit, and commercial-free, you can blithely ignore them. :-)

Re:Coolness

[Cyberllama]

Actually, according to the Digital Millennium copyright act, you may broadcast anything you like but you must follow a few rules:

1. Never play the same song more than once within a 3 hour period.

2. Never play requests within an hour of their requestment (is that a word?).

3. Do not publish a schedule in a advance allowing people to know what your going to play and when.

Thats basically it. There are other rules but they cover finer points.

Re:Coolness

[vectro]

Reading from page 34 of the act, I believe this is only the case if 'the recording does not exceed the sound recording performance complement'. Not entirely sure what this means, but I think you can't play an entire copyrighted work at once. You can, however, break it up into chunks (tracks)

Re:Coolness

[Windigo The Feral (N]

Kaa dun said:

what do you think would happen if they found out people were broadcasting "illegal" mp3's And what makes you think they'll be illegal? I can perfectly well rip my CDs and broadcast them (provided I get no commercial gain), cannot I?

Unfortunately, the record companies will still have you by the balls. Playing music (even MP3s) counts as a "public performance" of music, and generally when you do public performances of music you get to pay the nice happy protection^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H licensing fee to the two main music publishers, ASCAP and BMI.

Yes, even folks who operate jukeboxes in pizza places have to pay the licensing fees, and ASCAP and BMI are just as high on the bastardy scale as the RIAA is--they literally tried to sue the Girl Scouts for the Scouts singing campfire songs in Girl Scout books--which just happened to have the rights owned by ASCAP and BMI :P (If memory serves, they were also responsible for having a lyrics archive taken down.)

Radio stations and music-video outlets have to pay licensing fees to ASCAP and BMI, because they too get caught in the bind...so do many professional DJ's, who have to have the licenses from BMI and ASCAP.

If memory serves, they've even attempted to hit Shoutcast/Icecast/RealAudio streamers for licensing fees, too...sometimes on top of fees already paid (for example, radio stations which ALREADY have to pay the BMI/ASCAP tax which have been hit up AGAIN because they happen to do RealAudio streams).

About the only way you could get out of the licensing fees is to play artists which have NOT published via ASCAP or BMI--which is even harder than finding an artist who has not had to whore themselves to the RIAA cartel (ASCAP and BMI are the Big Two music publishers--literally almost anyone who publishes music through an agency goes through one of those two agencies eventually--the only ones who don't are EXTREMELY indy artists, garage bands, and the like--probably most of mp3.com's material, even, would be affected by this).

(Yes, I've investigated it, and was saddened to find out that info--I'd actually hoped to take advantage of the LPFM authorisation, till I found out how much licensing fees would be :P I still hope the local college station [right now broadcasting via common-carrier on AM on U of L's campus to avoid FCC regulation--the school will not fund them to become a broadcast station because they already pay for one of the three public radio outlets in Louisville] can make some use of it, though...)

Re:Coolness

[CleverNickName]

1. Never play the same song more than once within a 3 hour period.

You know, I've been wondering why the major "alternative" rock station here in Los Angeles (KROQ) played the same 16-20 songs over and over...armed with this the above information, I did some math, and came up with this:

There are 60 minutes in an hour...there are about 10 minutes of commercials at the end of an hour, and about 10 minutes of other DJ chatter, promos, etc. That leaves about 40 minutes for music. Let's assume the average "alterna-pop" song is about 2.5 minutes long...40/2.5=16! Allow them to play the occasional "flashback" song, and there you have the approx. 16-20 songs on the playlist.

Wow...I can't believe I actually used long division in real life...I guess they were telling the truth in High School..now I wish I'd paid attention to the other stuff too.

Re:Coolness

[Windigo The Feral (N]

Jedi@radio dun said:

As I recall, it depends on whether your station is commercial or non-commercial, and whether you are for-profit or non-profit. If you're for-profit, you have to pay ASCAP fees, but if you're non-profit, and commercial-free, you can blithely ignore them. :-)

Unfortunately, this may not be entirely true (depending on which licensing agency you're dealing with). ASCAP and BMI both have a reputation of major bastardy regarding "public performances", which HAS on occasion targeted non-profit groups.

Possibly the most infamous example of this is when ASCAP and BMI attempted to hit up the Girl Scouts of America for licensing fees--for every time ASCAP or BMI-published songs were sang around campfires (according to them, campfire singalongs constituted public performances). Eventually they backed off after a LOT of public criticism, but this proves they'll even go after nonprofits (the GSA is a non-profit organisation in most states).

Re:Coolness

[kenh]

Why do you assume the low-power station would be unlicensed? Low power broadcast (in this case) means proportinately less paperwork for less radiated power.

I can't park my 10/100 watt transmitter on the freq. of an existing radio station, effectively "jamming" the signal from nearby receivers...

HTH

Re:Coolness

[turg]

In Canada (and most of the rest of the world) all non-profits would have to pay royalties. (In fact both places referred to in my message were non-profit)

========

Why not just do webcasts?

[Greyfox]

Assuming you already have a PC and a relatively high speed Internet connection, you can hit a worldwide audience doing webcasts. You might not be able to get the people in their cars, but you won't get too many of them anyway with a 4 to 7 mile range.

Re:Why not just do webcasts?

[dgonz]

The Salon article speaks to this somewhat. Go check it out.

Basically, it points out that besides micro-radio's prediliction for locality, many of its listeners are the "poor and disenfranchised".

Personally, I applaude this action by the FCC (about time). This is an important outlet for individuals to speak out to their LOCAL communities. Forget the "global village", I say. When you're talking to your friends and neighbors it actually matters what you say. To cross reference the Katz thing - you don't hear micro-radio operators flaming the fuck out of each other all day long. They take responsibility for what they say because their community is non-virtual, i.e. it isn't an illusion.

Not to say that slashdot isn't a "real" community - it is, in a year 2000, brave new world typ of way. But ... Am I getting off topic?

Re:Why not just do webcasts?

[ayden]

There are several cases where radio would be more advantageous than the Web.

I camp with 10000 people in western PA every August. The site is a few square miles. Two of the people I camped with a few years ago brought a small 35 watt transmitter and covered the entire site. Granted, this was for their own amusement, but the transmitter could be put to good use.

Another time where this would be useful: The Falcon Ridge Folk Festival in upstate NY runs for 3 days and has an annual attendance of about 10000. A low power transmitter run on site could provide news to those camping at the event.

Imagine a city arts festival taking place in the streets and galleries of Berkeley. The target audience of such a broadcast would be mobile - those in their cars and on foot going to such events.

How about a legal radio station for Burning Man?

BTW, this has been legal in the UK for years. Local groups can buy a time limited low power license from the government for very little money.

Re:Why not just do webcasts?

[JabberWokky]

>> I camp with 10000 people in western PA every August. [...] the transmitter could be put to good use.

That's all Pennsic needs... people running around with radios turned on. I got involved in the SCA to get away from technology a few weekends a year.

Heh... OTOH, we once got rid of a really strange but annoying gentle who wandered into our campsite and would not stop talking about himself by discussing arcane aspects of TCP/IP load balancing. After he left, we looked at each other and laughed, and continued filking.

--
Evan, a.k.a. Evan Alexander of Trios, Trimaris

Re:Why not just do webcasts?

[phil reed]

I also came up with the idea of radio broadcasting at Pennsic, just to get accurate weather information out. Now that it's going to be legal, I'm going to bring it up to the autocrat.


...phil

Outstanding!

[Jimhotep]

I can rebroadcast William Cooper from his
internet audio feed!

Anybody ever listen to Micro Kind?

fcc

[Anonymous Coward]

I';ll beleive this when I see it..
The FCC shut down a lot of the little stations at colleges/high school etc.

It would be great though. I used to DJ.. it was fun. the school had a 10 Watt mono FM station. The music was better than what everyone else was playing IMHO.

Now you can listen to good music whithout streaming MP3.

/A

Not for Large Groups - For industry and others

[Diamond Slicer]

Why not just do webcasts? On MPI (Minnesota Public Radio) this morning they were discussing that issue. The FCC is trying to make the radio arena more diverse. One thing that they hope is that these small stations may someday go to the stars.

They are doing this because radio is becoming one big conglomerate - no diversity. The FCC also is amming this at private orgranizations like churches and hobby groups.

However if you wish to reach a large group of people - a webcast is far better, but remember in many areas of the world - people still have a standard 28.8 and cannot hear your broadcast (if this was not so, AOL wouldn't exist).

I think that this will be very helpful for several reasons.

1. It will get people interested in radio more - attract more people to the business.

2. It will create more stations and make some non-licensed broadcasters settle down because a fair amount will be content with a range of a couple miles.

3. It will force the industry to become more competitive and that will means more money put into research equaling more new tech.

I'm glad the FCC is finally trying something like this.

