What is Low Power FM?  A History Lesson....

Several years ago, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed a new radio service to help serve small communities like ours.  It was hoped that it would create some diversity on the airwaves. The feeling was, since the Communications Act of 1996 had encouraged consolidation in the radio and TV industry, many  areas no longer had any radio programming that was truly local in nature. In short, the
communications giants had taken over. At least one of them own and operate well over 1000 stations. Many others owned literally hundreds of stations, often controlling most of the radio in a given market area.  Most of them format large numbers of their stations in a similar manner and even use the same announcers for all of them. This explains why you can hear the same morning show in several cities.  It saves money.

While there is quit a bit to be said for consolidation from an economic point of view, this trend made it nearly impossible for small broadcasters to survive or to remain integral parts of their respective communities. Most, but luckily not all, of the "mom and pop" radio station owners have either sold out to the conglomerates or they have resorted to purchasing their programming from syndications who deliver it by satellite. If you've ever wondered why the DJ tells you to call an 800 number to enter a contest, he isn't doing it to make your phone bill lower.  It's because he's in Los Angeles, Dallas,  New York or elsewhere. He's probably not in Longview or Tyler.  Technology has made programming this way very easy to do, and when properly done, it can sound very convincing.  While "voice tracking" and satellite services can actually result in improved programming, it also usually results in a lack of variety in many markets.  Truth be known in the Longview area, it has probably helped get a few formats on the air that otherwise wouldn't be here, but the trend hasn't been so positive in other areas of the country.  In an effort to restore at least a little local programming, LPFM was born.

It wasn't an easy birth.  Many existing broadcasters were much less than enthusiastic about the idea of more stations on the air that might possibly compete with them for listeners.   The powerful National Association of Broadcasting (NAB) lobbied long and hard against the establishment of this service. Their work was successful in making the idea of LPFM much less than it potentially could have been.  

The original proposal allowed qualified applicants to apply for power levels of up to 1000 watts on a 200 foot high tower.  That is enough power and antenna height to adequately cover a large city.  It still is a fraction of the power many stations run.  It's not unusual for "full power" broadcasters run in the 50,000 to 100,000 watt range on towers well over 1000 feet high. 1000 watts is nothing compared to these "flamethrowers" but even
so. 1000 watts is very workable.   

Thanks to the lobbying efforts of NAB and others, LPFM was cut down to the equivalent power level of 100 watts with an antenna height of 100 feet. This means if your antenna is more than 100 feet "height above average terrain," (HAAT) you get to run at an even lower wattage because your antenna height theoretically compensates for the lower transmitter power.   Whether that extremely low power level was necessary or
even a good idea remains to be seen.  It does explain why KZQX is hard to pick up as you drive around. When they called it "Low Power FM" they weren't kidding!

Also thanks to the NAB lobbyists, LPFM's are non-commercial in nature.  LPFM's can solicit  underwriting and run what are called "Enhanced Underwriting Announcements."  We can also ask for private contributions, sell memberships, and raise funds through non-broadcast activities.  That has backfired in an odd sort of way.  The lack of ten minute commercial breaks has actually made many LPFM stations, including KZQX, quite popular with listeners.  We do have an occasional underwriting announcements, and you will hear lots of public service announcements throughout our day, but these are fairly unobtrusive, and quite local in nature. In fact, they give us part of our charm.

KZQX Coverage Area. 

If you are within the blue circle, you should have little trouble picking us up. Past that, you will need a very good radio and and probably a directional outdoor antenna. Past the black  circle, you  will also need a lot of luck!
 

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The good news is thanks to our signal being rebroadcast on translators on 101.9 in Longview ,105.3 in Kilgore and 97.9 in Tyler, we aren't as hard to pickup as we used to be.  This map only reflects the coverage from our "mother station.'

We first heard about the possibility of establishing one of these radio stations about four years ago.   There were many hurdles and qualifications needed to apply.  Some were easy, some were not. The application "Filing Window" would be only five business days.  Five different Filing Windows were established for different states.  Texas was in the fourth filing window.  Chalk Hill Educational Media, Inc. applied for a license on the first day of the filing window, which was June 12, 2001.  All in all the FCC received nearly 5000 applications for these radio stations.  About 3900 of them were complete enough to be "Accepted for Filing."  The FCC is still working on all those applications. They took care of the straight-forward applications first.  Many of the others are multiple filings for the same frequency. Figuring out who is the most qualified applicant is a slow and laborious process. The guys at the FCC's LPFM department have our sympathy. They'll probably have job security for years.   (As of March 2006, the FCC has processed a bit over 97% of all LPFM applications.)

It took a little over a year of nervously waiting and watching for our Construction Permit to be issued.   We were the fifth station to be approved in Texas, and one of the first to actually get on the air on  September 22, 2002.  

The rest, as they say, is history.  Stay tuned....