LPFM

Revised August 12, 2023

Due to concerns over COVID-19 (Coronavirus), Harvard University and the entire University of Maryland system have announced that live classes will not resume after spring break.  In addition, some school districts, smaller colleges and priviate educational institutions have announced closures of campuses.

REC Networks has had a chance to review the language of the Ask Musicians For Music Act of 2019 or AM-FM Act as submitted by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY-10).  

The intention of the bill is to put into place a method where the recording industry would obtain payment in connection with music played on terrestrial radio.  Historically, radio has been on a statutory exemption as it was perceived that radio acutally promotes music.  When you look at today's post 80-90 environment with stations so heavily narrowcasted and the lack of local talent (i.e. DJs) and more of a public expectation of "more music and less talk", especially when faced with competition by "non-radio" (streaming) services, with the exception of a small number of noncommercial and commercial stations that still care about the music, radio is not promoting music. When was the last time you heard a DJ say what label a certain song is on?  For many years now, the recording industry had relegated that task to Walmart.  

In the Petition for Reconsideration filed by The LPFM Coalition (LPFM/C) in MB Docket 18-119, the translator interference proceeding, LPFM/C raises some very excellent points in respect to the decisions made by the Commission in the proceeding. 

While FM translators must protect existing LPFM stations using prohibited overlap, it is REC's position that the disparity between LPFM's use of distance separation and FM translator use of the contour model does raise an LCRA Section 5 issue where translators are overprotected by LPFM stations by as much as 10 times the area that they are entitled to in cases where a translator's directional pattern can be used to protect an LPFM but LPFM stations must protect a translator as they are a non-directional facility.