II 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 6533 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 17, 2010 

Received 

AN ACT 

To implement the recommendations of the Federal Communications Commission report to the Congress regarding 

low-power FM service, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Local Community 

3 Radio Act of 2010’’. 

4 SEC. 2. AMENDMENT. 

5 Section 632 of the Departments of Commerce, Jus6 tice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Ap7 propriations Act, 2001 (Public Law 106–553; 114 Stat. 

8 2762A–111), is amended to read as follows: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 632. (a) The Federal Communications Com10 mission shall modify the rules authorizing the operation 

11 of low-power FM radio stations, as proposed in MM Dock12 et No. 99–25, to— 

13 ‘‘(1) prescribe protection for co-channels and 

14 first- and second-adjacent channels; and 

15 ‘‘(2) prohibit any applicant from obtaining a 

16 low-power FM license if the applicant has engaged 

17 in any manner in the unlicensed operation of any 

18 station in violation of section 301 of the Commu19 nications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 301). 

20 ‘‘(b) Any license that was issued by the Federal Com21 munications Commission to a low-power FM station prior 

22 to April 2, 2001, and that does not comply with the modi23 fications adopted by the Commission in MM Docket No. 

24 99–25 on April 2, 2001, shall remain invalid.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. MINIMUM DISTANCE SEPARATION REQUIREMENTS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Communications 

3 Commission shall modify its rules to eliminate third-adja4 cent minimum distance separation requirements be5 tween— 

6 (1) low-power FM stations; and 

7 (2) full-service FM stations, FM translator sta8 tions, and FM booster stations. 

9 (b) RESTRICTION.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Communica11 tions Commission shall not amend its rules to reduce 

12 the minimum co-channel and first- and second-adja13 cent channel distance separation requirements in ef14 fect on the date of enactment of this Act between— 

15 (A) low-power FM stations; and 

16 (B) full-service FM stations. 

17 (2) WAIVER.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding para19 graph (1), the Federal Communications Com20 mission may grant a waiver of the second-adja21 cent channel distance separation requirement to 

22 low-power FM stations that establish, using 

23 methods of predicting interference taking into 

24 account all relevant factors, including terrain25 sensitive propagation models, that their proVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:27 Dec 19, 2010 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6533.RDS H6533

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1 posed operations will not result in interference 

2 to any authorized radio service. 

3 (B) REQUIREMENTS.— 

4 (i) SUSPENSION.—Any low-power FM 

5 station that receives a waiver under sub6 paragraph (A) shall be required to suspend 

7 operation immediately upon notification by 

8 the Federal Communications Commission 

9 that it is causing interference to the recep10 tion of an existing or modified full-service 

11 FM station without regard to the location 

12 of the station receiving interference. 

13 (ii) ELIMINATION OF INTER14 FERENCE.—A low-power FM station de15 scribed in clause (i) shall not resume oper16 ation until such interference has been 

17 eliminated or it can demonstrate to the 

18 Federal Communications Commission that 

19 the interference was not due to emissions 

20 from the low-power FM station, except 

21 that such station may make short test 

22 transmissions during the period of sus23 pended operation to check the efficacy of 

24 remedial measures. 


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1 (iii) NOTIFICATION.—Upon receipt of 

2 a complaint of interference from a low3 power FM station operating pursuant to a 

4 waiver authorized under subparagraph (A), 

5 the Federal Communications Commission 

6 shall notify the identified low-power FM 

7 station by telephone or other electronic 

8 communication within 1 business day. 

9 SEC. 4. PROTECTION OF RADIO READING SERVICES. 

10 The Federal Communications Commission shall com11 ply with its existing minimum distance separation require12 ments for full-service FM stations, FM translator stations, 

13 and FM booster stations that broadcast radio reading 

14 services via an analog subcarrier frequency to avoid poten15 tial interference by low-power FM stations. 

16 SEC. 5. ENSURING AVAILABILITY OF SPECTRUM FOR LOW17 POWER FM STATIONS. 

18 The Federal Communications Commission, when li19 censing new FM translator stations, FM booster stations, 

20 and low-power FM stations, shall ensure that— 

21 (1) licenses are available to FM translator sta22 tions, FM booster stations, and low-power FM sta23 tions; 

24 (2) such decisions are made based on the needs 

25 of the local community; and 


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1 (3) FM translator stations, FM booster sta2 tions, and low-power FM stations remain equal in 

3 status and secondary to existing and modified full4 service FM stations. 

