FM radio spectrum allocation : the history and chronology of changes in FCC policy, procedures and rulemakings

The purpose of this study is to consolidate the historical development and evolution of FM radio to date. This is not, nor is it intended to be a technical or engineering paper, and will only deal with the most fundamental principles of Frequency Modulation technology. As a practicing broadcaster for over 25 years, the author has been a participant-observer of many of changes that have taken place in the medium and the spectrum. This study strives to chronicle and illustrate cause and effect relationships of the Federal Communication Commission's policies, procedures and rulemakings on commercial FM radio. The author looks at the era of deregulation within the FCC and the movement from a "trusteeship" model of spectrum allocation and regulation to a "market system" or "print model". In this new regulatory environment, broadcasters in general and FM station owners and operators in particular became less regulated and more dependent upon the unseen and often unpredictable forces of supply and demand that now influence their fortunes and destiny. This study reports on FCC Docket 80-90, the rulemaking proceeding that altered forever the landscape of FM radio, and the numerous subsequent changes in the FCC's radio ownership and operation policy that have taken place during the 1980s and up to November 1993. As a participant-observer and applicant for an FM broadcast license under the Docket 80-90 plan, the author has drawn from his personal experience on the subject of FM spectrum allocation, and how the FCC functions. This thesis explores the rationale for and the effectiveness of the FCC's 80-90 rule in order to learn what role it may have played in radio's economic problems of the 1988-92 period. The overriding question is: Has the FCC's Docket 80-90 rule been beneficial for the radio broadcast industry? While the FCC's objectives for 80-90 have been met, the research concludes that a mixed bag of answers and conclusions are reached from this and other subordinate questions that contribute to the understanding of the issues posed by the FCC's Docket 80-90 rule. Had it not been for the excessive optimism in FM radio fortunes being followed by a recessionary economy. Docket 80-90 might never have been second guessed.