Prometheus Radio Project, which was instrumental earlier in the decade in derailing the deregulatory plans of former FCC Chair Michael Powell, is now getting ready to push its founding issue – the propagation of low power FM – to new heights.
New rules are very close to approval in Congress that will allow the siting of LPFM stations on 3rd adjacent channels, a move that is expected to open up real estate in larger markets that to date have been impossible to find. The House of Representatives has approved the new rules, and the Senate is close.
The NAB, which neither supports nor opposes the bill, was happy to see interference protections added to the House version and is attempting to add a few additional tweaks to the Senate version.
Prometheus, meanwhile, is in a celebratory mood, and has released its New Years’ Resolutions, which include the following:
* Get the Local Community Radio Act signed into law.
* Launch our outreach campaign to mobilize communities to apply for future radio licenses.
* Help LPFMs stream online & connect with broadband.
* Host our first Full Power Barnraising – yeehaw!
* Mobilize public input at the FCC’s Media Ownership Hearings.
RBR-TVBR observation: The court case that largely upended Powell is named after Prometheus, and to nobody’s surprise they indicate here that they fully intend to participate in the 2010 Quadrennial Review.
To their credit, they are not going to get their law passed and then disappear into the woodwork as far as LPFMs go – it is commendable that they will take a role in helping fledgling stations get started and keep going.