5 SEC. 6. PROTECTION OF TRANSLATOR INPUT SIGNALS. 

6 The Federal Communications Commission shall mod7 ify its rules to address the potential for predicted inter8 ference to FM translator input signals on third-adjacent 

9 channels set forth in section 2.7 of the technical report 

10 entitled ‘‘Experimental Measurements of the Third-Adja11 cent Channel Impacts of Low-Power FM Stations, Volume 

12 One—Final Report (May 2003)’’. 

13 SEC. 7. ENSURING EFFECTIVE REMEDIATION OF INTER14 FERENCE. 

15 The Federal Communications Commission shall mod16 ify the interference complaint process described in section 

17 73.810 of its rules (47 CFR 73.810) as follows: 

18 (1) With respect to those low-power FM sta19 tions licensed at locations that do not satisfy third20 adjacent channel spacing requirements under section 

21 73.807 of the Commission’s rules (47 CFR 73.807), 

22 the Federal Communications Commission shall pro23 vide the same interference protections that FM 

24 translator stations and FM booster stations are re25 quired to provide as set forth in section 74.1203 of 


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1 its rules (47 CFR 74.1203) as in effect on the date 

2 of enactment of this Act. 

3 (2) For a period of 1 year after a new low4 power FM station is constructed on a third-adjacent 

5 channel, such low-power FM station shall be re6 quired to broadcast periodic announcements that 

7 alert listeners that interference that they may be ex8 periencing could be the result of the operation of 

9 such low-power FM station on a third-adjacent 

10 channel and shall instruct affected listeners to con11 tact such low-power FM station to report any inter12 ference. The Federal Communications Commission 

13 shall require all newly constructed low-power FM 

14 stations on third-adjacent channels to— 

15 (A) notify the Federal Communications 

16 Commission and all affected stations on third17 adjacent channels of an interference complaint 

18 by electronic communication within 48 hours 

19 after the receipt of such complaint; and 

20 (B) cooperate in addressing any such in21 terference. 

22 (3) Low-power FM stations on third-adjacent 

23 channels shall be required to address complaints of 

24 interference within the protected contour of an af25 fected station and shall be encouraged to address all 


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1 other interference complaints, including complaints 

2 to the Federal Communications Commission based 

3 on interference to a full-service FM station, an FM 

4 translator station, or an FM booster station by the 

5 transmitter site of a low-power FM station on a 

6 third-adjacent channel at any distance from the full7 service FM station, FM translator station, or FM 

8 booster station. The Federal Communications Com9 mission shall provide notice to the licensee of a low10 power FM station of the existence of such inter11 ference within 7 calendar days of the receipt of a 

12 complaint from a listener or another station. 

13 (4) To the extent possible, the Federal Commu14 nications Commission shall grant low-power FM sta15 tions on third-adjacent channels the technical flexi16 bility to remediate interference through the coloca17 tion of the transmission facilities of the low-power 

18 FM station and any stations on third-adjacent chan19 nels. 

20 (5) The Federal Communications Commission 

21 shall— 

22 (A) permit the submission of informal evi23 dence of interference, including any engineering 

24 analysis that an affected station may commis25 sion; 


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1 (B) accept complaints based on inter2 ference to a full-service FM station, FM trans3 lator station, or FM booster station by the 

4 transmitter site of a low-power FM station on 

5 a third-adjacent channel at any distance from 

6 the full-service FM station, FM translator sta7 tion, or FM booster station; and 

8 (C) accept complaints of interference to 

9 mobile reception. 

10 (6) The Federal Communications Commission 

11 shall for full-service FM stations that are licensed in 

12 significantly populated States with more than 

13 3,000,000 population and a population density 

14 greater than 1,000 people per one square mile land 

15 area, require all low-power FM stations licensed 

16 after the date of enactment of this Act and located 

17 on third-adjacent, second-adjacent, first-adjacent, or 

18 co-channels to such full-service FM stations, to pro19 vide the same interference remediation requirements 

20 to complaints of interference, without regard to 

21 whether such complaints of interference occur within 

22 or outside of the protected contour of such stations, 

23 under the same interference complaint and remedi24 ation procedures that FM translator stations and 

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1 service stations as set forth in section 74.1203 of its 

2 rules (47 CFR 74.1203) as in effect on the date of 

3 enactment of this Act. Notwithstanding the provi4 sions of section 74.1203, no interference that arises 

5 outside the relevant distance for the full-service sta6 tion class specified in the first column titled ‘‘re7 quired’’ for ‘‘Co-channel minimum separation (km)’’ 

8 in the table listed in section 73.807(a)(1) of the 

9 Commission’s rules (47 CFR 73.807(a)(1)) shall re10 quire remediation. 

11 SEC. 8. FCC STUDY ON IMPACT OF LOW-POWER FM STA12 TIONS ON FULL-SERVICE COMMERCIAL FM 

13 STATIONS. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Federal Communications 

15 Commission shall conduct an economic study on the im16 pact that low-power FM stations will have on full-service 

17 commercial FM stations. 

18 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

19 of enactment of this Act, the Federal Communications 

20 Commission shall submit a report to the Committee on 

21 Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate and 

22 the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House 

23 of Representatives on the study conducted under sub24 section (a). 


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1 (c) LICENSING NOT AFFECTED BY STUDY.—Nothing 

2 in this section shall affect the licensing of new low-power 

3 FM stations as otherwise permitted under this Act. 

Passed the House of Representatives December 17, 

2010. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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