What is a Microbroadcaster?

You may hear it a lot in the news.  But do you really know what the term means?  “Microbroadcasting” refers to FM or AM radio transmissions with a power of less than 100 watts.  (Just for reference, WCCO broadcasts with 50,000 watts of power, and 93X broadcasts with twice that much.) Microbroadcasting usually serves a town or community which doesn’t hear what it wants on commercial radio.  A 100-watt FM signal will travel approximately 20 miles, while a 100-watt AM signal can typically be heard for 30 miles; however, most microbroadcasts fall in the range of 15-30 watts, with an audible range of 10-12 miles.

There’s only one problem.  AM or FM microbroadcasts with power greater than 1/4 watt are illegal, and the Federal Communications Commission will only license FM or AM broadcasters with a power of 100 watts or above.  Even simple 100-watt transmitting equipment can cost upward of $25,000, and the FCC also charges a $10,000 yearly licensing fee.

This raises some serious issues.  The airwaves have been defined as public domain, and a large part of the public cannot afford to shell out $10,000 per year to take part in what is rightly theirs.  Some argue that “public domain” refers to CB (citizens’ band) and ham radio.  However, the fact remains that only one of ten American households has a CB receiver, whereas market penetration for AM/FM radio is an amazing 98%.

Microbroadcasting takes on an even greater significance when one considers the Telecommunications Act of 1996.  This piece of legislation removed limits on the number of radio stations one person or company could own.  Corporations began buying up massive blocks of the airwaves; Chancellor Media, which owns KDWB and K-102 here in Minneapolis, owns 492 radio stations nationwide.  As corporations took over, much innovative programming was lost in the quest for ever-higher ratings; station after station began wooing America’s largest demographic, the “yuppie” and baby-boom generations, with adult-contemporary programming.  While government deregulation has proven beneficial for most businesses, it isn’t ideal for a business with such a limited spectrum as radio.  In other words, there are only so many stations which can fit on the dial - it’s not like the newspaper business, where a new venture can always be started.  In radio, it’s actually possible for one person to own everything.

The effects of the Telecommunications Act were felt in Minnesota in March, 1997, when Revolution Radio, a locally owned alternative station, was bought out by the Disney Corporation.  Revolution Radio was unique in that it followed a primarily modern-rock, punk and ska format but was still able to, as they put it, “support musical diversity” by playing lesser-known and local artists, as well as everything from Metallica to James Brown and Diana Ross.  The extremely friendly and knowledgeable DJ’s, myriad specialty programs and community and charity activism made for a station with some real personality.

When metro-area radio station ownership was divided among several companies, competition was encouraged.  If a company wanted to keep its listeners, its programming had to be interesting.  Now that one company can own an unlimited number of stations, listeners have to take what they can get. To paraphrase the movie Caddyshack, “You’ll get the same thing over and over and LIKE it, Spaulding!”   ZONE 105, which took the place of Revolution Radio, seems to throw the Top 20 compact discs into its stereo and just let them play, and all the disc jockeys do is say “We’re giving away this or that” or “That was the new song by so-and-so.”  Since advertisers are still willing to shell out their money to such a station, the personality and the music have taken a backseat.

For a similar reason, stations owned by massive corporate conglomerates are much less likely to air community programming.  Minneapolis’ Hmong community, for instance, includes perhaps five or ten thousand people, a puny audience if you’re trying to sell a product over the airwaves. The humanity of many ethnic and musical communities, as well as their desires to hear their cultures over the airwaves, are being stomped out in the name of greater profits.

There are two possible solutions to this problem.  One is to forbid corporate ownership of radio stations, and the other is for the government to set aside more “numbers” for AM and FM radio, reinstate fair limits on the number of stations which can be owned in one city by one entity, and license microbroadcasters.  The first solution is every bit as un-American as the current lack of radio diversity.  The second solution seems to be the ticket - advertisers and corporations will still be able to make their money, and more people will have a voice.

Even licensing of ten-watt stations - which can be heard for roughly six miles - would be a victory for diversity.  Microstations could be allowed to apply for a license on any open frequency, with the same technical and safety responsibilities as larger stations.  Alternately, five or six frequencies could be set aside for microbroadcasters.  This is all that would be necessary - by the very nature of their small size, microbroadcasting stations could be closer together and not interfere with one another, and it’s highly unlikely that more than a few individuals or groups in a given area would want to take the initiative and set up a station.  If there were any conflict, broadcasters could get together and set up agreements for the scheduling and use of certain frequencies, since many micro-stations don’t broadcast 24 hours a day anyway.