Low Power FM Radio Service Technical Rules, 37060-37061 [2021-14336]

Agencies

• FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 132 (Wednesday, July 14, 2021)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 37060-37061]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-14336]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 74

[MB Docket No. 19-193; FCC 21-70; FR ID 35680]


Low Power FM Radio Service Technical Rules

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: In this document, the Federal Communications Commission 
(Commission) adopts an Order on Reconsideration (Order) to consider 
petitions for reconsideration filed in response to revisions of 
technical rules that primarily affect Low Power FM (LPFM) radio 
stations.

DATES: Effective August 13, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Irene Bleiweiss, Media Bureau, Audio 
Division, (202) 418-2785, or via the internet at 
[email protected]. Direct press inquiries to Janice Wise at (202) 
418-8165, or via the internet at [email protected]. For additional 
information concerning the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) information 
collection requirements contained in this document, contact Cathy 
Williams at 202-418-2918, or via the internet at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's Order, 
in MB Docket No. 19-193, FCC 21-70, adopted June 15, 2021 and released 
on June 16, 2021. The full text of this document is available 
electronically via the FCC's Electronic Document Management System 
(EDOCS) website https://www.fcc.gov/edocs or by downloading the text 
from the Commission's website at https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/0616283713905/FCC-21-70A1.pdf or https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-21-70A1.pdf (Documents will be available electronically 
in ASCII, Microsoft Word, and/or Adobe Acrobat.) Alternative formats 
are available for people with disabilities (Braille, large print, 
electronic files, audio format), by sending an email to [email protected] 
or calling the Commission's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau at 
(202) 418-0530 (voice), (202) 418-0432 (TTY).

Final Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 Analysis

    The Order does not contain new or modified information collection 
requirements subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 
104-13. Therefore, it does not contain any new or modified information 
collection burdens for small business concerns with fewer than 25 
employees, pursuant to the Small Business Paperwork Relief Act of 2002, 
Public Law 107-198.

Congressional Review Act

    The Commission has determined, and the Administrator of the Office 
of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, 
concurs that this rule change is ``non-major'' under the Congressional 
Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 804(2). The Commission will send a copy of the 
Order to Congress and the Government Accountability Office pursuant to 
5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A).

Synopsis

    1. Introduction. On June 15, 2021, the Commission adopted an Order 
on Reconsideration (Order), Amendment of Parts 73 and 74 of the 
Commission's Rules to Improve the Low Power FM Radio Service Technical 
Rules; FCC 21-70, MB Docket No. 19-193. The Order dismisses in part and 
denies in part two petitions for reconsideration of revisions to 
technical rules governing the Low Power FM (LPFM) service in order to 
improve LPFM reception and increase flexibility in transmitter siting 
while maintaining interference protection and the core LPFM goals of 
diversity and localism. The Order also restores text that was 
inadvertently deleted from an existing LPFM rule.
    2. The Commission proposed to modify the LPFM technical rules in a 
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking published at 84 FR 49205 (Sept. 19, 
2019). It adopted revised technical rules in a Report and Order 
published at 85 FR 35567 (June 11, 2020). The Commission established 
that the revisions would apply prospectively, i.e., to applications for 
which no decision had yet issued as of the rules' effective date. The 
goal of the revisions was to provide LPFM stations with greater 
flexibility, to improve their service, and to remove regulatory 
burdens.
    3. Petitions for Reconsideration. The Commission received two 
petitions for reconsideration. One petition sought further revisions of 
the LPFM rules to increase maximum power, eliminate certain testing 
requirements for directional antennas, and revise a requirement that 
LPFM stations use equipment that has been certified for LPFM use. 
Another petition asked the Commission to extend the new rules to cases 
decided under former rules if the decision was not yet final when the 
new rules took effect. The Order dismisses and/or denies these 
petitions consistent with the Commission's goal of keeping LPFM 
requirements simple and accessible in order to facilitate construction 
and operation of community-oriented noncommercial stations by 
organizations with limited expertise and small budgets.
    4. Restoration of Inadvertently Deleted Language. The Order takes 
the opportunity to correct an error that occurred when the Commission 
amended the Rules to permit LPFM stations to retransmit their signals 
over co-owned FM booster stations. In making ancillary changes to add 
the concept of LPFM boosters to existing rules governing booster use in 
other services, the Commission inadvertently deleted three words (``or 
FM translator'') from the existing language in section 74.1263(b) of 
the Rules. The Order includes a rule revision to restore that language. 
Because the deletion of FM translators from the scope of the rule in 
question was clearly inadvertent and correcting this error is 
noncontroversial, the Order finds that the notice and comment 
procedures of the

[[Page 37061]]

Administrative Procedure Act would serve no useful purpose and are 
therefore unnecessary.

Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

    5. The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980, as amended (RFA), see 5 
U.S.C. 603 and amended by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement 
Fairness Act of 1996 (SBREFA), Public Law 104-121, Title II, 110 Stat. 
847 (1996), requires that a regulatory flexibility analysis be prepared 
for notice-and-comment rule making proceedings, unless the agency 
certifies that ``the rule will not, if promulgated, have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.'' 5 U.S.C. 
605(b). The RFA generally defines the term ``small entity'' as having 
the same meaning as the terms ``small business,'' ``small 
organization,'' and ``small governmental jurisdiction.'' 5 U.S.C. 
601(6); See 5 U.S.C. 601(3) (incorporating by reference the definition 
of ``small-business concern'' in 15 U.S.C. 632). Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 
601(3), the statutory definition of a small business applies ``unless 
an agency, after consultation with the Office of Advocacy of the Small 
Business Administration and after opportunity for public comment, 
establishes one or more definitions of such term which are appropriate 
to the activities of the agency and publishes such definition(s) in the 
Federal Register.'' 5 U.S.C. 601(3). In addition, the term ``small 
business'' has the same meaning as the term ``small business concern'' 
under the Small Business Act. 15 U.S.C. 632. A small business concern 
is one which: (1) Is independently owned and operated; (2) is not 
dominant in its field of operation; and (3) satisfies any additional 
criteria established by the SBA. See 5 U.S.C. 601-612.
    6. This Order on Reconsideration disposes of petitions for 
reconsideration in MB Docket Nos. 19-193 and 17-105 without making any 
resulting rule changes. The only rule change made in the Order on 
Reconsideration merely reinserts a phrase that the NPRM and Order 
inadvertently deleted. Because this rule change does not require notice 
and comment, the Regulatory Flexibility Act does not apply. Id. 601(2). 
In the Order in this proceeding, the Commission issued a Final 
Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (FRFA) that conforms to the RFA, as 
amended. Order, 35 FCC Rcd at 4149, Appendix C. The Commission received 
no petitions for reconsideration of that FRFA. This Order on 
Reconsideration does not alter the Commission's previous analysis under 
the RFA.
    7. Congressional Review Act. The Commission will send a copy of 
this Order on Reconsideration to Congress and the Government 
Accountability Office pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A).

Ordering Clauses

    8. Accordingly, it is ordered that, pursuant to the authority 
contained in sections 1, 4(i), 4(j), 301, 303, 307, 308, 309, 316, and 
319 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. 151, 
154(i), 154(j), 301, 303, 307, 308, 309, 316, and 319, as well as the 
Local Community Radio Act of 2010, Public Law 111-371, 124 Stat. 4072 
(2011), and the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B), this 
Order on Reconsideration is adopted.
    9. It is further ordered that the Petition for Reconsideration 
filed by Todd Urick, Todd Urick (Common Frequency) and Paul Bame 
(Prometheus Radio Project) along with Peter Gray (KFZR-LP), Makeda 
Dread Cheatom (KVIB-LP), Brad Johnson (KGIG-LP), David Stepanyuk (KIEV-
LP), and Andy Hansen-Smith (KCFZ-LP) is dismissed in part and denied in 
part.
    10. It is further ordered that the Petition for Reconsideration 
filed by Foundation for a Beautiful Life is dismissed and in the 
alternative is denied.
    11. It is further ordered that, effective 30 days after publication 
in the Federal Register, 47 CFR 74.1263(b) is amended as specified in 
Appendix A of the Order.
    12. It is further ordered that the Commission shall send a copy of 
this Order on Reconsideration in a report to be sent to Congress and 
the Government Accountability Office pursuant to the Congressional 
Review Act, see 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A).

List of Subjects in 47 CFR Part 74

    FM broadcast booster station, LPFM booster, Time of operation, 
Station identification.

Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene Dortch,
Secretary.

Final Rules

    For the reasons stated in the preamble, the Federal Communications 
Commission amends 47 CFR part 74 as follows:

PART 74--EXPERIMENTAL RADIO, AUXILIARY, SPECIAL BROADCAST AND OTHER 
PROGRAM DISTRIBUTIONAL SERVICES

0
1. The authority citation for part 74 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  47 U.S.C. 154, 302a, 303, 307, 309, 310, 336, and 
554.


0
2. Amend Sec.  74.1263 by revising paragraph (b) to read as follows:


Sec.  74.1263  Time of operation.

* * * * *
    (b) An FM booster or FM Translator station rebroadcasting the 
signal of an AM, FM or LPFM primary station shall not be permitted to 
radiate during extended periods when signals of the primary station are 
not being retransmitted. Notwithstanding the foregoing, FM translators 
rebroadcasting Class D AM stations may continue to operate during 
nighttime hours only if the AM station has operated within the last 24 
hours.
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[FR Doc. 2021-14336 Filed 7-13-21; 8:45 am]
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