{"id":48955,"date":"2020-03-23T22:30:03","date_gmt":"2020-03-24T05:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiosurvivor.com\/?p=48955"},"modified":"2020-03-23T22:30:06","modified_gmt":"2020-03-24T05:30:06","slug":"radio-field-report-legal-unlicensed-lpfm-in-new-zealand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.radiosurvivor.com\/2020\/03\/radio-field-report-legal-unlicensed-lpfm-in-new-zealand\/","title":{"rendered":"Radio Field Report: Legal Unlicensed LPFM in New Zealand"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Catching a low-power FM radio station in the wild in New Zealand requires a bit of luck. Permitted to broadcast with up to one watt of power without a license,<\/a> these stations have a bit more range \u2013 generally up to one kilometer radius (.6 miles) \u2013 than a legal unlicensed Part 15<\/a> station in the US, which might be heard up to a quarter-mile away. However, that\u2019s still not a big footprint, even when compared to licensed LPFMs stateside, which may broadcast with as much as 100x as the NZ stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One factor working in the listener\u2019s favor is that the country\u2019s LPFMs are consigned to a set of frequencies bookending the FM dial: 86.7 to 88.3 mHz on the left end and 106.7 to 107.7 MHz on the right end. When\u00a0I talked with Kristen Paterson<\/a>, station manager of Wellington Access Radio and a co-founder of a university LPFM, she conjectured that the top end LPFM band was set aside as a kind of buffer between full-power broadcasts and the air traffic band situated just north of FM.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the reason why they\u2019re relegated to the far-left and far-right ends of the FM dial, knowing this makes it a little easier to hunt for them. That said, during my time in the country in late January and early February, I could confirm reception of only two.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first catch was in Browns Bay, in the East Coast Bays area of Auckland, the country\u2019s largest city. I tuned in what I believe to be Great Tech Radio at 107.7 FM. I say \u201cbelieve to be\u201d because over the course of an hour or so I never heard a legal ID. I did hear an assortment of oldies, from Diana Ross and the Supremes to the Bee Gees, along with a 60s comedy record, accompanied by back announcing and weather forecasts. Those forecasts included days prior and after my listening time, leading me to believe the station was automated and the forecasts weren\u2019t the freshest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I identified Great Tech based upon several online LPFM directories, though I won\u2019t hold to that ID if challenged. Given that they\u2019re unlicensed and don\u2019t require much investment to put on the air, New Zealand\u2019s LPFMs are quite transitory, and I found rather few that maintain a regular web presence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My second catch was in the resort city of Queenstown, located in the southwest part of the South Island. It\u2019s a beautiful setting along the shore of Lake Wakatipu, surrounded by mountains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drop FM<\/a> came in loud and clear for me on 87.7 FM. I first heard 90s vintage drum \u2019n bass music, which I learned is a staple for the station when I googled it. The station stands out from other New Zealand LPFMs by having a very consistent web presence, along with an internet stream. In fact it has two other frequencies in Wanaka, north of Queenstown, and the suburb of Frankton. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Drop FM broadcasts live from dance clubs in Queenstown on a regular basis \u2013 though, understandably, corona virus seems to have put those events on hold. While drum n\u2019 bass and related electronic genres seem to be the station\u2019s bedrock, I also enjoyed a long set of eclectic R&B one evening as I was packing up to leave for my next stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I last stayed in Wellington, the country\u2019s capital. I\u2019m sad to report I was unable to confirm reception of any LPFMs over the course of several evenings. Perhaps the city\u2019s hilly geography \u2013 it resembles San Francisco in that way \u2013 worked against me. Or maybe there just weren\u2019t any active stations in a one kilometer radius from my Air BnB. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remain fascinated by this broadcast service, since, to the best of my knowledge, New Zealand has the highest power allowed for legal unlicensed broadcasting anywhere in the world. Setting aside a set number of frequencies seems to be an effective way of allowing more voices on the air at a very low cost, while also giving an outlet to broadcasters who might otherwise go \u201cpirate.\u201d This was my second visit to New Zealand, and I do intend to visit again. When I do, I\u2019m tempted to bring a small transmitter to set up my own temporary LPFM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I still can\u2019t help but think that such a service in the US could help stem the tide of unlicensed broadcasters in the urban areas of Boston, New York, New Jersey and South Florida, while also providing an opportunity for communities and groups that weren\u2019t able to get on the air during the last LPFM licensing window in 2013. Though the FM dial is pretty well full in most metropolitan areas, I suggest that the band could be extended a little to the left, to encompass frequencies mostly vacated by former analog channel 6 TV stations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, this proximity to the FM dial has long been exploited by the handful of analog low-power TV stations still broadcasting on channel 6, which by and large now primarily operate as radio stations at 87.7 FM rather than TV stations, often known as FrankenFMs.<\/a> The FCC is currently deciding the fate of those stations, since all TV is really supposed to be digital, and their transition deadline has been pushed repeatedly over the last five years. I propose that if channel 6 low-power TV stations are allowed to stay analog, keeping their near-FM broadcast signal, then that extra little bit of dial space should be given over to unlicensed LPFM everywhere else, where there isn\u2019t an existing channel 6. Keep the limit to 1 watt, and maybe let them have 87.9 FM, too. I can see little harm, and much benefit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, reality is that even that little bit of uncommercialized real estate is unlikely to be tolerated by the National Association of Broadcasters, nor National Public Radio, whom I expect would lobby heartily against such a radical notion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, I can dream\u2026 until my next trip to New Zealand.
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Catching a low-power FM radio station in the wild in New Zealand requires a bit of luck. Permitted to broadcast with up to one watt of power without a license, these stations have a bit more range \u2013 generally up to one kilometer radius (.6 miles) \u2013 than a legal unlicensed Part 15 station in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48956,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4736,27,4875],"tags":[6123,4045,6122,31,1926,2927],"class_list":["post-48955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fm-radio","category-international","category-lpfm","tag-drop-fm","tag-featured","tag-legal-unlicensed-radio","tag-lpfm","tag-new-zealand","tag-unlicensed-radio"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.radiosurvivor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/LPFM-in-NZ-Drop-FM-Queenstown.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radiosurvivor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radiosurvivor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radiosurvivor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiosurvivor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiosurvivor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48955"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiosurvivor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48958,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiosurvivor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48955\/revisions\/48958"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiosurvivor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.radiosurvivor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiosurvivor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.radiosurvivor.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}