American Media Services To Assist Applicants For Low Power FM (LPFM) Stations

PRLog (Press Release) - Jan. 5, 2011 - CHARLESTON, SC –- American Media Services (“AMS”), a leading radio station engineering and brokerage firm, announced today that it will assist applicants for new low power FM radio stations (LPFM) authorized by the Local Community Radio Act (H.R. 6533), which was approved by Congress in December and signed by the president yesterday.

The new class of stations will operate with 100 watts of power and will be limited to noncommercial applicants such as nonprofit groups, religious organizations, or public bodies. Applicants must live in the area where the service is proposed. The “Interference-free” signal, as defined by the FCC, will go about 3.5 miles, with fringe coverage extending further.

The Federal Communications Commission will set up rules defining parameters to insure that the new LPFM stations don’t interfere with existing stations presently or in the future. LPFMs will be considered a secondary service to existing full-power stations.

Andrew Guest, Director of Engineering at AMS, said applications wouldn’t be accepted by the FCC until rules are finalized and a filing window opened. “That’ll take a few months, at least,” he predicted. “We can’t conduct studies or file applications for clients until we know exactly what the new rules are. But we recommend that prospective clients contact us in the near future to establish a relationship so that we can get right to work when the FCC issues the rules.”

An engineering study will be necessary to determine if a new LPFM station can be accommodated in a given community, which will depend on whether a frequency can be identified that doesn’t interfere with existing stations.

For more information, please contact Andrew Guest at ajguest@ams.fm.

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About American Media Services, LLC
Founded in 1997, American Media Services, LLC is a full-service radio engineering and brokerage firm whose technical division leads the nation in implementing FM radio station signal enhancements. For further information, please contact Andrew Guest (aguest@ams.fm) or Ed Seeger (eseeger@ams.fm). AMS is located in Charleston, SC. www.americanmediaservices.com.

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