The Society of Broadcast Engineers has published another one of its Broadcast Station Self-Inspection Guides, this time covering low-power FM stations, or LPFMs.
The SBE released the AM, FM and TV guides in 2024 in partnership with the National Association of Broadcasters. The SBE said these guides are designed to help stations and Alternative Broadcast Inspection Program (ABIP) inspectors evaluate a broadcast station’s compliance with FCC Rules and regulations.
The guides are indented to replace the FCC Self-Inspection Checklists that were first released in the 1990s, but had not been updated for nearly 15 years. SBE said, while the previous checklists only provided references to rules, the new guides include recommended best practices for stations to ensure overall regulatory compliance.
[Related: “Self-Inspection Guides Are a Powerful New Tool“]
According to an SBE press release, the project was announced at the SBE National Meeting held in September 2023, and received widespread support from state broadcaster associations, many of which are actively involved in their own ABIP programs.
The SBE Government Relations Committee, chaired by Ched Keiler, formed a working group of SBE members in April 2022 to begin reviewing and updating these guides — more of which are still under review to be released later.
SBE President Ted Hand said in the release, “The committee has worked hard on this fourth installment in the Station Self-Inspection Guide series. The interest in the guides continues, as does the work of the committee to develop additional editions.”
Ched Keiler told Radio World in an email, “LPFM broadcasters operate under a different set of rules, and as such this guide addresses those unique issues that LPFM broadcasters might come across.”
The guides are available for download on the SBE website. They are free to SBE members.