Re:Not for Large Groups - For industry and others

[sudama]

However if you wish to reach a large group of people - a webcast is far better, but remember in many areas of the world - people still have a standard 28.8 and cannot hear your broadcast (if this was not so, AOL wouldn't exist).

if you want to reach a large group of white people, then a webcast is certainly the way to go -- but remember that most people aren't connected to the internet.

Re:Not for Large Groups - For industry and others

[JackAssPenguin]

Interestingly enough, here in South Africa a great majority of the population doesn't have cars, electricity, running water, fridges etc etc.

100% of the population has access to a radio.

Makes one think ;)

500 foot radio station

[heroine]

I was building 500 foot FM radio stations back when slashdotters were all in elementary school. The first one was an $8 microtransmitter from Radio Shack. The second one was a $25 stereo transmitter from Ramsey. They both ran between 89 and 100Mhz. Back then we didn't have very cheap sound cards, so you could either rebroadcast the radio or play a CD in a loop. You know you're getting old when the chairman of the FCC is younger than you.

Re:500 foot radio station

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's a link to Ramsey's website
http://www.ramseyelectronics.com/

What to do with your own station.

[luckykaa]

What are the limitations? Does it have to be voice? Can you set up a radio computer network?

If there's another radio operator within that radius, can you use that as a relay?

This could be used as a way of finding new uses for the remaining airwaves

Re:What to do with your own station.

[kd5biv]

If it's in the broadcast FM band, it can be voice or music, or both (if you have a subcarrier modulator), or you can put data on the subcarrier.

I'm sure you could probably chain them together as long as you coordinate your frequencies carefully -- just be sure you don't pirate a licensed station's broadcast for legal reasons that have nothing to do with the FCC, and remember you have to transmit on a different frequency from what you're receiving for purely technical reasons.

Need I mention that having an amateur radio license would give you a lot more information and opportunities to experiment? Remember, folks, it gets a hell of a lot easier in April..

Good idea

[pirodude]

I am a 16 year old DJ from brookfield, WI and I LOVE this idea! For a long time I have looked into internet broadcasting but I couldnt afford the bandwidth. Now for a 1 time fee of 1g for the equipment..i mean..thats not bad.

Wheres the internet signup page? :)

~DJ-Pyro
MPE
107.3 Mosh Pit Entertainment

Re:Good idea

[inburito]

Just don't forget to pay the royalties for all the songs you play on air. Generally public broadcasting of stuff without compensation to the authors is prohibited.

Re:Good idea

[Kaa]

Generally public broadcasting of stuff without compensation to the authors is prohibited.

I thought that applied only if you are commercial. If you can show that you get no monetary gain, you can broadcast all you like. Am I wrong about this?

Kaa

Re:Good idea

[vectro]

You are wrong about this. Copyright prohibits distribution of any kind, including broadcast, without express permission from tho owner.

Now, the owner could include a term that you can broadlast noncommercially, but that is a rare exception.

Re:Good idea

[Detritus]

I thought that applied only if you are commercial. If you can show that you get no monetary gain, you can broadcast all you like. Am I wrong about this?

Yes. Talk to ASCAP or BMI. The rates for non-commercial stations are cheaper, but you still have to pay. The rates for non-commercial stations are set by the U.S. Copyright Office.

sounds interesting.

[Bad_CRC]

that kind of thing is perfect for college radio stations.

but questions arise as to how they will possibly be able to monitor all of these new stations for appropriate content, and whether they will cause interference with "legitimate" stations and other electronic devices like telephone lines.

Re:sounds interesting.

[Nipok Nek]

...how [The FCC] will possibly be able to monitor all of these new stations for appropriate content...

They'll do this the same way they do it now. They'll make you SWEAR to be good, and sign an "I-SWORE-To-Be-Good J-42" form. Then if someone complains that you aren't being good, they'll nail you.

Nipok Nek

Re:sounds interesting.

[Zachary Kessin]

They don't monitor now. They will only take action if they get a complant of some form.

As a "free radio" guy

[The Iconoclast]

As a radio-freedom type kind of guy, I am heavily involved with our campus radio station, which stresses doing things that would NEVER be done on commercial radio, because commercial radio SUCKS!

This decision seems to be a GOOD-THING. (Besides, the FCC can be a bunch of a**holes at times.) This will theoretically allow more people to get their message out, and allow for more freedom of speech. It should be noted (as someone asked earlier) that FM modulators and transmitters are fairly expensive, they go from ~$1000 up to $10k+, so it's not really chump change for non-commercial stations.

The only drawback I can really see is that there will be more stations. Neighboring stations on the dial will tend to step on each others signal more, which is just not good (and rude besides). Also, I bet that there are a lot of stupid people out there who would broadcast crap. (I'm talking hate-mongers and what not. If more poeple braodcast crappy music, then more people will listen to the "good stations")

Any how, that's my take on it. Your opinions may vary, but as someone who is involved in a legitimate noncommercial station, I kind of have an insiders view.

A wealthy eccentric who marches to the beat of a different drum. But you may call me "Noodle Noggin."

Congress

[gam]

I've heard that Congress is looking to pass a law nullifying the FCC decision.

Re:Congress

[gam]

See: HR 3439 IH: Radio Broadcasting Preservation Act of 1999. "To prohibit the Federal Communications Commission from establishing rules authorizing the operation of new, low power FM radio stations."

Re:Congress

[gam]

Sorry about the URL (it's temporary). Here's the permanent version http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ query/z?c106:h.r.3439:

Now THIS is cool.

[cruise]

It's time to install that transmitter i've had hidden away in the attic back into the trunk of my car again ;)

My car's MP3 Collection and the drive to and from work should be a bit more interesting for some folks now :)

DMB RULES!




They are a threat to free speech and must be silenced! - Andrea Chen

Re:Now THIS is cool.

[vectro]

no no no.
If you are broadcasting music your don't own then the authorities could triangulate your signal and come knocking on your door.

This is the third time I've said it in this article, but I'll say it again:

You can't distribute copyrighted material without express permission from the author. That includes broadcasting on the radio, even noncommercial radio.

Now, if you want to broadcast some Open mp3s (Ie., ones that permit distribution) or your own, then that would be fine.

Re:Now THIS is cool.

[Cyberllama]

That's not entirely true. Please refer to my response to a previous post nearer to the top of the page. It pertains to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Re:Now THIS is cool.

[cruise]

no no no. If you are broadcasting music your don't own then the authorities could triangulate your signal and come knocking on your door.

DMB == Dave Matthews Band and I have quite an impressive collection of LIVE music in MP3 fromat (from DAT tape) which is legal..

God forbid anyone suggest anyone doing anything illegal here :)

DMB is one of a few bands which encourage live recording and sharing that information among others (no fees of course) Phish is another one of my favorites and I also have a great phish collection but DMB is my current fav now that Gerry's dead...


They are a threat to free speech and must be silenced! - Andrea Chen

Re:bad

[Bad_CRC]

I'm assuming that is sarcasm. I just can't smell it from here.

Criticizing the government is a very good thing. Given a choice between a country where you can criticize gubmint, and one where you aren't allowed to, there would be no choice.

besides, if you want to see people criticizing the government on TV or the radio, just watch some campaign ads.

Old news

[the_tsi]

They've been arguing about this for over a year now. I'm a technical director for WHSR, the student radio station at Johns Hopkins University. We've been broadcasting over carrier current for about five years now (ever since the school gave their real broadcast license to NPR and company), and have been investigating the low power FM options since they were initially introduced for public analysis and comment. This was supposed to be approved by the FCC sometime last summer, but never quite happened. We're glad because it means we can broadcast to the entire community instead of just the dorms, and we can't wait.

Now we just need a tower to mount an antenna on. Anyone got a few thousand bucks so we can rent space? :)

-Chris

Frequency Squatting....

[RuntimeError]

Now all the idiots who used to make money by domain squatting will start making money by frequency squatting.

I can already see ads like 99.9 for sale only $1,000,000

Apart from that this is a great idea. Although I am not the US of A so it hardly applies to me.

Re:Frequency Squatting....

[Captain Tripps]

Read the article. The FCC says that frequencies wont' be auctioned off, but rather given to those who can show their ties to the community.

Individuals?

[EricWright]

I'm not sure this will allow just anyone to get a licence for a 10/100 W station. The lead paragraph of the NYT article states

"Moving to open the radio airwaves to hundreds of small broadcasters, the federal government is planning to approve rules to allow educational, religious and community groups to run inexpensive low-power FM radio stations."

I can't tell if the application would require some sort of verification of the "group's status" or not. It would be fairly easy to check the status of educational or religious groups, but a fair and consistent definition of "community group" may be hard to come by. However, I didn't see anywhere in the article a mention that individuals could apply for such a license. I guess my 24 hour a day polka station is out :)

Eric

Re:Individuals?

[kd5biv]

..it is announced that the FCC will be allowing individuals and groups the ability to run low powered FM (yes, FM) radio stations..

