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S 2540 108th Congress Senate

Educational Radio Protection Act

Official title: A bill to protect educational FM radio stations providing public service broadcasting from commercial encroachment.

Introduced: June 17, 2004 Introduced by: Cantwell, Maria Democratic · Washington See on congress.gov
Science, Technology, Communications Administrative procedureAdministrative remediesCollegesEducation
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Federal Communications CommissionGovernment Operations and PoliticsGovernment publicityHigher educationIndependent regulatory commissionsLawLicensesRadio broadcastingRadio spectrum allocationRadio stations
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This bill died when the 108th Congress ended
It never became law before the 108th Congress (2003–2004) adjourned, and bills don't carry over to the next Congress. It would have to be reintroduced. You can still save it for reference, but it won't receive updates.
 Everywhere this bill has been 3 steps
Introduced
In committee
Reported out
Passed House
Passed Senate
To President
Became law
Jun 17, 2004
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Jun 17, 2004
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR 6/18/2004 S7009-7010)
Jun 17, 2004
Introduced in Senate
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 Latest action June 17, 2004

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

 Plain-English summary Congressional Research Service

Educational Radio Protection Act - States that a qualifying educational FM radio station is entitled, upon application by the station's licensee, to: (1) have its license be subject to the same license terms and renewal standards (other than fees) as licenses for full-power class A FM radio stations; and (2) have its licensee accorded primary status as a radio broadcaster so long as the station remains a qualifying FM radio station.

Requires the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to provide written notice of the provisions of this Act to specified licensees of Class D FM radio stations.

Prohibits the FCC from awarding or assigning to commercial FM radio stations any portion of the radio spectrum assigned to qualifying educational FM radio stations for which an application is submitted within one year of enactment of this Act and approved.

Requires the FCC to restore to educational stations whose applications are successful and not subject to appeal any portion of educational station spectrum previously awarded to commercial stations if the previous award occurred after April 30, 2004, and before the educational station's application was approved.

 Bill text 1 version

Source documents hosted by congress.gov.

 Committees of jurisdiction 1
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APA
U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 2540: Educational Radio Protection Act. 108th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/108-S-2540/
MLA
"S. 2540: Educational Radio Protection Act." 108th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/108-S-2540/.
Bluebook (legal)
S. 2540, 108th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/108-S-2540/.
Markdown link
[S. 2540: Educational Radio Protection Act](https://openamerica.io/bill/108-S-2540/)
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