In the right circumstances, an LPFM station license can be more attractive than a higher-power signal elsewhere.
Syracuse Community Radio has received a CP for 103.3 MHz along New York’s Onondaga Lake after revising its requested frequency. It told the FCC it would divest itself of its noncom educational station WXXE(FM) at 90.5 in Fenner, N.Y., if it received an LPFM. It also has a translator in Hinsdale.
The station plans local news and commentary, local music, youth programming and other content. “SCR has consistently provided this programming in the past,” it told the FCC, “but over a very limited signal area at the outer fringe of the Syracuse area, resulting in greatly hampered listenership and participation.”
Elsewhere, the commission continues to grant new low-power FM radio station construction permits as it resolves “mutually exclusive” applications. Here’s a sampling of other CPs it has granted:
● In Minneapolis, the group Somali American Community had been in a nine-way mutually exclusive grouping seeking 94.1. It now has won a CP at 101.7 instead. The organization plans bilingual programming in support of the Somali-American community in Minnesota
● In Wheeling, W.Va., Ohio Valley Peace will get a signal at 107.1 MHz. The group plans programming about “peace, justice and the environment”
● In Rochester, N.Y., New Day Global Mission secures a CP at 98.5, where it plans to air Christian programming
● In New Britain, Conn., faith-based La Nueva Radio Restauracion 1620 AM gets a signal at 96.9 after changing its requested frequency. (The organization said its name does not reflect current broadcast ownership.)
● In Louisville, Ky., Art FM Inc. received a permit to build a station at 97.1. The organization is “dedicated to cultivating educational opportunities and live media experiences for artists and members of the local community” using “sound, music, and conversation.” It already streams its programming
● And in Spartanburg, S.C., the Evangelical Cathedral of Spartanburg snagged 104.5 for its “educational and family-friendly inspirational programming”
Info above is from the FCC database and REC Networks.