Looked to me like individuals are included, and I'm not sure they're talking about licensing ..

then again, I've been wrong before .. ;-)

Re:Individuals?

[Harmast]

I can't tell if the application would require some sort of verification of the "group's status" or not. It would be fairly easy to check the status of educational or religious groups, but a fair and consistent definition of "community group" may be hard to come by. However, I didn't see anywhere in the article a mention that individuals could apply for such a license. I guess my 24 hour a day polka station is out :)

What qualifies as a groups is very interesting to me. I've long been tempted to set up a pirate radio station playing a mix of music (mostly goth, electronica, industrial, and trance) and commentary...maybe even drama or readings. Now, I've gotten input from a mailing list of local people (most of us work within about 15 - 20 mile radius and the rest aren't much further out). I wonder if we would qualify as a community group.

On a related note, I wonder if this will be increased or decreased pressure on pirate FM stations. Most have a short radius and some are quite good. An excellent example is the Anime Music Network .

Herb

Re:Individuals?

[EricWright]

..it is announced that the FCC will be allowing individuals and groups the ability to run low powered FM (yes, FM) radio stations..

This is a direct quote from the /. post, and we all know how accurate those are ;) Read the article on NYT (or just the first paragraph I quoted before) and notice that included are educational, religious and community groups. No mention at all of individuals.

Chrs
Eric

Re:Individuals?

[jedi@radio]

I guess my 24 hour a day polka station is out :)

Actually, you'd be surprised... The two polka shows on our station, WRUW-FM 91.1 Cleveland, have a tremendous community following. If you're in an area with any interest in polkas, you'd definitely be serving the community. And in truth, if you're playing practically anything that doesn't get mainstream radio exposure, you're serving the public good by turning people on to music or programming that they might not otherwise be able to hear.

Only through hard work and perseverence can one truly suffer.

Building communities-

[NoizAngel]

Initially, I didn't think it made much sense- 4-7 miles isn't much of an audience-
But, if your goal *isn't* a world wide, or even a city-wide audience, there's alot that can be done.
If used as "neighborhood" radio stations, we might actually *have* neighborhoods again - there'd be something connecting people within the listening area, something tailored to that area. Even if we didn't get to know our neighbors, we'd certainly know what was going on with them - a whole new meaning of 'local' news.

Wow. I get all bouncy just thinking about it.

-Noiz,
Who'd like to teach the world to sing, apparently. Shoot.

---------

Re:Building communities-

[Myoot]

A 4-7 mile radius is actually quite a lot of people, if you live in an urban area. Even in a sparse sort of area like Worcester, MA, you could reach tens of thousands of people, depending on where you had your antenna. If you lived on one of the hills (hee hee. whatever might I be planning? 8), you could reach even more. And consider what someone in a building in, say, New York City might be able to do... It's more than just a neighborhood...

I'm looking forward to this. It should be interesting.

Josh

Re:Building communities-

[LetterRip]

Admittedly, 4-7 miles isn't much of a radius, but, setting up multiple stations, where the primary stations signal could be sent via an internet conection to be rebroadcast nearly simultaneously on all of the other stations, you could cover some significant area. This would require very low maintenance towers probably, and lots of organization, but would be interesting to attempt.
What's a typical citie size these days? Also, if three or four stations were set up around the perimeter then you could get overlap coverage. Finally, the 4 - 7 mile radius, is that the radius at which the signal is 50%? what is the actual radius of a usuable signal? (assume fairly ideal conditions...)

Linux advocacy to the airwaves!

LetterRip

It's a cycle

[Tony Shepps]

Back in 1980, the FCC decided (after much pressure from -- of all people -- the Corporation for Public Broadcasting) that there were too many 10 watt stations out there on the noncommercial band. They ruled that these stations had to go to over 100 watts or time-share or simply perish.

(Do I support public broadcasting? Hell no; they have no interest in serving the community, as is supposed to be their charter...)

The FM band has so few frequencies and so much demand that almost no stations on the commercial part of it are not corporately owned. In the last two decades there has been an incredible change in how these stations are owned and operated. They have gone from business to big business. FCC changes in ownership rules allowed corporations to own more stations; the buying spree that followed had stations selling for much more than their worth, especially considering how broadband to the home, wireless 'net, and satellite broadcasting could make traditional radio stations into dinosaurs. All they do is transmit audio, fer chrissakes.

This in turn has led to a yet-greater reduction in the risk-taking that radio is likely to do. If it doesn't have a shot at a four share, it won't get on the air. While the rest of the society was diversifying from wanting 3-5 TV channels to wanting 50 to 200 and more, radio was in effect clamping down on diversity.

This in turn led to a large increase in pirate radio, the operators of which were ready to risk breaking federal law for the love of broadcasting and the love of serving the community through it.

Now that radio is on the edge of being irrelevant, the FCC is once again politically able to permit small broadcasters on the air. But the lesson, the moral of all this, is that government acts politically, not in the interests of the public; and even non-governmental organizations set up to serve the public act politically and work to preserve their own power.

I welcome the diversity of views, sounds, and ideas that will come about through this ruling. It's a little late now that the Internet has supplanted it.

Re:It's a cycle

[phil reed]

I welcome the diversity of views, sounds, and ideas that will come about through this ruling. It's a little late now that the Internet has supplanted it.

Far from it. The Internet is nowhere near supplanting radio. The vast majority of people in the country do not have access to anything like what would be required (computers, bandwidth, etc.) for the Internet to supplant radio.

...phil

Don't get too excited kids

[Anonymous Coward]

The fix is in.

About 2/3 down into the article, it says:

"F.C.C. officials will award licenses based on a group's ties to the local community the station would serve."

The church down the block, and the library will have a voice. Unless you have "ties" to your "community", you're still out.

The world is still safe from punk and dance.

Rockets

[Gyver]

Does anyone know how small the transmitters are and weather they could tranmit video signals?
I build high power rockets and I've been searching for something to transmit video signals from the rockets in flight back to the ground. I currently use an 8mm camcorder, but this calls for the rockets to be large, thus limiting my altitude. Maybe I should just lurn a little more about radio first.

Re:Rockets

[Detritus]

You need an amateur radio license. See http://www.arrl.org. You can transmit video on the UHF (432 MHz) and higher frequency bands.

This is so cool

[Zachary Kessin]

When I was an undergrad I used to DJ for WBRS in Waltham Ma (http://www.wbrs.org) and we had a blast. But a few things to clear up.

It will cost you more than a few grand to setup a station. At least to do it right. You will nead All sorts of audio equipment and not the cheap stuff from Radio shack. But about 10 grand should do it, assuming that you don't have to pay for office space. Which is posible if you are being hosted by a University or other group.

Keeping a radio station going is a lot of work. At WBRS they run 24x7 on all volenteer labor. It can be a lot of fun but it can also be a major pain.

Small stations can do cool things. WBRS used to have live music from local bands on every week. And the only show in Yiddish in New England (They may still have them for all I know). And had a lot of other neet stuff.

The most important thing to get a microstation on the air is a group of very dedicated people. Because there is alot of work there. But good luck to all the folks who are going to try! I look forward to hearing the results on the radio.

Large markets, small stations, and pirate radio.

[RomulusNR]

The fact that these are large i.e. congested markets we're talking about, your range for 10 watts isn't going to get you 4 miles. In Boston, with 10W you're lucky if you can get as far as five city blocks.

Oh well. Large markets also have DSL, so they don't need this IMO.

...[T]he radio business has consolidated in very dramatic fashion...

Don't they have market-ownership laws that are supposed to remedy that exact problem?

The nation's largest broadcasters have fought to block the rules... asserting that [this] could create interference for established stations in the form of static or distorted signals./i>

Sniffle. It's these same largest broadcasters who constantly increase their wattage, infringing (illegally) on other (usually smaller) stations' broadcast radii. And the FCC has approved these increases in most cases without a smidge of regard for the lower-power stations, who get rejected for their own power increase petitions, being drowned out.

The supporters of the F.C.C.'s move... included... the United States Catholic Conference and the United Church of Christ.

Between christian college radio stations (which always seem to be school-run as opposed to student-run) and AM radio, I'm not glad to hear that churches want to use this. I'm much more interested in the Stephen Dunifer (Free Radio Berkeley) types getting on.

I have to say in the realm of radio and maybe even TV, the FCC seems to mean well. But they normally have no teeth whatsoever when it comes to large-power stations.

7 mile radius is better than nothing but....

[senorlobo]

The idea of allowing local organizations to broadcast on the FM dial with a seven mile radius is without a doubt a great thing. However, there really wasn't to much information in the article and I am sure it isn't as easy as yeah I want one too. Internet broadcast are much easier and can reach far more listeners. It might work if you want to broadcast to a couple of neighbors but I think this is too little too late. FM radio is done. How many actually listen to FM radio now these days anyways except for maybe talk radio. With the advent of CDradio.com and soon to be affordable Mp3 in the car I am more impressed with the "in your face" effort put forth by the FCC to the lobbyist for the commercial radio stations. Don't think those lobbyist didn't try to bribe them up and down or threaten. I think there is a bit more to this decision then what is on the surface. But for now another small win for the everyday american even if the win was by default of something bigger.

