FCC Asked To Relax Translator Rules For AMs

RADIO ONLINE | Monday, November 19, 2012 | 7:03am CT

In line with FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai's expressed desire during the recent NAB Radio Show in Dallas to find ways to "revitalize" AM radio, Cromwell Group CEO Bud Walters has come up with a simple solution that could have big benefits. He's filed an application with the Commission to make it easier for AM stations to move an existing FM translator a greater distance. He's asking Commissioner Pai to grant the waiver request for the FM translator for WTCJ(AM), Tell City, Indiana, which would permit it and other AM broadcasters to move an FM translator further than the FCC's rules now allow.

Current regulations state that FM translator transmitter site moves are restricted to several miles, a procedural regulatory barrier that goes back decades. While there are several existing FM translators that could be acquired by AM station licensees, under current guidelines they can't be moved to a more optimal location where the AM's audience could be serviced.