Local Community Radio Act of 2009
Official title: A bill to implement the recommendations of the Federal Communications Commission report to the Congress regarding low-power FM service.
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Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 310.
Local Community Radio Act of 2009 - Repeals provisions in the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2001 that required the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to: (1) modify rules authorizing the operation of low-power FM radio stations to prescribe minimum distance separations for third-adjacent channels; (2) prohibit applicants who have engaged in the unlicensed operation of any station from obtaining a low-power FM license; and (3) conduct a program to test whether low-power FM radio stations will result in harmful interference to existing FM radio stations if minimum distance separations for third-adjacent channels are not required.
Requires the FCC to modify the rules authorizing the operation of low-power FM radio stations, as proposed, to prohibit any applicant from obtaining a low-power FM license if the applicant has engaged in any manner in the unlicensed operation of a station.
Requires the FCC to modify its rules to eliminate third-adjacent minimum distance separation requirements between specified FM stations.
Requires the FCC to retain rules that provide third-adjacent channel protection for full-power noncommercial FM stations that broadcast radio reading services via a subcarrier frequency from potential low-power FM station interference.
Requires the FCC, when licensing FM translator stations, to ensure that: (1) licenses are available to both FM translator stations and low-power FM stations; and (2) such decisions are made based on the needs of the local community.
Requires the FCC to conduct an economic study on the impact that low-power FM stations will have on full-power commercial FM stations.
Requires the FCC to retain its rules that provide third-adjacent channel protection for full-power FM stations that are licensed in significantly populated states with more than three million housing units and a population density greater than 1,000 per square mile land area.
- Introduced in Senate Formatted Text PDF
- Reported to Senate Formatted Text PDF
Cite this page
U.S. Congress. (2026). S. 592: Local Community Radio Act of 2009. 111th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/111-S-592/
"S. 592: Local Community Radio Act of 2009." 111th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/111-S-592/.
S. 592, 111th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/111-S-592/.
[S. 592: Local Community Radio Act of 2009](https://openamerica.io/bill/111-S-592/)