Re:7 mile radius is better than nothing but....

[Psinoside]

"How many actually listen to FM radio now these days anyways except for maybe talk radio. " Anybody who drives his/her car daily for more than 20 mins. Every teenager I know. FM radio is here to stay, unless some kind of mandatory switch to digital is made (a la hdtv). Not everybody can afford a cd player in their car.

WMAL

[Nipok Nek]

"Hey, thanks for listening to WMAL, your 24 Hour guide to in-store sales, and up to the minute parking space information. We're broadcasting live from Lot C, and there's an open spot that is just right if you have a hatchback, and don't mind crawling out the back. Oh look! Someone just pulled out in the first row."

*Screeeee*

Crash.

"Ok, Boys and Girls. Looks like we got us a nasty 4 car pile-up in the first row..."

Nipok Nek

But will they let us do KISS.

[Kamelion]

Wouldn't it be cool if people started using these bandwidths for small WANs using KISS or some other protocol? I wonder how the FCC would feel about that use. Sure you would be able to listen in on the radio, but if you like the sound of bandwidth, more power to ya.

The packets could be encrypted if you the security conscious type.

Re:But will they let us do KISS.

[Detritus]

There are already frequencies allocated for that sort of thing. You can use 902-928 MHz, an ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) band for just about anything. There are limits on transmitter power.

100watt != 7 mile && 10watt != 4 mile

[Anonymous Coward]

In response to:
> It seems that many would-be DJs will get
> 100-watt stations with 7 mile operating radii,
> but the large markets - NY, Chicago, LA - will
> only be allowed to use 10-watt (4 mile) stations."
I'm afraid this is misleading. It is incorrect to make this kind of relationship between transmitting power and the broadcasting range. Range is a function of many more things than power; probably the most important aspect of transmitting on FM is the type of antenna used, and of course, how it is used. Proper use of antennas are by far the most effective way to increase (or decrease) broadcasting range.

Re:A good boost for record stores

[Devil Ducky]

still could work though...
say a music store pays $X.00 to build their own station. The station only brings in say 10 people who weren't going to be come anyway. That's 10 new potential customers. Those odds sound better than any banner campaign on the web.

Networks within networks?

[Santa]

How about if someone set up an internet station, and then with friends and supporters all over the US set up thousands of relay stations broadcasting the station on FM to everybody - I am pretty sure it would be relatively to be able to cover at least the major cities - and anyone with the time to set up a radio transmitter could start relaying.

As far as I can tell, the US radio stations basically make or break artists - this would be a great way of breaking some of the really bad ones and making some of the ones that really deserve it.

Re:Networks within networks?

[senorlobo]

Hmmm...that is a good idea. But then right now it is all speculation. I think that the FCC is going to have some strict guidelines when it comes to getting the license to broadcast even at the 7 mile radius. Once again this is the govt. so expect: Name or Organization: Eye color High school Type of underwear you buy Where do you buy the underwear Do you floss. If you answered no or other on any of the above then fill out questions 38-94 on page 6. After completing then mail to Fcc and wait for 3 months while we investigate your application. Is this America?

Re:Individuals? - No, groups

[acfoo]

You're right. The FCC has been getting commments on this issue since the notice of proposed rulemaking was made in Jan 1999. You can see all of the comments, etc. at the FCC low-power FM web site. It doesn't look like they are hoping that individuals will get LPFM stations, only groups with community ties (which seems like a good idea anyway).

One thing that I don't know about-- at the proposed rulemaking announcement, one of the commissioners made a statement:

My second concern relates to the impact that creation of low power service may have on potential conversion to terrestrial digital radio service. I understand that there have been promising advances of late that can enable current radio operations to convert to digital transmission technology "in band on channel." Converting to digital transmission technology could improve the quality of radio service and potentially increase spectral efficiency. These are very real benefits and I would be concerned if authorizing some or all of these low power radio services would make in band on channel conversion to digital radio unworkable for existing terrestrial services.

The player that's always mentioned in this is USA Digital Radio, LLC. I didn't find any statements on their web site about the low-power FM stuff, so maybe it's not such a big deal.

Does anyone here know anything more about this technology?

Cry of foul? I think not

[nnet]

I find it humourous in that the large broadcast corporations are crying foul, not unlike their
brethren, the RIAA, the Motion Picture Association, and their DVD licensing group.
What the FCC proposes opens up the market to smalltime broadcasting, thus potentially stealing
audience share for big stations, and breaking the "tradional channels of distribution" that generate
revenue. This is the root of the cries of the aforementioned groups, although they'd never admit it openly. I'm surprised they aren't claiming a potential for copyright infringement (maybe they are, I just haven't read/heard anything at this point).

Kudos to the FCC for some forethought, and thinking of the small person over corporate greed.
-

Reminds me of the net

[Devil Ducky]

In the early days of the 'net (now im getting old)... there were very few induhviduals online, and computers were _really_ expensive. Then it all exploded (mostly web)... the id10ts we're lways in the news as spreading their message... all sites were basically redundant crap...

but time heals all wounds and now: the id10ts are still out there but noone pays attention anymore, there is signifigantly better stuff available now (though the crap didn't disappear yet)... ans all it took was some time and a lot of people and even more money

great for rural areas

[ChristTrekker]

This kind of thing would be great for rural areas that aren't serviced by a good variety of radio programming. Instead of putting up one huge high-power tower that broadcasts to mostly empty space (though you have to pay the same for it), you can set up these micro-stations in the small towns to rebroadcast a webcast or something. A 1-mile radius could cover towns like that, and you'd still be reaching over 50% of the people in the area.

Hmm, sorta wants me want to rebroadcast KZZQ that way. :)

anyone see advertisers taking advantage of this?

[Migrus]

Can anyone see advertisers taking advantage of this? Just think, you like 103.9 it's your station. But 103.7 is the Coca Cola station, and 104.1 is the Microsoft station. I just hope that the FCC (how ever much I think it's censorship sucks) makes some decent regulations. Or maybe the company stations will be there, just no one will listen to them, that's if they have a digital tuner.

Pirate radio-

[gatzke]

Could somone point me to some pirate radio station information? I mean real radio, not web cast. And yes, I saw the article on /. about UK pirates "stealing" your car radio.

Back in the '80s at Georgia Tech some guys put together a "small" bradcast in Techwood dorm. Supposedly people from all over the city could listen in. They tried to get a real license, but apparently the FCC requires detailed schematics of the equipment, and these guys had hacked it all together so the project died.

Eventually we'll get broadband wireless web, but 'til then we wait.

ed

Re:Anticorporate Broadcasting

[Detritus]

There is no free lunch. Spread spectrum can increase the efficiency with which the airwaves are used but it does not increase the bandwidth.

No, false communities

[swb]

Group Status, in any urban area, probably means membership in any of the current protected-class false communities: gays, non-whites, immigrants, or other left-wing sanctioned groups. You can just about forget doing it if you're not in one of those groups, unless you live in a rural area, and then who's going to hear your signal?

The argument will be made that these groups are currently underserved by the current radio market. The fact is that the current urban radio market is dominated by corporations that generate playlists or present nationally syndicated "talk" shows designed solely to get good ratings books and make ad revenue.

And I resent the implication that current radio represents me at all. I can't stand any music stations, and the talk stations are either dominated by brash, right-wing demogogues like Rush (on AM) or the quiet, left-wing propoganda of NPR.

Low-power FM would be an excellent way for REAL communities (like neighborhoods) to get together, exchange ideas and actually strenthen themselves. Instead, the vast majority will *still* not be represented on the air since the stations will go into the hands of bogus communities.

Re:No, false communities

[ethereal]

To satisfy my curiosity, could you cite specific examples of left-wing propaganda on NPR? Perhaps this is different between local stations, but I've been impressed by the balance of opposing viewpoints on NPR in my area (WBEZ in Chicago). Off the top of my head, here are some right-wing topics which they've discussed favorably in the past few months:

• they broadcast all of the Republican primary debates, which I couldn't even get on TV around here
• favorable coverage of the campaigns of both Elizabeth Dole and John McCain
• normally unfavorable coverage of Chicago's mainly Democratic administration (although in local politics it's harder to categorize things into left vs. right)

For all I know, your local NPR station could be very leftist, but I don't think you can categorize them all that way.

Re:No, false communities

[BinxBolling]

To satisfy my curiosity, could you cite specific examples of left-wing propaganda on NPR? Perhaps this is different between local stations, but I've been impressed by the balance of opposing viewpoints on NPR in my area (WBEZ in Chicago).

