McCain has been a longtime proponent of low-power radio stations and has fought against increasing media consolidation rules.

The new legislation (PDF) seeks to undo an appropriations rider passed in December 2000 by Congress, which was persuaded by large commercial broadcasters that local radio would likely interfere with their radio signals. Congress directed the Federal Communications Commission not to grant licenses until the FCC studied interference issues.

In February, the FCC told Congress that an independent study conducted by MITRE Corp. found that low-power stations "do not pose a significant risk of causing interference to existing full-service FM stations."

In response to the finding, McCain drafted the Low Power Radio Act of 2004, which would lift congressional "third-adjacent minimum distance requirements."

Those rules say that if there is an existing radio station at 91.3 on the FM dial, no new radio station can be established at 90.7 or 91.9 within 90 kilometers. These restrictions have made it impossible for any low-power station to be licensed in any of the top-50 radio markets, said Pete Tridish, technical director for the Prometheus Radio Project, a nonprofit group dedicated to low-power radio.

Under the proposed rules, both of those frequencies would be available for low-power stations.

Community radio activists hope the bill will eventually lead to a flowering of small broadcasters in urban areas where the radio spectrum is dominated by large commercial stations. [Wired News] Results from the referenced study ordered by Congress are here:

As predicted by the FCC and myriad LPFM advocates, only small zones of interference directly around the transmitter site of the LPFM were found.

• No significant LPFM-related degradation to a full power station's signal was ever identified at more than 333 meters from an LPFM transmitter.
• New digital radio channels and Radio Reading Services To The Blind were tested, and no significant problems were found.
• Despite public notices and a 1-800 number, there were no complaints from the public related to any low power radio test site.
• In the very worst case found, .0013 of receivers in the service area of a full power station could be affected. As the report stated, "In most cases, this fraction is orders of magnitude smaller."

The reason LPFM in urban areas would be such an important breakthrough is that urban areas ARE WHERE THE PEOPLE ARE.