Station Owners Seek to Revive AM Revitalization Translator Windows
The FCC should reinstate the 2016 AM radio revitalization FM translator windows, said a petition for rulemaking from a host of radio broadcasters Monday. The 2016 proceeding temporarily allowed AM broadcasters to purchase FM translators within 250 miles of their location and relocate them to rebroadcast the AM station’s content on the FM band at an available frequency. Monday’s petition proposed making the policy permanent rather than a window and extending the reach to 500 miles “primarily to assist stations on both coasts, the Gulf, and either border with Canada or Mexico.” The petition also called for limiting stations to three translators per AM license.
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Reinstating the translator modification filing windows would provide struggling AM stations with an opportunity to better serve their audiences and broadcast with better audio quality, as well as “greatly enhance AM stations’ ability to provide local news, public affairs, and cultural programming to more listeners via FM,” said the petition from Press Communications, the Cromwell Group, SSR Communications and others. “Adopting this proposal will offer many AM broadcasters the opportunity to stay competitive as the broadcasting landscape continues to evolve.”