It should be noted that NPR recieves little or no direct government funding. NPR is a content provider - they don't operate any radio stations. Instead, radio stations pay them to broadcast their content. Now, many of these radio stations are public (and therefore recieve government funds), so it's not as if they're completely untainted. But like yourself, I find that they generally give balanced coverage of issues - certainly moreso than most strictly-privately-funded media.

Re:No, false communities

[ethereal]

Good point - in thinking back to this morning's drive to work, they usually announce it as "National Public Radio broadcast on Chicago Public Radio WBEZ". So it's a local station which is public (funded some by the government? but mostly by contributions) that buys NPR programming. They also trade local content back and forth like TV networks, though - if news happens in Illinois, NPR usually has a local WBEZ reporter on the scene.

So we should distinguish between any bias which may be present in the national portion of the programming, versus the local portion. In that sense, it may indeed seem in some areas that NPR is leftward-leaning, because a national program will tend towards what is the average sentiment across the entire country, and when you broadcast this in a very conservative section of the country, it will seem out of place. That doesn't necessarily make them leftists, it just makes them more leftist than their audience.

Re:No, false communities

[swb]

NPR is probably best-of-class in terms of news, but that's also because commercial news stations are so unbelievably bad.

I think much of NPR's left-wing bent is in story selection. If 4 out of 5 of your stories are highlighting left-wing issues, are you really being balanced? Most propoganda and media control isn't about being one-sided (it's obvious and boring anyway), it's about controlling the agenda.

While their stories/chat shows tend to represent the "other side", I've often found that they'll have two guests who support the left-wing side of the issue, and the moderator tries to make up for the other side of the issue. The same is true of news stories -- two interviews with people on the left-wing side of the aisle and a half-hearted quote or worse, a summary of the opposing side's position by the reporter.

I don't keep a log of when this happens, so I can't cite chapter and verse. I do listen to NPR a lot (hell, my wife even donated last pledge drive) and I find myself asking "OK, now the other side of the issue?" and I never quite hear it. This is why I call it "quiet" propoganda.

Re:No, false communities

[hime]

Group Status, in any urban area, probably means membership in any of the current protected-class false communities: gays, non-whites, immigrants, or other left-wing sanctioned groups. You can just about forget doing it if you're not in one of those groups, unless you live in a rural area, and then who's going to hear your signal?

Yeah right. I'm probably one of the few homos in my area that actually gives a shit about this whole deal... the rest are too busy hitting the bars. Of course, I live in the Dallas area. :)

Money and small radio stations

[Zachary Kessin]

There is an issue here that no one has noticed.
To run a radio station costs money. You need space for the studio and to store Records or CD's. You need to pay the electric bill etc. These stations will not be selling adds. Which meens that you will need to find some organazation to underwrite you. For example a school or university, or maybe a community center or church type group. But you probably can look to drop 30-40K per year. And that is assuming all the people running the station are doing it without a paycheck.

On the other hand I would guess that if you have a group that wants to run a station finding the people may not be that hard.

Re:Money and small radio stations

[catfood]

Current "pirate" stations seem to do well on much less than that.

Wireless Networking

[Nick Bernstein]

I'd be interested to hear from someone who knows what they're talking about, how using the fm spectrem in wireless networking could communications.

Re:Wireless Networking

[Anonymous Coward]

take a look at www.qsl.net/n9zia there is a low cost wireless network how-to

QST - 100 Years Of Amateur Radio

[BhodiLi]

Several Porple wrote --
"The article left me with one question: First, could they network?"
"supporters all over the US set up thousands of relay stations"
"Wouldn't it be cool if people started using these bandwidths for small WANs using KISS or some other protocol? "
Finally Anonymous Coward wrote -- "This has already been going on for many many years. Get your ham radio licence and get into packet radio."
Ham Radio (Amateur Radio) has been going on for over 100 years! We have relay stations across the USA with (Gasp!) "repeater's", Digital Networks "Packet Relay", Satalite E-mail, AM/FM Voice and a slew of other toys. We erect huge antenna arrays allowing us to talk to the world, We bounce signals off the moon, and occasionally chat with the Shuttle Astonauts.
In the US a good source to get you started in FM radio is the "Amateur Radio Relay League" at

http://www.arrl.org/

Re:QST - 100 Years Of Amateur Radio

[Windigo The Feral (N]

BhodiLi dun said:

Several Porple wrote -- "The article left me with one question: First, could they network?" "supporters all over the US set up thousands of relay stations" "Wouldn't it be cool if people started using these bandwidths for small WANs using KISS or some other protocol? " Finally Anonymous Coward wrote -- "This has already been going on for many many years. Get your ham radio licence and get into packet radio." Ham Radio (Amateur Radio) has been going on for over 100 years! We have relay stations across the USA with (Gasp!) "repeater's", Digital Networks "Packet Relay", Satalite E-mail, AM/FM Voice and a slew of other toys. We erect huge antenna arrays allowing us to talk to the world, We bounce signals off the moon, and occasionally chat with the Shuttle Astonauts.

Yes, ham radio is very cool (and with the FCC restructuring, even easier to get into now)...

I think what they're driving at, though, with some of the convos is possibly multiple LPFM stations in a network (getting feed from one source and relaying it) or possibly multiple LPFM stations acting as translator stations (basically simulcasting another station at low power, because it can't be received well at that location).

WANs and such are POSSIBLY doable, but would be far better suited to packet radio or possibly SCA (Sub-Carrier Audio); digital paging services already exist on SCA, and packet radio already has Internet/packet gateways (no, I'm not joking). I'd be rather surprised if the FCC approved digital on LPFM, or SCA on LPFM at all...prolly, it'll be voice-only.

However, I do see translators/networks for voice communication as completely doable. In fact, a "pirate radio" network already exists (Zoom Black Magic, the only unlicensed network in America) so it's been proven it can work in theory. (I'd also think Zoom Black Magic would be in line with what a lot of folks on Slashdot would like to do with LPFM--specifically, "non-corporate" news, views and music. ZBM has also done a lot of work fighting censorship in general, which makes them Good Guys in my book)

Radio Edit

[Gandalf_007]

Yeah, although there might be tighter restrictions on broadcasting. But is a low power station that much different from playing my stereo loud (which uses much more than 100 watts of power)?

Although, you can get arrested for public obscenity if you play songs with nasty words too loud on your stereo--the same rule applies to radio--hence the "radio edit" versions of songs.

Competing on equal ground

[mindstorm]

I wonder even if the FCC does open up the FM frequency for microbroadcasts, how does the guy in the garage fare against the mega media machine?

The best analogy I can come up with is driving a tiny Honda with a double tractor trailer tailgating you.

Re:Networks within networks? - already happening

[Santa]

But the point about my idea is that ANYONE with an FM radio can pick it up - not just ham operators.

Ahh, Nostalgia

[DrRobin]

This one really takes me back. We used to run a pirate hacked together FM station (KKAL, no relation to the legit Berkeley station) at a glorious 1 watt out of a broom closet in Page House at Caltech back in the mid 70's. We had live music (sometimes pretty good but sometimes as lame as me on the tenor recorder with a mike on a long cord to the basement tunnels). We wrote our own soap opera (Maggie's Farm), and had outrageous commentary on all sorts of things we didn't have enough sense not to say. At 7 AM during finals week we would broadcast the official theme song of finals, "The Ride of the Valkyries", and the EE majors would try to one up one another with enormous homebuilt speakers throughout the campus. On a good night, with a good antenna, you could pick up KKAL throughout much of the surrounding ritzy San Marino neighborhood. When I went back to Tech a few years ago (not -gasp- looking like somebody's parent), the old KKAL closet was gone and replaced with a bank of terminals where people were playing computer games. Sic Transit Gloria Emmcee, I guess. Any recent techers know what happened to KKAL?

Re:Ahh, Nostalgia

[wljones]

A group of technicians I worked with many years ago repaired and ran a five-watt FM stereo station. We had the permission of the base commander and the tacit approval of the local government. The feature program was an hour each day programmed by local high school students. The station operator refused to acknowledge any comments on this hour by any adults. Remember, this was a military base, so total anarchy was out of the question.

Took them long enough....

[Arcanix]

Well, it took them long enough, but at least they're making an effort to return the airwaves to the people.

This is important! (Re:Congress)

[isaac]

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ query/z?c106:h.r.3439:

Yep, congress acting to protect you from dangerous new ideas.

Can't believe moderators are ignoring this!

-Isaac

Comercial Radio Stations and Low Power Stations

[Kagato]

People in my generation remember the movie Pump Up the Volume. However, it doesn't take bad language or a kids suicide to get the FCC out after you.

Small 'pirate' stations are the targets of the large media holdings that control the radio market. These small stations don't have comercial breaks, don't play what the record labels say, and generally upset the system of money flow.

Take the story of beatradio (www.beatradio.com -- They even have pictures of the FCC hauling away the radio).

