FCC sets LPFM filing window

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Mignon ClyburnThe route to owning and operating a brand new low power FM station is an FCC Form 318, and a new version is ready for use in an application filing window that opens mid-October. Acting Chairwoman Mignon Clyburn urged eligible entities to start getting their proposals together right away.


The window opens 10/15/13 and closes at 6PM eastern on 10/29/13.

According to the FCC, “Each applicant must be a nonprofit educational organization, or a Tribe or Tribally-controlled organization, or a state or local government or a non-government entity that will provide a noncommercial public safety radio service to protect the safety of life, health, or property. Each applicant will be required to document its eligibility.5 Applicants also must be “local” as that term is defined in the Commission’s Rules.”

Clyburn hailed the announcement. She said, “I am pleased to announce the upcoming opening of the FCC’s application window for Low-Power FM licenses, and encourage community groups to add new and diverse voices to their local broadcast communities.  Local groups across the country will have a unique opportunity in October to apply for a license to provide LPFM radio broadcast services to their communities.  The LPFM service holds the potential to add new voices to the nation’s airwaves.

Continuing, Clyburn commented, “The last filing window for this vital service was more than ten years ago.  Now, through the passage of the Local Community Radio Act and the work of the Commission, local community groups – including those in many large and mid-sized markets – will have a new opportunity to acquire a license to launch and operate low-power local stations.  This will create a broader LPFM service to augment the airwaves, so I encourage applicants to use the full resources and tools available from the Commission, such as the LPFM Channel Finder, to assist in their applications. 

“I hope local communities across the country will galvanize in the next four months to take advantage of this unique opportunity,” she concluded.