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Minority Owners: Open FM Translator Window for AM
RADIO ONLINE | Wednesday, September 2, 2015 |
In a letter to FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, the CEOs of 50 minority-owned AM radio licensees, collectively owning 140 AM stations, along with NABOB and MMTC, are seeking support of the Commission opening an application filing window for FM translators that would be limited to AM broadcast licensees only.
"For 65 years, AM radio has been the technological gateway for entrepreneurs of color in broadcasting," the letter said. "Two-thirds of minority-owned broadcast stations are AM radio stations. As minority AM broadcast owners, we want nothing more than to improve our service to listeners. Thus, we appreciate your commitment to advance the long-pending AM Revitalization proceeding."
"Unfortunately, it has come to our attention that you are considering a reversal of course regarding the most important, effective proposal set forth in the AM Revitalization Notice: opening an application filing window for FM translators that would be limited to AM broadcast licensees," they continued. "As the Commission recognized in the Notice, the best way to help the largest number of AM stations to quickly and efficiently improve their service is to open such an AM-only window. Any other approach will make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for AM stations, including many of our own, to obtain the translators they urgently need to remain competitive and provide our communities with the service they deserve."
The groups and CEO flat out wrote that "if the Commission truly aims to advance minority broadcast ownership, and to fulfill its goal of revitalizing AM radio, it should promptly open an FM translator filing window that is limited to AM licensees."
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