So, after the NAB and NPR said that Low Power FMs would cause "too much interference", the FM band has become littered with translators. The latest: 96.3 MHz rebroadcasting one of WYLD-FM's digital ("HD") sub-channels. Licensed to Meraux, LA, the station plays non-stop "old school" R&B, or until Clear Channel decides what to do with its SIXTH FM channel in the New Orleans area.
Now, what ticks me off is, that was the frequency we were using for our campus radio's Part 15 FM. Granted, you couldn't hear it further than you could spit, but it did allow some parking lot and student center reception. Oh well, it's off to yet another frequency and then a change of all our graphics, website, stickers, etc. Sigh...
But, what really ticks me off, is that LPFM community stations have been blocked, while one translator after another is launched. I can understand the ones that allow struggling local AMs to have an FM voice, and I can understand ones that allow an unserved rural community to have reception of a station in a nearby town or of a statewide public radio network, but how many frequencies does Clear Channel need? Don't answer that, I know the answer. Worse, perhaps, is Edgewater Broadcasting AKA Radio Assist Ministry which is sitting on at least SIX FM frequencies in the metro New Orleans area! All to relay programming from Idaho?!
When you add other licenses (either regular or translator) into the mix, there are at least ELEVEN Christian stations (mostly fundamentalist) licensed for metro NOLA. I don't begrudge anyone their beliefs--fundamentalist Christians (or Druids or Shintos or maybe even Scientologists) should be able to mount stations, but ELEVEN in a single (largely Catholic) market? Now, a lot of these are construction permits or applications being "camped" on, but as someone who still hangs on to antiquated notions of public ownership of the airwaves, of radio stations operating in the public interest, and of the medium being essentially local, I just have to say, "What the ....!"
It galls me that out-of-town carpetbagger outfits, both mega-corporate and mega-church, have figured out how to work the system, while potential local applicants are locked out. Here's the essence of my gripe: if local LPFM stations were going to "cause too much interference", why are all these new translators just peachy? Oh, how I long for the days of the "7-7-7" limited ownership rule!
Ah, well...I may as well go shake my fist at Wal-Mart.
Now, what ticks me off is, that was the frequency we were using for our campus radio's Part 15 FM. Granted, you couldn't hear it further than you could spit, but it did allow some parking lot and student center reception. Oh well, it's off to yet another frequency and then a change of all our graphics, website, stickers, etc. Sigh...
But, what really ticks me off, is that LPFM community stations have been blocked, while one translator after another is launched. I can understand the ones that allow struggling local AMs to have an FM voice, and I can understand ones that allow an unserved rural community to have reception of a station in a nearby town or of a statewide public radio network, but how many frequencies does Clear Channel need? Don't answer that, I know the answer. Worse, perhaps, is Edgewater Broadcasting AKA Radio Assist Ministry which is sitting on at least SIX FM frequencies in the metro New Orleans area! All to relay programming from Idaho?!
When you add other licenses (either regular or translator) into the mix, there are at least ELEVEN Christian stations (mostly fundamentalist) licensed for metro NOLA. I don't begrudge anyone their beliefs--fundamentalist Christians (or Druids or Shintos or maybe even Scientologists) should be able to mount stations, but ELEVEN in a single (largely Catholic) market? Now, a lot of these are construction permits or applications being "camped" on, but as someone who still hangs on to antiquated notions of public ownership of the airwaves, of radio stations operating in the public interest, and of the medium being essentially local, I just have to say, "What the ....!"
It galls me that out-of-town carpetbagger outfits, both mega-corporate and mega-church, have figured out how to work the system, while potential local applicants are locked out. Here's the essence of my gripe: if local LPFM stations were going to "cause too much interference", why are all these new translators just peachy? Oh, how I long for the days of the "7-7-7" limited ownership rule!
Ah, well...I may as well go shake my fist at Wal-Mart.