27Jan99 USA: MICRORADIO TO ALLOW THOUSANDS OF NEW SMALL STATIONS

By Aaron Pressman

WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - When Federal regulators shut down the student-run radio station at the University of Wisconsin's giant Madison campus in 1993, the school's radio jocks decided to go legit and get a proper license from the Federal Communications Commission.

But almost six years later and long after securing an FCC license, the campus airwaves remain silent. To meet the FCC's minimum requirements and avoid interference with other stations, the school had to build a huge tower and neighbors filed a lawsuit to block construction.

"We don't want to pick a fight," said Dave Black, general manager of the school's would-be radio station. "If there was a lower power alternative it would release us from some of these requirements and we wouldn't need the big tower."

And with more and more radio stations falling into the hands of a few mega-broadcasting companies, Wisconsin undergrads are hardly the only would-be radio broadcasters thwarted by current FCC rules.

Hundreds of churches, small town governments and budding radio entrepreneurs would love to go on the air but lack the money to build a full-power station or find their local airwaves already jammed to capacity.

To ease the crunch, the FCC on Thursday will propose a new class of "micro" FM radio stations operating at 1,000 watts or less, compared to the current minimum license of 6,000 watts. (The agency sometimes makes exceptions and approves lower power stations, but only if a station could theoretically boost its power to 6,000 watts and still not cause interference.)

Higher power boosts the distance a station's signals travel but also boosts the expense of buying equipment and increases the chance of interfering with near-by outlets.

FCC officials promise micro stations will be much cheaper to set up and run than existing stations while still reaching people in a 20 mile or less diameter. Even a tiny one watt station can reach listeners in a two mile diameter.

That's music to the ears of small town high school principal Kevin McGaughey.

There are no local radio station in Brookland, Arkansas - population 1,100.

McGaughey, who majored in communications, wanted to start a station at his school to give the students a way to pick up broadcasting skills and also serve the community by airing local news and information.

"There are kids who don't have an interest in band or sports and this might just get their interest," McGaughey said. "And it would not only allow kids to learn about broadcasting but also be a good community service."

Thrilled by the FCC's upcoming proposal, McGaughey and other have formed a group called the Low Power Radio Coalition to show support for micro radio.

FCC chairman William Kennard, who specialized in broadcast law before coming to the agency, has championed micro radio as a way of broadening the spectrum of viewpoints on the air and getting more women and minorities into the industry as well.

The FCC will take comments on its proposal before considering a final micro radio plan, a process that could take anywhere from a few months to a year or more.

And the plan will be opposed by the broadcasting industry, which says a plethora of small, new stations are unneeded and likely to cause interference with larger stations.

"We don't support the idea," said Dennis Wharton, spokesman for the National Association of Broadcasters. "Shoe-horning thousands of additional radio stations into an already crowded airwaves will result in more interference and less service for radio listeners."

The FCC will review comments on the interference issue and could scale back the plan, but with its own engineers backing the proposal and strong support from the chairman, micro radio boosters are optimistic.

"We think we can work together to come up with a model that works," said Michael Bracy, executive director of the low power coalition. "There are engineering questions but they don't really go to the potential benefits."

((Aaron Pressman, Washington newsroom, 202-898-8312))