The jist of the story is they were playing music and upsetting the local radio stations. Most of the minneapolis market is either owned by ABC or Chanceler Communications.

So they had the FCC go and shake things up. Well, first it was operating a station with out a license. Okay, sounds like a legitimate complaint. Well, beat did something a little different. They tried to get one.

Enter a world of regulations that are designed to keep small start-up off the airwaves. Add to it the ability of local stations to object. All of this ammounted to the big boys have the ability to keep the other kids out of the pool.

My bet is that small community groups will probally be able to have a station. Religious talk, and Paul Harvey for all! But, as soon a station gets popular enough to cut into a top 40 stations listenership you can bet that they will object. I can already see it. Are they really a community group? What public service are they providing? In the end the little guy is always going to get the shaft.

W--- what? Re:WMAL

[QZS4]

This gives me the occasion to ask something I've been wondering about a long time - How come all american radio stations have these funny four-letter names? I mean, KXYZ doesn't mean a thing. Over here, they are usually called something along the lines of "Megapol", or "Radio Kristianstad", or something with the frequency in the name, like "City 107" or "Gold 105". I find that a wee bit easier to remember than "something with four letters, beginning with a K, and, oh yes, there was a W in there somewhere"...

Not intended as any kind of flamebait, I'm just curious about these strange letters.

Re:W--- what? Re:WMAL

[hadron]

They are callsigns.

Re:W--- what? Re:WMAL

[riot158]

Well, most stations here use both a 'name' and a callsign... i.e. 94.1, WJJO - Madison's Solid Rock.

also, radio staions west of the Mississippi's call signs all start with 'K', those east of it, with 'W'.

Re:W--- what? Re:WMAL

[phil reed]

How come all american radio stations have these funny four-letter names?

Take a look here for a complete history of the broadcast call signs in the U.S.


...phil

Re:W--- what? Re:WMAL

[Uart]

Callsigns are for US military purposes. A pilot for example always knows where he is if he can access a radio, because the call sign, plus a map listing the locations of the call signs tell him where he is. Which is why the FCC makes stations stop every so often and broadcast their station identification.

Re:W--- what? Re:WMAL

[SEE]

Here's an analogy:

Yahoo! has a name (Yahoo!), a domain name (www.yahoo.com), and an IP number (??.??.??.??).

Similarly, radio stations have a name (The Groove), a call sign (WQRS), and a frequency (105.1).

Now, the reason many U.S. stations are known by their callsigns is because U.S. law requires the regular broadcast of those call signs.
Steven E. Ehrbar

Re:W--- what? Re:WMAL

[QZS4]

Thank you! Although the "3myst.htm" document (in the same place) explained a bit more.

Low Power Radio Coalition

[JediLuke]

Michael Bracy of the Low Power Radio Coalition is one of the guys in Washington who has been prodding this legislation through. This allows communities and universities to use the lower wattages for radio broadcasting. I run a campus station and i hope he gets this through because its quite invaluble for someone in the LA area where there are hardly any frequencies avail.
JediLuke

Low power FM

[TacQuire]

You could start off with the following rig http://www.ramseyelectronics.com/cgi-bin/SoftCart. exe/scstore/hprod/fm100.htm?L+scstore+jn de6478+948403017 And later add on an amp for 100 watts or so.

Stupid, stupid Jedi

[jedi@radio]

Argh, my brains must have been frozen by all that snow last night... Here's the correct version of that link: WRUW-FM Cleveland

Only through hard work and perseverence can one truly suffer.

I think that's a BAD idea.

[Markee]

Contrary to most people here, I don't think this is a good idea.
If you have ever been to Italy, you have seen the consequences of having many small radio stations all over the place. It maybe okay if the weather is always perfect and you don't ever move away from where you are.
But many people like me like listening to the radio while driving. Imagine that you are driving along, and your receiver hops to one station after another, because you constantly leave one broadcasting range and enter another. I remember when driving in Italy, I actually pulled over when there was a great song on the radio, because I would have left the broadcast range before the song had ended.

Even when walking, this can happen. Once when I was walking on the beach (with my portable FM receiver), I could hear one station when I turned my body to the East, and a different station when I turned to the West!

Even for stationary receiving, this could be a problem. Imaging you happen to live at the border of one station's broadcasting range. On a good day (or at night), you will be able to listen to the radio. On a bad day (rainy or foggy), you won't. Just great.

Re:I think that's a BAD idea.

[qseep]

I can't think of anything more fun! Nowadays you hear the same crappy music everywhere. The Music Industry decides what is Good and pumps it equally to everyone.

Imagine wandering around the city, catching some quirky-sounding DJ spinning a block party. Imagine going to visit another town just to hear the radio station. It's local color restored. It's a break in the corporate stranglehold of preprocessed nonsense. It's community bonding.

You say you have a distaste for the inconsistent availability of such short-range broadcasts. But it is the prefab stuff that is fed to you through a tube. The real gems must be sought out. The weather isn't beautiful every day, because if it were, that would be boring. You take the good with the bad. You listen to the ambient sound and take what you can get. You shouldn't expect wisdom delivered-on-demand - that is the domain of foolishness.

You may argue that the Internet makes this irrelevant, but I argue that every stronghold of the corporate fatcats should be disassembled. Unfortunately, that HR3439 bill introduced may not permit it.

Wrong!

[Xerxes]

10 or 100 watt radio stations with decent tuned antennas simply will not interfere with other radio stations. Here in Minnesota, we have a terrible classic rock station that puts out 50,000 watts and bleeds all over the dial. No one but me seems to be bothered by this broadcasting blowtorch. (But first hint of any pirate radio station in the area, and the FCC gets "dozens" of interferance complaint calls. I suspect most are from 'rival' PR, or goliath stations feeling threatened but the unlicensed david.) They are running a business catering to regular people who generally know nothing about antenna theory; they want the listeners to be able to pick up the station on a paper clip. A dedicated listener could be expected to have an antenna, even if it's a radio shack wire antenna hanging down behind the tuner. But most big station listeners are fickle, and will change the station at the slightest hint of static- hence the "need" for 50 KWatts. This station is one of the several in the local ABC radio juggernaut that commands a third of the FM dial. I believe this is what the FCC is (finally) addressing. I think they should go one step further and limit output to a maximum of 20 KWatts. This would clear up the dial for more stations, especially micro and low powered non commercial stations. I love radio, but hate the business. I have thought of starting a pirate radio station, but found the penaltys too steep. Maybe this will provide me with an oppurtunity to get on the air.

Re:Wrong!

[Xerxes]

It's a Drake SW8. A little more than $1. I am an Extra class ham, and a former Special Forces Communications Sergeant.

Re:Wrong!

[Windigo The Feral (N]

Some anonymous coward dun said:

Typically, it is not the radio station that is the problem. It is your junk receiver that you probably paid $1 for the local swap meet. I do recommend that you not "get on the air". It is technical idiots like yourself that are the cause of many more problems on the radio spectrum then the 50KW juggernuts.

Then, Xerxes dun said:

It's a Drake SW8. A little more than $1. I am an Extra class ham, and a former Special Forces Communications Sergeant.

Erm, Mr. Anonymous Coward, I fear Xerxes may have you just a bit trumped.

First off, Drake SW8s are NOT "$1 radios". They are widely regarded by most as one of the best damn communications receivers available outside the military market, period. They are also by NO means cheap--try starting price of around a thousand dollars or so new, around five hundred dollars and up used. (It would not be exaggeration to term the Drake SW8 the Ferrari of radios, both in terms of price AND performance. It is also one of the few radios I can truthfully say I'd give my eyeteeth for ;)

Also, I'm assuming he's one of the "old Extras" (the FCC recently reclassified ham radio licenses to three classes, and some hams are being grandfathered as a result into higher classes). Extra Class ham radio requirements, at least the old ones, aren't to sneeze at: you have to take a test of radio knowledge and theory that is approximately equal to that required of FCC-licensed technicians for "big" radio stations (yes, you have to know a HELL of a lot of theory and operation knowledge :), plus [till April 1, anyways] one has to pass a Morse code test of reading CW (Morse) at 20 WPM (which also is nothing to sneeze at--I'm doing good to learn at Farnsworth 5/12 WPM (the letters sent at 12 WPM so you get the sounds, the WORDS sent at 5 WPM) which is the new standard which General class licenses will be tested at :).

Extra Class licensees are rarer nowadays in ham radio, precisely because the requirements ARE so tough. I dare say that if one passes an Extra class license one could build a radio, with little "overbleed", blindfolded. :)

Needless to say, I think he probably knows what he's talking about when he's talking of the FM station bleeding all over the place (Drake SW8s are known for selectivity, and one of the things you learn on the way to becoming an Extra Class licensee is what overmodulation and bleedover are and how to correct them). ;)

FM Radio Information

[BMIComp]

Here's an article from the Chicago Tribune about this. They claim there will be 1000 spots for low-power FM radio stations...

