The long-awaited filing window for certain Class C and D AM stations to apply for new FM translators will open at 12:01 a.m. EDT on July 26, 2017, and will close at 5:59 p.m. EDT (not at 11:59 p.m.) on August 2, 2017. A second window for eligible Class A and B AM stations (and … Continue Reading
The last “T” has been crossed and the last “I” dotted in the FCC’s proceeding to adopt new rules relaxing siting requirements for FM translators seeking to rebroadcast AM stations. In a Federal Register notice, the FCC announced that the Office of Management and Budget has approved the information collection requirements associated with the Commission’s … Continue Reading
The FCC’s Media Bureau is not processing FM translator applications for AM owners until its new rule takes effect. At its public meeting last week, the agency adopted an order to relax restrictions on siting FM translators to be used as fill-ins for gaps in AM coverage. However that change has not yet become effective. … Continue Reading
As anticipated, the FCC adopted at its February 23 meeting a rule change to ease FM translator siting restrictions for AM owners. (The FCC signaled previously that such a change was forthcoming by releasing a draft decision three weeks before the meeting at which the item was voted upon. That release was part of an … Continue Reading
The FCC has sent a strong signal that at its February 23 open meeting it will adopt a proposal to ease FM translator siting restrictions for AM owners. As part of an experiment to increase transparency in the agency’s rulemaking process, new Chairman Ajit Pai, long a fan of radio, publicly released a draft decision … Continue Reading
As we notified our readers in December 2015, the FCC created two filing windows for AM licensees to file for an FM translator. The first window (available only to licensees or permittees of Class C or D AM stations) ran from January 29, 2016 to July 28, 2016. The second window (available to any class … Continue Reading
Effective dates, comment deadlines now set It’s been nearly three months since the FCC released its long-awaited AM Revitalization Order. And while the Audio Division staff has done what it could in terms of moving things along, the full range of regulatory changes adopted by the Commission have not taken effect yet because the FCC’s … Continue Reading
Long-awaited opportunity for AMers now at hand. If you’re an AM licensee interested in taking advantage of the opportunity to file for an FM translator, get your calendar out: the Media Bureau has announced the dates for the two 2016 “modification windows” during which AM stations will have first dibs on available FM translators. These … Continue Reading
Translator windows, interference protection changes, MDCL … and adios to the ratchet rule Two years in the making, the FCC’s AM Revitalization decision (full name: “First Report and Order, Further Notice of Proposed Rule Making, and Notice of Inquiry” – let’s just stick with Revitalization Decision, shall we?) has finally worked its way through the … Continue Reading
The radio industry has been waiting for the FCC to finally release its long-awaited AM revitalization order. However, much of the optimism that was felt when the AM revitalization proceeding was initiated years ago appears to be screeching to a halt. Within the world of AM revitalization, nothing appears to outshine the ever-increasing reliance upon … Continue Reading
