Issues
Low Power Radio
PRESS RELEASE:
November 15, 1999
Does This Sound Right?
NAB Study "Proves" Most Radios Don't Work
On Monday, Nov. 15, 1999 a coalition
of national religious organizations released a technical analysis
demonstrating that a National Association of Broadcasters (NAB)
study previously submitted to the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) does not stand up under scrutiny. Similar criticisms are
applicable to another study submitted by the Consumer Electronics
Manufacturers Association (CEMA).
The NAB filed its technical study
to show that low power radio will harm current radio broadcasts.
In an extreme effort to demonstrate potential harm, the NAB purported
to demonstrate that at least half of all radios used by Americans
today cannot adequately receive radio station broadcasts.
"Obviously, most consumers
today are pleased with their radios, and therefore, arguments
based on the inadequacy of current radio receivers just do not
fly" stated Cheryl A. Leanza, Deputy Director of the Media
Access Project. "Only if they claim that radios do not perform
well currently can incumbent broadcasters claim that radios will
not perform after the introduction of low power radio."
The NAB's study took several
steps designed to overestimate the potential interference to
current radio broadcasts:
The NAB tested radios that were
doomed to fail -- they selected radios that did not meet their
own performance standards in the absence of new low power radio
stations or other interference.
The NAB produced maps of potential
interference based on a radio that does not exist.
The Consumer Electronics Manufacturers
Association tested a sample of radios that was not representative
of the radios in use today, according to its own data.
The NAB inflated the number of
listeners who would experience interference by double, triple,
and quadruple counting individuals.
The coalition of religious organizations,
led by the United Church of Christ, Office of Communication,
Inc., (UCC) hired a nationally-prominent professor of radio propagation,
Dr. Theodore Rappaport of Virginia Tech [background information
attached] to address the technical issues under consideration
at the FCC. Dr. Rappaport undertook a rigorous review of the
technical documents submitted to the FCC by LPFM opponents in
August.
The UCC technical study concludes
that at least 600 low power radio stations of 100 or fewer watts
can be deployed throughout the United States without harming
current radio broadcasts.
Dr. Rappaport also concluded
on behalf of UCC that many hundreds of thousands of individuals
will be served by these new low power radio stations, while only
a small handful might experience interference. At most, 1.6 percent
of the listeners served will experience interference. And that
1.6 percent may be able to avoid any difficulty by repositioning
their radios.
Contact: Cheryl A. Leanza, Deputy Director,
Media Access Project, (202) 454-5683 (note new direct dial phone
number).
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