A Harder Highway For Permanently Hushing An FM Translator

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RBR+TVBR OBSERVATION


By Greg Masters
Wiley Rein LLP

WASHINGTON, D.C. — FM translators have become a more pervasive and important component of terrestrial radio broadcasting than ever before.  Aided by the FCC’s AM revitalization initiative and increases in programming services via FM digital multicast streams, the number of authorized translator stations has increased sharply in recent years, as have the opportunities for translator licenses to carry considerable value through sale and rebroadcasting deals.

At the same time, interference disputes between translators and the owners of full-power FM stations (which have primary status over translators) have become more frequent, as more and more translators go online and nip at the edges of listenership to co- and adjacent channel full-powers.

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