Re:WMAL is actually...

[GMontag]

WMAL is a Washington, DC area AM talk radio station and ABC Radio affiliate.

630 AM and you can hear Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge and (I think) Art Bell on that station when in the land that common sense forgot.

FCC Part 15

[adenied]

Something a lot of people don't know about is FCC Part 15 (of Title 47 of the US CFR). This covers Low and Medium Frequency Experimental radio. Basically, the FCC has said that with some limitations, anyone can broadcast unlicensed on 160-190 kHz and 510-1705 kHz. You can do 1 watt with a 15 meter antenna on the low band, and only 1/10 watt with a 3 meter antenna on the medium freq. band (which if you didn't notice is the broadcast AM band as well).

So what you might say. Well, yeah, I guess if you want to broadcast, 160-190 kHz is pretty useless. You can't do much in the way of voice down there (a decent quality full carrier double sideband AM signal takes up about 10 kHz at least) and forget about FM. There's also a lot of interference down there from natural electrical phenomena. There are some people running beacons down there, and the range can be phenominal.

On to the second band, that's the AM broadcast band like I said before. While 1/10 watt is just a trickle of power, people have reported distances of over 300 miles. Radio wave propagation can do wonders. At night, if you use a silent frequency set aside for local broadcasts, you could easily get a decent coverage area, especially with a decently designed antenna.

Anyway, this obviously isn't as lucrative as broadcasting way up in the FM broadcast band with tons of power (relatively), but for those who have that desire for experimentation and learning, this is a great opportunity.

For more info on this stuff, check out: this link.

Enjoy!

Re:FCC Part 15

[GooberToo]

I would be interested to hear if fractal antennas can help much here. With a maximum length on the anennas, perhaps that would be a slick was to side step the issue.

Re:Moderators

[grrrreg]

this is from my local paper, earlier this week:

Incompetence may be in the eye of beholder

New York Times News Service

Most incompetent people do not know that they are incompetent, a Cornell psychology professor has discovered.

On the contrary, people who do things badly are usually supremely confident of their abilities -- more confident, in fact, than people who do things well, according to David Dunning.

One reason that the ignorant also tend to be the blissfully self-assured, the researchers believe, is that the skills required for competence often are the same skills necessary to recognize competence.

The incompetent, therefore, suffer doubly, they suggested in a paper appearing in the December issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Dunning conducted his studies with a graduate student, Justin Kruger.

"Not only do they reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the ability to realize it," wrote Kruger, now an assistant professor at the University of Illinois, and Dunning.

This deficiency in "self-monitoring skills," the researchers said, helps explain the tendency of the humor-impaired to persist in telling jokes that are not funny and of day traders to repeatedly jump into the market -- and repeatedly lose out. In a series of studies, Kruger and Dunning found that subjects who scored in the lowest quartile on tests of logic, English grammar and humor were also the most likely to "grossly overestimate" how well they had performed.

In all three tests, subjects' ratings of their ability were positively linked to their actual scores. But the lowest-ranked participants showed much greater distortions in their self-estimates.






------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------

low power fm

[inventorgtp]

A few years back Rohm used to sell the ba1404 chip. This little beast was a single chip fm stereo xmitter, with a few tweeks you could get 100 or more watts. A super chip! May be Rohm will drag the chip die out and put it back into production. gtp

FM packet radio? (small rant)

[iamcadaver]

I have absolutly _NO_ idea what I'm talking about in the following post:

Is FM too high in the spectrum for packetized radio? And wouldn't it be cool if a slick piece of code and a dipole attenae type 'kit', all encompased in a nice Linux HOW-TO, would create a kind of open, user contributed, robust cellular packet radio 'umbrellae'. Especially in closed in area's, like a college campus, or a city.

Then again, what are you going to do, plug the dipole into the serial port?? I don't think the UART's are made for that...

-Cadaver

Re:FM packet radio? (small rant)

[adenied]

Is FM too high in the spectrum for packetized radio?

I think you might be getting a couple things confused here. FM = Frequency Modulation, a method of modulating an audio frequency (AF) onto a radio frequency (RF) carrier. It just happens that FM is used as a modulation type in the higher radio broadcast band of 88-107 MHz. You could just as easily use the various types of Amplitude Modulation (AM) at those frequencies or any of the plethora of digital transmission types.

The type of transmission that you use has little to do with what frequency you are broadcasting at. The FM broadcast band is actually relatively low compared to most other actively used transmission bands. For instance, many TV satellite uplinks are in the C-Band (about 4-6 GHz) and the Ku-Band (about 15-17 GHz). The only problem with working at such high frequencies is that your range of transmission is pretty much limited to line of sight. This is a problem (or a benefit depending on how you look at it) with the FM broadcast band, but it is much more apparent as you move up in frequency.

One of the problems you'll run into if you want to do some sort of packet radio is FCC regulations that prohibit or specifically allow only some types of transmissions at various frequencies. But from the technical viewpoint, pretty much anything goes.

Another thing to keep in mind is the amount of bandwidth a FM transmission takes up. Down in the lower bands, you won't find much FM because the bandwidth usage is very prohibitive. You can often fit 10 AM transmissions (or more) in the space of 1 FM transmission. When you're working with kHz, every way you can save bandwidth counts.

Hope that was helpful!

Re:FM packet radio? (small rant)

[iamcadaver]

Thanks, I thought this through myself. What I /really/ was thinking was if the freq was too high to make a robust enough cellular network ( in this near line of site/7-mile catagory ) to sustain a data stream. But, thanks. I think its time for me to hit the sack, and stop trying to remember TOO much about some college communications course from too long ago... -cadaver

it's the height, not the watts

[lophophore]

100 watts will go a lot further than 7 miles if you just put your antenna up higher. The FM broadcast band is VHF, which is line-of-sight, so if you put your antenna 1000 feet above average terrain, you are going to get way, way more coverage than a 7 mile radius. 25 to 50 miles seems more like it.

l.

there are 3 kinds of people:
* those who can count

Re:it's the height, not the watts

[goaliemn]

there will be height restrictions. They'll make sure of that. It'll require type-accepted equipment and you'll have to get a license so you don't interfere with other licensed stations.

I'm sure they'll also require a full engineering report on the antenna site to verify the above.

Mark

Radio still matters -- this is a good thing

[goodmike]

When do I listen to radio?
1. In a car.
2. In the morning when I'm waking up.
3. When I want continuous, high-quality audio.
4. When I want up-to-the minute information (in emergencies).

Which of these do the 'Net and the Web supplant? None. (The thought of turning on my PC at 7AM and sitting in front of it in my bathrobe is so depressing I can't even picture it.)

Furthermore, you can't expect me to believe that there are nearly as many households out there with a good 'Net connection, a PC, and audio-playing software as there are with an old beat-up FM radio. Radio has survived TV, and it will survive the Internet, and the thing after the Internet too.

The opening up of the FM band to low-wattage stations is potentially revolutionary--more so than putting some streaming audio up on Shoutcast and hoping 50 people will tune in for some choppy, jumping, artifact-filled audio. In a community like mine in Brooklyn, NY, you could reach a million listeners with just a 4-mile radius. You better believe more of us have radios than a good 'Net connection (Thanks for nothing, Bell Atlantic).

Radio still matters, and this is a bright day for people who think that the media should belong to the people, not to a few people.

The opportunity awaits...

[borzwazie]

Well, with the opening of these frequencies, can anyone here give me a qualified comment on usage for wireless networking? Specifically, radio packet ethernet (ax.25 I think).

If this spectrum is useful for these applications (which admittedly, is purely speculative on my part), could we see here the development of an open information exchange? I believe there is a development effort along these lines on 2600's site, but don't quote me on that.

Re:The opportunity awaits...

[adenied]

You want open information exchange? Packet radio? AX.25? It's called Amateur Radio (that's what the A in AX.25 is for anyway). You can find tons of packet radio transmissions on the amateur bands. Plus you have the added benefit of being able to use frequencies that will get you farther than the FM broadcast ones, you can use a lot more power (1 kW or more), and it's sanctioned by the FCC. Plus, you're going to find a lot more people with packet equipment that works on the amateur bands than on broadcast bands.

None of what I said is very specific. Check out the ARRL website for lots more info and links (www.arrl.org).

Thanks

[Gyver]

I thought about using Ham, but didn't give it much more than a passing thought. Maybe I should look into it more seriously. Thanks for the info.

Re:Individuals? - No, groups

[Glytch]

My second concern relates to the impact that creation of low power service may have on potential conversion to terrestrial digital radio service.

