REC 2022 Annual Report on LPFM station counts and segmentation.

Mon, 01/02/2023 - 14:55

REC Networks provides an end of year "annual report" on the current count and organizational segment makeup of the Low Power FM (LPFM) broadcast service. The number of LPFM stations are currently declining. The main reasons for the past year's declines can be attributed to a few factors including stations that did not renew their licenses as well as organizations that are divesting their LPFM stations as a result of a granted construction permit in the 2021 NCE FM Filing Window. The following data is a snapshot that is based as of end of business on December 30, 2022 (the last business day in 2022).

LPFM Station Count

As of December 31, 2022, there are currently 2,016 LPFM stations that are either licensed or licensed but silent. Of those stations, 636 were originally authorized as a result of the First Generation LPFM Window Series in 2000 and 2001. The remaining 1,380 stations were originally authorized in the Second Generation LPFM Window in 2013.

Silent Stations

There are currently 15 silent stations from the First Generation and 29 from the Second Generation filing windows making a total of 44 LPFM stations reported as silent and therefore, there are 1,972 stations reported as on the air.

License Cancellations

In 2022, there were 19 license cancellations from the First Generation and 30 from the Second Generation Filing Windows making a total of 49 cancellations. By comparison, in 2021, there were 28 cancellations from the First Generation and 39 from the Second Generation making a total of 67 cancellations. The reasons for the cancellations in 2022 are shown as set forth:

Reason	Stations
Licensee requested cancellation of license	20
Failure to file a renewal application	14
§312(g) Failure to broadcast signals for at least 365 consecutive days	10
Cancelled to commence program test on 2021 NCE Window station	3
License Revocation	1
No reason specified	1

Who owns LPFM stations

As LPFM is a utility service, there is no one stereotypical LPFM station type. Using the REC "6-Segment" approach, we have subdivided all LPFM licensees into one of six primary categories and then we may further break them down within each of those 6 segments based on the type of organization they are or in some cases, the programming that they carry.

To determine which segment a licensee is in, we look at the educational statements that the licensee provided when applying for the station or as part of an assignment of license application. REC will only change the licensee's top-level segment when the licensee organization is changed through assignment and only if the assignment was consummated.

Community Organizations

This segment is the one that is most misunderstood by some as many consider LPFM to be a "community radio" service. Since the segments are based on the organization before starting an LPFM station, we limit this segment to those organizations that were involved with providing information and support to the community at large without a specific mission to focus support on any specific portion of the community, such as based on race, national origin or other demographic factors. Organizations that fall into this segment can include chambers of commerce, public access television providers, publishers including independent media centers, neighborhood associations, homeowner associations, community improvement organizations, etc. We must make it clear that any station in any segment has the capability of providing what can be considered as "community radio".

Public Sector

This segment includes state, county, tribal and local governments as well as districts and authorities (such as transit districts). It does not include public school districts or university systems. It also includes non-government organizations that are under contract, compact or tariff to provide services to the general public including volunteer fire departments and rural electric cooperatives.

Broadcast Organizations

For 2022, we have renamed this segment from "Micro Radio" to "Broadcast Organizations" based on constituent feedback and to better reflect the new organizations that are being established in order to better reflect the groups that are operating the stations in this segment.

Organizations in this segment include groups of people who formed a nonprofit organization for the original purpose of operating the LPFM station. This includes individuals and small groups of people who form these organizations in what is also referred to as "micro radio". This segment also includes separate organizations that are formed as an offshoot of a cause-based or other secular organization to split off the broadcast operations from the "host" organization in order to be self-governing. There are a considerable number of these types of organizations due to the FCC rules which gives favored status to well established nonprofit organizations with a local presence. In the latter case, the original licensee organization assigns the license to the newly formed broadcast organization.

Cause-based Organizations

These are organizations that were originally formed for purposes other than FM broadcasting and provide community services, support, education and advocacy for a specific cause such as race, national origin, other demographic factors, political preferences and other interests, such as the arts. Cause-based organizations may use their LPFM stations as extensions of their existing educational programs.

Faith-based Organizations

This segment includes all religious organizations including churches, subdivisions of certain faiths, such as Catholic dioceses as well as ministries and other organizations with a faith-based mission. This includes faith-based organizations that are formed for the sole purpose of operating the station. This segment also includes educational institutions that are operated by faith-based organizations. REC found that this distinctive segment was necessary in order to demonstrate the ratio of faith-based versus secular organizations that own LPFM stations.

