On Thursday June 22 the FCC announced it will be opening a "filing window" for applying for new Low Power FM (LPFM) licenses.  These are 100-watt non-commercial, educational FM broadcast stations on the FM broadcast band 88.1 FM -107.9 FM.  This marks the first time since 2013 the FCC has opened such opportunity.  These FM channels are set aside for schools, churches, non-profits, government, or other educational institutions.  Another broadcast service, "FM translators" also share these type of lower power radio channels.  In the last few years there have been four

On June 7 the FCC released a Fifth Notice of Proposed Rulemaking concerning operation of FM stations on 87.7 FM by Low Power Television Channel 6 stations.  The television channel 6 occupies an area from 82-88 MHz, for which the audio part of the analog television signal occupied 87.7 FM.  Upon digital television transition, this technical anomaly was supposed to disappear, however certain Channel 6 licensees asked the FCC to tack an additional analog FM service to the side of their digital television service under the guise that it is a digital supplementary service.

Back in January, the FCC discontinued its central database for television and radio form filings (Consolidated Database System, or CDBS) which replaced paper filings in year 2000.  Most of the forms of CDBS had been previously transported over to the FCC's new Media Bureau's filing system, LMS (Licensing and Management System).  Between January and May 2022 LMS had no options for informal forms for filing Special Temporary Authority and Resumption of Operations.

For those acquainted with filing applications with the FCC's Media Bureau for over the last twenty years, the Consolidated Data Base System (CDBS) was the main conduit for broadcast applications.  Within the last year, the FCC has been moving all application filing to the new Licensing and Management System (LMS).  On January 11, 2022, the FCC gave one day notice for the CDBS shutdown of operation.  Although most FCC Media Bureau application have already migrated to LMS, AM broadcast and digital notifications, Special Temporary Authority filings, and pleadings have resided on

The FCC opened a filing window for new non-commercial educational FM station November 2 to 9, 2021.  1282 applications were received.  The Media Bureau has now identified 231 groups -- 883 applications, that have technical conflicts between applicants.  Within these groups where more than one applicant has applied for a selected frequency within a specific area, only one applicant can be granted a permit for a new station since the technical proposals overlap in channel use.  Within the public notice, the FCC outlines a period until January 28, 2022 where applicants

The Media Bureau's  Audio Division received 1,282 applications for new NCE FM stations during the November 2021 Non-Commercial Educational Full Power FM filing window. The FCC has reviewed the applications to identify singletons (applications that are not mutually exclusive (MX) with
any other application filed in the window, and can be accepted for filing), singletons with

As Common Frequency previously announced, the FCC is open a filing window for nonprofits, churches, and educational institutions for limited supply of FM channels (non-commercial, educational, or "NCE" channels) for new stations primarily in mostly rural areas across the United States.

The FCC has released a summary of the filing window procedures, found here.  The following briefly summarizes 

The next licensing window opportunity to apply for a full-power Non-Commercial Educational FM station construction permit begins Nov. 2, 2021, and runs until Nov. 9. This is a rare opportunity for qualified non-profit organizations to build a new full-powered FM station. If your organization is interested, now is the time to start planning.

The FCC has recently has accepted a petition for rulemaking proposing an upgrade to Low Power FM service's maximum power to 250 watts.  REC Networks Petition for Rulemaking (PRM), RM-11909, filed over a year ago, proposes a simplified approach for a 250 watt Low Power FM (LPFM) class.  The current maximum wattage for LPFM is 100 watts.

Low Power FM (LPFM) stations have been challenged in recent years due to incoming inference on the FM band due to the total increase in FM licensed facilities placing signals in areas that once had no signal.  In 2020, the FCC opened a LPFM Technical Rules rule making to streamline some of the LPFM rules, with consideration of upgrading the power of LPFM from 100 watts to 250 watts.  The LPFM Technical Report and Order (MB Docket 19-193) eventually flatly rejected the proposed wattage improveme