What is low-power FM LPFM?
A normal FM station transmits at thousands of watts. This level of power means that the station needs lots of expensive transmitting equipment, as well as a fairly substantial antenna. It might cost in the range of a million dollars to get a basic FM station on the air at this level of power, and it can cover an entire urban area. That level of investment has several side effects. First, only a business entity or an extremely wealthy individual can afford to create an FM station, and the station must, of necessity, be driven by business logic in order to cover the high operating costs. This limits creativity and makes it difficult for small organizations or individuals to get air time. The LPFM station is designed to let individuals and small organizations own and operate radio stations for a wide variety of not-for-profit reasons. In this sense, the FCC is trying to bring station creation closer to normal people — in the same way that anyone can create a Web page . It’s not quite tha