Secular Educational

This segment includes all educational institutions, both public and private that are not operated by a faith-based organization. This includes all grade levels from kindergarten to college. Some secular educational stations are actually operated by and for the students.

Other Stations

A small number of stations were not placed in the six segments. This was due to the questionable organizations that these stations are licensed to. This can include stations that were the product of the speculative mass filings by a small number of persons in the 2013 Filing Window.

Total count of LPFM stations by segment

First Generation Stations were those originally applied for in 2000 and 2001 and Second Generation Stations were those originally applied for in 2013.

REC Top-Level LPFM Station Segment	First Generation Stations	Second Generation Stations	Total LPFM Stations	Percentage of Stations
Community Organizations – Organizations formed originally to provide some form of non-broadcast media to the public as well as organizations representing members of the public not specific to some cause.	13	53	66	3.3%
Public Sector – State, tribal, county, parish and local governments as well as non-government organizations in a public-private partnership (such as a operating contract).	33	43	76	3.8%
Broadcasting Organizations – Also referred to as "micro radio". Organizations that were formed for the sole purpose of operating an LPFM broadcast station.	108	317	425	21.1%
Cause-based Organizations – Secular organizations that were formed to provide some form of advocacy of a specific cause and subsequently entered into broadcasting in advancement of their educational program.	76	261	337	16.7%
Faith-based Organizations – Organizations operated by a church, ministry or other religious order including educational institutions.	352	618	970	48.1%
Secular Educational – Educational institutions from kindergarten to college including public institutions and private institutions that are not faith-based.	54	73	127	6.3%
Other Licensees – Organizations that were previously identified by REC as questionable in their organizational structure or station operation.	0	15	15	0.8%
Total Secular (All except Faith-based and Other Licensees)	284	762	1,031	51.1%

Comparison to previous reports on segments

Segment	2019	2020	Dec 2022
Community Organizations	56	64	66
Government	72	83	76
Broadcast Orgs/Microradio	424	457	425
Cause-based	330	348	337
Secular Educational	131	139	127
Total Secular	1,013	1,091	1,031
Total Faith-based	975	1,036	970
Status not assigned	46	0	0

Not all LPFM licensees had been given a segment assignment in 2019. This was resolved by 2020.

Sub-segments of LPFM organizations

In some cases, we have been able to provide "sub-segments" for LPFM licensees. These subsegments can determine the nature of their organization or in some cases, is able to classify a station based on the programming that they carry. In the latter case, we look mainly at faith-based organizations that carry national satellite networks. Sub-segments in Group 3 (Broadcast Organizations) can also be used to track suspected shadow owners (different organizations with different board members that are actually controlled by an undisclosed party) in order to circumvent the FCC's LPFM ownership rules. Stations not assigned to any specific sub-segment will receive the top level segment code assignment (100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600 or 700).

SEGMENT GROUP 1 – COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS

Segment Code	Segment Definition	First Generation Stations	Second Generation Stations
100	Community – not sub-segmented	8	25
110	Independent Media Center	1	3
120	Public Access TV	3	16
130	Neighborhood Associations	1	9

SEGMENT GROUP 2 – PUBLIC SECTOR

Segment Code	Segment Definition	First Generation Stations	Second Generation Stations
200	Public Sector – not sub-segmented	3	6
210	Local Government	4	17
211	Local Government-Traveler Information Station	1	3
220	County/Parish Government		6
221	County/Parish Govt-Traveler Information Station	8
230	State Government		1
231	State Government-Traveler Information Station	14
240	Tribal Government	3	9
254	Public-Private Partnership		1

SEGMENT GROUP 3 – BROADCASTING ORGANIZATIONS (MICRO RADIO)

Segment Code	Segment Definition	First Generation Stations	Second Generation Stations
300	Micro Radio – not sub-segmented	106	283
310	Single party non-profits		22
321	Possible shadow operation – 1	2	1
322	Possible shadow operation – 2		1
323	Possible shadow operation – 3		3
324	Possible shadow operation – 4		4
325	Possible shadow operation – 5		2
327	Possible shadow operation – 7		1

