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Speaker 1: from how Stuff works dot com where smart Happens. Hi,
Speaker 1: I'm Marshall Brain with today's question. What is low power
Speaker 1: FM or LPFM? A normal FM station transmits at thousands
Speaker 1: of wats. This level of power means that the station
Speaker 1: needs lots of expensive transmitting equipment as well as a
Speaker 1: fairly substantial antenna. It might cost in the range of
Speaker 1: a million dollars to get a basic FM station on
Speaker 1: the air at this level of power, and it can
Speaker 1: cover an entire urban area. That level of investment has
Speaker 1: several side effects. First, only a business entity or an
Speaker 1: extremely wealthy individual can afford to create an FM station,
Speaker 1: and the station must of necessity be driven by business
Speaker 1: logic in order to cover the high operating costs. This
Speaker 1: limits creativity and makes it hard for small organizations or
Speaker 1: individuals to get airtime. The LPFM station is designed to
Speaker 1: let individuals and small organizations own and operate radio stations
Speaker 1: for a wide variety of not for profit reasons. In
Speaker 1: this sense, the FCC is trying to bring station creation
Speaker 1: closer to normal people, in the same way that anyone
Speaker 1: can create a web page. It's not quite that simple,
Speaker 1: but at least they're headed in the right direction. An
Speaker 1: LPFM station is a ten watt or a hundred watt transmitter.
Speaker 1: This level of power gives the station a range of
Speaker 1: approximately three and a half miles or five point six kilometers.
Speaker 1: A transmitter this size and its antenna might cost two
Speaker 1: thousand to five thousand bucks. In a city, the range
Speaker 1: of an LPFM transmitter can encompass lots of people, and
Speaker 1: it can completely cover an entire neighborhood or community area.
Speaker 1: The owner operators of low power FM stations could include,
Speaker 1: among others, religious groups, local neighborhoods, amusement parks, PTA sponsored
Speaker 1: school stations, ethnic organizations, racetrack pit areas, universities too new
Speaker 1: or previously unable to get a full power license, movie
Speaker 1: theater schedule information, interstate highway rest stops, high schools, and
Speaker 1: so on. Information about low power FM radio stations is
Speaker 1: available on the FCC website. Do you have any ideas
Speaker 1: or suggestions for this podcast? If so, please send me
Speaker 1: an email at podcast at how stuff works dot com.
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