An opinion on the LPFM Service: From A DXers Perspective-by Eric Bueneman
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(NOTE: This originally appeared on the N0UIH DX Reflector on E-Groups.com.)

Recently, the Federal Communications Commission approved a new radio service,
known as LPFM, or Low-Power FM. These are generally low-tech radio stations
with limited range (maximum range is four to ten miles, depending on who you
believe).
How does that affect the DX community? For one thing, LPFM signals are pretty
much non-DXable. Rarely does a 10-watt or 100-watt FM station get out via
E-skip or strong tropo. The 10-watt non-commercial educational FM stations
that were licensed prior to the 1982 minimum power increase for NCE-FM
stations to 100 watts will, more often than not, get swamped by
higher-powered co-channel or adjacent-channel frequencies. For instance,
WGHR, a 16-watt FM station in Marietta, GA, at 100.7 MHz, will get pummeled
within a five-minute drive of Southern Polytechnic State University, the
campus it is situated on, by WUSY, a 100 kW Class C station in Cleveland, TN.
Another example is KCFV, a 100-watt FM on 89.5 MHz in Ferguson, MO. Within
ten minutes' driving time of the St. Louis Community College at Florissant
Valley, adjacent-channel 120-watt station KYMC, at 89.7 MHz in Ballwin, MO,
can be heard. Co-channel KOPN (20 kW in Columbia, MO) can be heard in KCFV's
null when tropo conditions are up toward Columbia/Jefferson City and Kansas
City. Your chances of hearing an LPFM outside of a four to ten-mile radius of
the station is rare, depending on how far you actually are from the station.
The fears of interference, as the National Association of Broadcasters have
frequently raised ad nauseam, are totally unfounded.
Then, there is the question of diversity. We have seen diversity on the radio
(especially on FM) decrease since larger groups have been purchasing smaller
market stations. In smaller markets, many stations are automated or on
satellite programming. That leaves few on-air jobs for the people getting out
of colleges, universities and broadcasting schools. Larger and major markets
aren't helping the situation, either. Most of the jobs there are given to
members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA)
and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), the two major
unions representing on-air employees in the radio industry. Although some
stations claim to be "non-union", most of the jobs at the so-called
"non-union" stations are given to union members. With the unions charging
entry fees that are unaffordable for broadcasters who make lower incomes
(AFTRA, for instance, charges $1,000 just to get in), they could go to
community radio stations, but many have as much as a two-year wait for slots
to open up. Some NCE-FM stations (especially those affiliated with NPR and/or
PRI) are also union-affiliated, others have few slots available. Most NCE-FMs
restrict their slots to broadcasting students only, and many have set limits
to service. KCFV, the station of the St. Louis Community College at
Florissant Valley, for example, has an eight-semester service limit (summers
excluded). Where do these folks go to demonstrate their talents? This is
where LPFM comes in. LPFM stations will be the only place (apart from
establishing his/her own Part 15 AM or FM station) where much of this talent
can go to upon graduation from colleges, university or broadcasting schools.
With much talent having few places to go, it's sad to see such commercial
potential go to waste.
LPFM will not be introduced into the major markets, such as New York, Los
Angeles or Chicago, because there are no spaces left on the FM band for such
stations. St. Louis, the nation's 19th largest radio market, may have a few
slots available (although a Class A can be shoehorned in northwest of town).
It will give smaller cities a chance to have their own radio station, where
they couldn't have one before. For instance, Hazelwood, MO (population
26,829, according to the 1995 Census Bureau estimates), was denied an AM
station ten years ago, when a native of the area, along with two former
college radio disc jockeys and a Ham Radio operator friend, tried to buy a
St. Louis daytime-only station and move it there as a full-time station.
What the FCC did in the granting of the LPFM service is in the best interests
of the listening public.

(This is the opinion of Eric Bueneman, Amateur Radio call sign N-Zero-UIH,
and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of those in the N-Zero-UIH
E-group, or those of the DX Community. Opposing views can be E-mailed at
n0uih@egroups.com.)