As opposed to extra-terrestrial digital radio? Is Steven Spielberg now working for the FCC and he's creating subtle loopholes or something?

no love lost

[Wansu]

Most radio stations pump out the same jingly billboard stuff. Commercials are way too numerous. I tend to listen to college stations or listen supported stations. Perhaps there will be more of them now.

this is great for local music

[Grim Image]

This is great news for local bands trying to be heard. If local bands got together and started up smaller stations they could get the exposure needed to generate an audience, completely forgoing record company's. Not only would you be heard in your own town, but if networks of these smaller stations popped up across the country, totally dedicated to playing unsinged talent, you could be heard across the country. If this took off, could it possibly mean the end of Brittany Spears and pop radio? I can only hope so.

You can't just broadcast your CDs

[LordNimon]

I've seen a couple posts from people excited about the possibility of setting up their own radio station and playing music they like. Unfortunately, you can't just play your CDs on the air like that. CDs contain copyrighted material, and broadcasting the music over the air constitutes a copyright violation.

Radio stations are licensed (probably by the RIAA or a similar group) to play CDs on the air. It's very difficult, if not impossible, for a single person to get such a license.

The best you can do is play material from small, local bands that you or they have recorded themselves. If a band has a CD produced by some production company, then the band doesn't have the right to authorize you to play those CD's (yes, it's the band's music, but the production company owns that particular recording). You'll need to get an original recording of the band, and in many cases, the band has signed an agreement with the label which prevents them from recording their songs for someone else, so you're back to square one.

Yeah, it's screwy, but there's a reason for it. All of these restrictions are intended to prevent a band from releasing their songs with two different labels.

Re:You can't just broadcast your CDs

[hime]

I've seen a couple posts from people excited about the possibility of setting up their own radio station and playing music they like. Unfortunately, you can't just play your CDs on the air like that. CDs contain copyrighted material, and broadcasting the music over the air constitutes a copyright violation.
Radio stations are licensed (probably by the RIAA or a similar group) to play CDs on the air. It's very difficult, if not impossible, for a single person to get such a license.

The best you can do is play material from small, local bands that you or they have recorded themselves. If a band has a CD produced by some production company, then the band doesn't have the right to authorize you to play those CD's (yes, it's the band's music, but the production company owns that particular recording). You'll need to get an original recording of the band, and in many cases, the band has signed an agreement with the label which prevents them from recording their songs for someone else, so you're back to square one.

Yeah, it's screwy, but there's a reason for it. All of these restrictions are intended to prevent a band from releasing their songs with two different labels.

Your understanding is screwy - it has nothing to do with two labels at all. Beck is the biggest example I can think of where he has released for multiple labels at one time.

It's not the RIAA, it's BMI and ASCAP (or SESAC). And it's not hard at all to get licensed by them, they love to take your money, it's their job. Every place that plays music publically is supposed to have a license.

Then there's the "production company" thing. You mean like if the band has a producer work with them on an album? I run a tiny record label, but um, you're way wrong. Only big name producers (Butch Vig, Steve Albini, etc) get to put their fingers in the pie cause the major label lets em. You go to a producer, you record your music, and you pay them for their time. You walk out with the masters or what have you, and you own the copyright (or the label does). The producer has little to do with it. Of course, in the world of major labels and such, these things can change without warning. Always read the contract.

Seriously though, what are you on about?

The puppets behind this...

[Anonymous Coward]

For anyone interested, here is the list of creeps responsible for this bill:
Rep. Michael G. Oxley - R-OH
Rep. Barbara Cubin - R-WY
Rep. Cliff Stearns - R-FL
Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. - D-NJ
Rep. Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. R-MD

Give 'em hell!

Re:100 watts is _NOT_ 7 miles.

[Stormgren]

And as another amateur radio operator, I tend to think that you didn't do much more than memorize the question pools to get your license.

The Yagi will be directional. This much is true. HOWEVER, depending on the exact design, the beamwidth will not be that wide, as narrow as 4-5 degrees wide. You might push 50-100 miles out, but in a VERY narrow pattern. This is not without uses, many broadcast stations have nulls designed into their pattern to account for other stations near their transmitting radius. You would be missing half your listening area by going with such an antenna.

Low Power Radio Coalition

[JediLuke]

I'll post this again...hopefully it will get moderated up, it is quite important

Michael Bracy of the Low Power Radio Coalition is one of the guys in Washington who has been prodding this legislation through. This allows communities and universities to use the lower wattages for radio broadcasting. I run a campus station and i hope he gets this through because its quite invaluble for someone in the LA area where there are hardly any frequencies avail. We are the music makers, we are the dreamer of dreams
JediLuke

Resources for those wanting to build a station

[weston]

I'm interested in resources (print, online,
organization, whatever) that can teach me how
to engineer a station starting from Ohm's Law
(OK, I also have a Math Degree and a soldering
iron). Any recommendations?

Re:FCC licenses for low power FM is a sham.

[Another MacHack]

Congress has shoehorned much more frightening things than the FCC into federal jurisdiction via the commerce clause, etc.

In practice the only thing that matters about the constitution is what the supreme court thinks about it.

FCC Says Yes

[4til7]

I submtted this as an article, but it hasn't surfaced yet, so here's the dirt: The FCC has legalized micro-broadcasting for stations with maximum power levels of 10 watts and 100 watts. The 10 watt stations would reach an area with a radius of between one and two miles, the 100 watt stations would reach an area with a radius of approximately three and a half miles. For the first couple of years the licenses will go exclusively to locals. And they'll never go to commercial entities. They say they'll begin taking applications in the next couple of months. The official FCC statement is up at The FCC website.
________________________________

Re:Low Power FM for the masses!

[GeeBee]

Special interest groups will be able to draw more and more attention to themselves (right, wrong, or, indifferent). What's the matter with quiet?

The matter with quiet is that with no speech there is no free speech. Maybe diverse voices are just noise to you.

Don't you get it? This is about free speech. This is not about MP3s or even Pirate Radio. This is about giving the airwaves to their true owners, the People (as in We The People). Read the words of the commissioners who voted for it for yourself. Here's one example.

In her decision Commissioner Tristani writes:

Ultimately, however, the adoption of a new low power radio service has been driven by the scores of Americans who want to use the public airwaves to speak to their fellow citizens, and the scores of Americans who want to hear the additional diversity these speakers could provide. Under the conditions set forth in this Order, I can find no legitimate government interest in denying these citizens what they seek.

Let's spell it.

F-R-E-E S-P-E-E-C-H

I knew that you could.

Will these stations be allowed to send DATA?

[Ross Finlayson]

Does anyone know if operators of one of these new low-power FM stations would be permitted to send digital data on their channel, or whether FCC regulations would require regular analog audio (boring...) to be broadcast?

If data is allowed, then this could be a great service for "community webcasting". I suspect, though, that the FCC will want to restrict these stations to using plain-ol' analog audio.

What does three intervals mean?

[SEE]

And they will require at least three frequency intervals on the radio dial between a low-power station and another station, rather than the two intervals initially suggested.

How much is three intervals? Assuming an FM station broadcasting at 104.3, what does "three intervals" for these stations mean?

My guess is either 104.7 (three .1 intervals of 104.4, 104.5, and 104.6 between 104.3 and 104.7) or 105.1 (three .2 intervals of 104.5, 104.7, and 104.9 between 104.3 and 105.1).

Steven E. Ehrbar

What's going on here?

[Dinosaur Neil]

Last spring, the FCC shut down at least one local (Denver) "pirate" FM station that broadcast out of a van for eight or ten hours a day, and I could swear that I read a newspaper article around that same time that stated that this was part of a "nation-wide crackdown" on unlicensed stations. Now the FCC is sucking up all this great PR for giving back what they took away less than a year ago?!?

I'm looking forward to this (if it happens), 'cause the FM dial in the Denver metro area is owned by three (count 'em) corporate giants who firmly believe in wedging as much commercial and self-promotion time as they can between the five song playlist for each of their different "formats".

Ironically, the only decent station in town now is the year old KVCU, an AM college station run by the University of Colorado at Boulder. The irony is that the only reason that they're available to the public is because the FCC decided that Jacor was over their limit and had to throw one back, so they (Jacor) donated the least marketable station to CU.

That's enough ranting for now; time to switch to decaf.

Re:Wrong?

[Coyote]

I'd want to know how far the listener is from the "bleeding" FM station before I made that call.

It's hard to believe an FM engineer at a higher-powered station would let his gear get that far out of whack when his paycheck depends on the station NOT getting a big fat fine from the FCC.

If there was really a problem with out-of-band signals, the engineers at the stations being stepped on would be first in line to call the offending station, ask for it to be repaired or even help do the work.

And I wouldn't be surprised if the engineer has signal generators and a spec analyzer that cost more than a stack of Drake receivers too.

Re:Welcome to KUNT radio

[hime]

UNT (University of North Texas) has a radio station in Denton, Texas. It's KNTU, left over from when they were NTSU (NT State U).

They play jazz all day. Bad jazz. It sucks horribly. And they won't let students volunteer if they want to play something other than jazz. It's school run, not student run. Which is why I'm thrilled about this whole thing.