SEGMENT GROUP 4 – CAUSE BASED ORGANIZATIONS

Segment Code	Segment Definition	First Generation Stations	Second Generation Stations
400	Cause-based – not sub-segmented	64	174
409	Native American (not tribal govt.)		4
410	African American Organizations	5	16
420	Asian-Pacific Islander Organizations	1	2
421	Chinese Organizations		3
422	New Tang Dynasty/Sound of Hope/Falun Gong		12
423	Hmong Organizations	1
430	Hispanic Organizations	1	11
440	European (including Russian) Organizations		1
441	Slavic Organizations		1
460	Arts Organizations	2	17
461	Music Organizations	2	6
470	Environmental Organizations		4
480	Political Organizations		3
490	Social Justice Organizations		7

SEGMENT GROUP 5 – FAITH-BASED ORGANIZATIONS

Segment Code	Segment Definition	First Generation Stations	Second Generation Stations
500	Faith Based – not sub-segmented	177	244
501	Hispanic churches	22	112
510	Network programming		1
511	Calvary Satellite Network	1
512	Eternal Word TV Network	23	78
513	3 Angels Broadcasting Network	55	37
514	Radio 74 Internationale	18	21
515	Gospel Broadcasting Network / Truth-FM		12
516	Lifetalk Radio	28	19
517	Relevant Radio	5	2
520	Ministry		19
521	Hispanic ministries	3	15
560	Faith-based educational institutions	5	4
561	Faith-based educational student run	5	6
570	Faiths not based on Christianity		1
571	Islam		3
572	Judaism	1	2
580	Faith-based microstation	4	24
590	Faith-based with secular appeal programming	5	18

SEGMENT GROUP 6 – SECULAR EDUCATIONAL

Segment Code	Segment Definition	First Generation Stations	Second Generation Stations
600	Secular Educational – not sub-segmented	2	2
610	Public K-12	11	7
611	Public K-12 (School)	1	1
612	Public K-12 (District)	6	6
613	Public K-12 (Student Run)	8	16
620	Private K-12		1
623	Private K-12 (Student Run)		2
630	College/University	4	7
631	College/University (Student Run)	19	29
632	College/University (Not Student Run)	3	1
640	Tribal College or University		1

SEGMENT GROUP 7 – QUESTIONABLE OPERATIONS

Segment Code	Segment Definition	First Generation Stations	Second Generation Stations
700	Station of questionable control and operation.		15

Assignments of LPFM licenses

In this section, we track all applications filed by LPFM licensees in order to assign (transfer) their station to a different organization. The lists below show all assignment applications filed in 2021 and 2022 that were not dismissed. When the FCC grants an assignment application, they are merely giving consent for a transaction to take place between the assignor and assignee. Once the transaction is completed, the Assignor must file a Consummation Notice with the FCC. The new organization will not be evaluated until after a Consummation Notice has been filed.

2022 LPFM assignments

Call (-LP)	From	To	Status	Date	New Segment
WGON 124637	New Beginnings Church of Slidell, Inc.	First Pentecostal Church of Slidell	Consummated	09/15/22	500
WIAF 194243	Iglesia Antioquia de Cristo Ministerios Llamada Final	Reaching Heaven Ministries, LLC	Consummated	10/14/22	500
KVVO 134186	New Life Temple	Wildfire Global Church	Consummated	07/25/22	500
WWRI 193137	Marconi Bc. Found.	Arsan Bc. Found.	Consummated	11/18/22	430
WVQC 132345	Music Resource Center – Cincinnati	MRC Acquisition, LLC	Consummated	10/18/22	461
KMRW 196505	Cmty. Ed. R.	NWA Local Artist Media	Consummated	09/27/22	461
KVBM 135367	Killeen SDA Church Schoolk	Killeen Bc. Media Group, Inc.	Consummated	09/19/22	400
WMSZ 131603	Lighthouse Gospel Network	Mike Stewart Productions	Consummated	08/04/22	400
WYCO 192835	First St John's Evangelical Lutheran Church	WYCO1061, Inc.	Consummated	08/12/22	500
KWSF 192016	San Tan Educational Media	KWSF R.	Consummated	07/28/22	300
KZYS 194739	St. Cloud Area Somali Salvation Org.	Hayaan, Inc.	Consummated	11/16/22	410
KCPZ 193454	Concrete Truth Cmty. Network	Concrete Truth Praise, Inc.	Accepted for filing	12/27/22
KVHH 193457	Hope & Healing Ministries, Inc.	Chr. Voice Ministries, Inc.	Granted	12/23/22
KORC 197044	Uphill Media	Cmty. Airwaves	Granted	11/18/22
WMXR 195408	1Miami, Inc.	Vibe Cmty. R., Inc.	Consummated	10/27/22	300
WASQ 196746	Statesville LPFM R.	South River Baptist Church	Consummated	10/27/22	500
KWKI 191832	Talk R. of Pahrump, Inc.	MR Bc.	Consummated	12/27/22	300
KGPZ 133956	Calvary Chapel of Grants Pass	Sonsong Media	Pending	09/27/22
KTAH 194570	The Bridge, a ministry of the UMC	R. Tacoma	Accepted for filing	12/12/22
WCGF 197418	Calvary Bc., Inc.	Greer Chr. Radio, Inc.	Pending	11/28/22
KWRH 195749	Webster-Rock Hill Ministries	Motif Media Group	Pending	12/02/22
KSVG 197633	West Bakersfield HEFF	Bakersfield Cmty R.	Pending	12/08/22
KBFE 192328	Palabra de Fe	Iglesia Oasis de Vida Arvin	Pending	12/09/22
KWQA 195770	Chico Peace & Justice Ctr.	Maker Media	Accepted for filing	12/19/22
KWBR 123781	Assoc. of Cmty. Resources & News	Utah Multicultural R., Inc.	Pending	12/20/22

