Churches, tribe looking to land radio licenses (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Churches, tribe looking to land radio licenses

Sunday, April 15, 2007
By M.R. KROPKO
Associated Press Writer
http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=348473&Category=13&subCategoryID=

CLEVELAND Leah Prussia likes to imagine a radio station connecting the
837,000-acre White Earth Indian Reservation in Minnesota.

“For us the big thing about it is community building, a way to link
villages, woods, lakes and miles, and use it to discuss our local issues,
traditions, culture and preserve the Ojibwe language,” said Prussia, deputy
director of the White Earth Land Recovery Project.

They could soon get their chance.

Nonprofit community groups, schools and churches this year will get their
first opportunity since 2000 to apply for licenses for full-power,
noncommercial/educational FM radio stations. The Federal Communications
Commission stopped taking those applications so it could catch up on its
backlog and revise its system for reviewing them.

The agency says it expects to begin taking requests again in the fall.

Minnesota’s Ojibwe tribe has been seeking grants to build and operate a
station. The Cleveland-based United Church of Christ has been publicizing
the radio opportunity in public meetings, e-mails and its newsletter.

“Our strong hope is to get some of these licenses into the hands of people
in rural states who are committed to reclaiming the unifying and healing
role of religion, which is so needed in our nation today,” the 1.3
million-member UCC said in an e-mail in January to its churches and others
interested in noncommercial radio.

A MIX OF FORMATS

Some stations specialize in a music style, such as classical or the jazz and
blues of WWOZ in New Orleans, which was among Hurricane Katrina’s victims
but has since recovered, largely through listeners’ support. Others
broadcast school board meetings or give college students on-air experience
with a mix of music, sports, poetry and public service programs.

Noncommercial/educational stations are usually found at the low end of FM
frequencies spectrum (87.9 to 91.9) and depend on public or institutional
support. Because there’s a lack of noncommercial space on the radio dial in
cities, opportunities more often exist in remote or rural areas.

The applications review will be based on a newly established points system
that gives priority to applicants who will provide local programming rather
than syndicated content. After reviewing the applications the FCC will
decide how many licenses to give out.

The FCC says there are 2,817 such full-power stations in the United States,
including more than 630 National Public Radio affiliates, compared with
about 11,000 commercial stations, according to the FCC.

Full power means transmission power above 100 watts and a broadcast range of
more than 3.5 miles.

Although the licenses are free, costs for a station could limit the number
of applicants. Legal, engineering and equipment startup costs typically
could total up to $250,000, said Matthew Lasar, media history professor at
University of California at Santa Cruz and editor of a blog on FCC issues.