Minnesota Public Radio
Position on Low-Power FM
November 9, 2000

Minnesota Public Radio supports the goal of increasing the diversity of voices on the nation's airwaves through the addition of Low-Power FM radio stations. MPR believes these stations provide a complementary non-commercial service for the listening public. MPR has great concerns over the largely untested change in radio signal interference standards. Those decades-old standards were designed to protect the listening public from unwanted interference from other broadcast signals.

Minnesota Public Radio supports legislation passed by the United States Congress to address those concerns by licensing LPFM radio stations, using existing interference standards with mandated independent field tests on the proposed change in interference standards. Minnesota Public Radio also supports the effort of the International Association of Audio Information Services (IAAIS) and its Freedom of Information Act request to get release of information on field tests already performed by the FCC.

Minnesota Public Radio is proud of its role in establishing, in cooperation with the Minnesota Services for the Blind, The Radio Talking Book, a reading service for the blind and visually impaired. Without adequate interference protections, this important service would be adversely impacted.