2021 LPFM assignments

Call (-LP)	From	To	Status	Date	New Segment
KORC 197044	Veterans for Peace, Chapter 132	Uphill Media	Consummated	04/26/21	400
KTAL 195571	Southwest Environmental Ctr.	Las Cruces Cmty. R.	Consummated	05/25/21	300
KUZU 195514	Denton Holiday Festival Assoc., inc.	Real Waves R. Network	Consummated	04/01/21	300
WJUI 196115	Amer. Ctr. for Civil Justice, Religious Liberty & Tolerance	Amer. Ctr. for Civil Justice, Inc.	Consummated	08/03/21	400
WOMM 135702	Peace & Justice Ctr.	The Big Heavy World Found., Inc.	Consummated	08/23/21	400
KZLD 192961	Sanacion de Familia	Iglesia Fe y Amor de Dios, Inc.	Consummated	04/01/21	501
KRQP 194985	Texas Youth Org.	Nueva Vida/New Life Assembly, Inc.	Granted	07/22/21
WFMP 192511	Fellowship of Reconciliation, Louisville Chapter, Inc.	WFMP Low Power R. Inc.	Consummated	04/19/21	300
KSXM 196439	Salem Progressive Film Series	Salem Moon Music	Consummated	08/30/21	460
WPBV 197649	WPBV-FM, Inc.	Coastal Frequencies, Inc.	Consummated	07/21/21	512
KVWJ 192651	Hyrum City Corp.	Alumni Records, Inc.	Consummated	05/28/21	300
KYQT 195722	Tool Shed PDX	Friends of Portland Cmty. R.	Consummated	03/28/22	300
KICN 196547	Opal Environmental Justice Oregon	Vector Comm.	Accepted for Filing	06/09/22
WHTR 194644	Tipton-Rosemark Academy, Inc.	Hare, Inc.	Consummated	08/31/21	400
WLLJ 194145	Get A Life Found., Inc.	R. 1077 WLLJ, Inc.	Consummated	02/22/22	580
KFFI 197572	S. Boise HEFF	Vivo Latino	Consummated	07/12/22	400
WKYW 195768	Mineral Co. Historical Soc., Inc.	Mineral Co. Travel, Tourism, Convention & Visitors Bureau Ltd.	Consummated	08/25/21	100
WVDV 134104	Ministerio Radial Cristiano de Sebring, Inc.	Highlands Co. Cmty. Bc., Inc.	Consummated	05/13/22	300
KFSL 134334	Fossil Sch. Dist. 21J	Wheeler Co. Bc. Assoc.	Consummated	09/22/21	300
WWGL 191770	Cmty. of God's Love	Daughters of Holy Mary of the Heart of Jesus	Granted	08/06/21
KXOK 193384	Int. Inst. of Metropolitan St. Louis	R. St. Louis	Consummated	12/07/21	300
KLDI 195591	Dream Ahead Empowerment Initiative	United Women of San Joaquin Co.	Consummated	09/02/22	400
KRYZ 195075	Chrysalis Inst.	Mariposa Cmty. R.	Consummated	10/31/22	300

Report prepared by:
Michelle Bradley, CBT
REC Networks
202 621-2355
lpfm@recnet.com
https://recnet.com

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