The President has signed the reconciled bill into law, it will be published in the national register. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski promises “swift action” to get the new rules in place. If this law leads to a bunch of new, live local community radio stations springing up across the country then it is a welcome thing. With all the rumbling in Congress about cutting public radio funding, LPFM may have some big shoes to fill. I have to admit, that I am generally a supporter of public radio, however, they have gotten off track (full of themselves) in the last few years.
There are many different requirements placed on the FCC by the LCRA to thread the LPFM needle around translators and full-power FM stations, so it may take a little time to craft new LPFM rules, however, I’d expect to see a filing window sometime in 2011.
If you are considering an LPFM station and are eligible for a license, take a peek at Prometheus Radio Project, which has a wealth of information about LPFM station building.
If you need a good engineer to file paperwork, specify equipment, consult about transmitter locations, towers, antennas, and so forth, drop me a line. You can find my info and contact information in the About section.
A NPRM probably will be coming out during 2011. I think that this will be only non-commercial or non-profit, so it will probably be another sandwich job to the existing spectrum allocation. Now if they really were thinking, a band expansion along with a niche for these guys I believe might please everybody.