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For New Visitors: Finding Information About Radio
and Television Stations on the FCC Web Site
The FCC's Web site contains extensive information on broadcast radio and television
stations. For example, users may generate tailored lists of AM, FM, and TV stations,
view electronic applications for construction permit or license
as well as EEO and ownership reports,
locate some historical documents pertaining to radio stations, find
mailing addresses, and read a summary on the process of applying for a radio broadcast station.
In this document, we provide short summaries for new users on some
repeatedly requested subjects of interest, along with links for
further reading or searches. This does not represent a complete list of information
available, but it does provide a place to start your research.
Please bookmark or print this page and use it as a reference.
Within the FCC, the Media Bureau is assigned the function of regulating broadcast radio and
television. The Audio Division administers
broadcast AM and FM stations. The Video Division
administers analog (standard) and digital television broadcasting.
Extensive radio broadcast station information may be found on the
Audio Division website.
AM Query
and FM Query
allow custom searches by users. Field searches are additive: if you search (for example) for call
signs starting with "K" in Pennsylvania in the AM Query, you will only get records for 3
stations, not a list of all the AM stations in the state. If you also change the upper
and lower frequency search limits to "1410" in this example, you will only see one station.
Three types of output are
available -- two "list" outputs, good for large lists with one line per record; one "Query"
output, with detailed data (AM and FM) and service area/contour maps (FM only);
and two "text" one-line-per-record outputs, suitable for
importation into a spreadsheet or other application.
How to Apply for a Broadcast Station. General information about the application
process for AM, FM, and TV broadcast stations may be found here. Interested persons or groups
should be aware at the beginning that an application does not guarantee that a construction
permit will be granted. No equipment should be purchased before a construction permit is
received. Application processing fees are required for commercial AM, FM, or TV
applications (see the Media Bureau Fee Filing Guide).
Low Power FM (LPFM)
radio service. Low power FM stations may be authorized where the required
protection is afforded to FM stations and FM translator (rebroadcast) stations. Power is
limited to 100 watts maximum, with a service area approximately 3.5 miles in radius. These
stations are only available to noncommercial educational groups (not individuals) or
public safety entities. These stations cannot be used for commercial operation.
Unlicensed Operation. Unlicensed operation is generally
prohibited, with the exception of some extremely low powered "Part 15" devices which will
cover a radius of no more than a couple of hundred feet. Even operation with such low power
as 100 milliwatts (0.1 watt) is prohibited. DON'T BUY equipment that claims to allow you
to set up your own broadcast station. Penalties for unlicensed operation can be severe (see
sample cases listed at http://www.fcc.gov/eb/sed/ulo.html
and http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/decdoc/engrser.html#NOAUTH ).
Lists of Radio Stations. The FCC does not
publish lists of radio broadcast stations, as station information changes daily. Use the
AM and FM Queries to generate lists.
For a list of AM and FM radio stations authorized to transmit a digital signal in addition to
the standard analog signal, use the following links:
[ AM | FM ].
Programming Format: The FCC does NOT collect information on the
programming format (country, rock, jazz, talk, etc.) of radio broadcast stations, that information
not being necessary for the FCC's regulatory functions. There are private companies that
compile this information, but you may have to pay for it.
Religious Broadcasting Rumor: A false rumor continues
to circulate that the FCC is proposing to ban religious broadcasting. This rumor is
often (and erroneously) attributed to Madilyn Murray O'Hare. A petition (RM-2493) which
had requested the Commission to make licensing changes was denied in 1975. You may
read excerpts from that Commission order [ HTML ]
or the entire document [ PDF (1.2 MB) ].
Television broadcast station information may be found on the
Video Division website.
TV Query
allows custom searches by users. Field searches are additive: if you search (for example) for call
signs starting with "K" in Pennsylvania in the TV Query, you will only get records for 2
stations, not a list of all the TV stations in the state. If you also change the upper
and lower channel limits to "2" in this example, you will only see one station.
Three types of output are
available -- two "list" outputs, good for large lists with one line per record; one "Query"
output, with detailed data nad service area/contour maps;
and two "text" one-line-per-record outputs, suitable for
importation into a spreadsheet or other application.
How to Apply for a Broadcast Station. General information about the application
process for AM, FM, and TV broadcast stations may be found here. Interested persons or groups
should be aware at the beginning that an application does not guarantee that a construction
permit will be granted. No equipment should be purchased before a construction permit is
received. Application processing fees are required for commercial AM, FM, or TV
applications (see the Media Bureau Fee Filing Guide).
Digital Television. A digital receiver and tuner are required to pick up
"high definition" digital televison stations. Existing television stations must
broadcast in digital on a separate channel by February 17, 2009, at which time
standard analog television broadcasts are required to cease. Addtional information for
consumers is available at http://www.dtv.gov.
Lists of Television Stations. The FCC does not
publish lists of television broadcast stations, as station information changes daily. Use the
TV Query to generate lists.
The FCC's CDBS database (Consolidated
DataBase
System) is used to track the filing and completion of
broadcast construction permit, license, renewal, ownership, assignment of license
(sale of station), transfer of control (change of ownership structure), and
EEO applications. CDBS allows viewing
of applications that have been filed electronically with the Commission
CDBS incorporates data from the earlier BAPS (Broadcast Application Processing System),
which was used by the Mass Media Bureau between 1979 and 1999. Information about
applications filed before (approximately) the year 2000 is generally limited to
items such as file numbers, filing dates, grant or dismissal dates.
Finding Information in CDBS. You may retrieve information
directly from CDBS from the primary search screen:
The Station Information search provides limited information about
individual broadcast stations, such as service, community of license, mailing address,
and, through the Call Sign History link on the returned page, information
about any recent call sign changes.
The Application Information search provides information about
applications filed by broadcast stations. Types of applications may include
construction permit, license, ownership, and renewal applications, as well as older
assignment of license or transfer of control application data. Use the Info
link on the returned page to view general information about the application. When
available, you may retrieve a copy of the electronically filed application itself
via the Application link on the returned page.
The EEO Filing search provides information about
EEO filings with the FCC, including
access to electronic filings in 2000 and later.
The Ownership Report search provides information about
ownership reports filed with the FCC in 1999 or later, including
access to electronic filed reports.
The Antenna Information search is primarily used by professional
broadcast consultants to obtain information about particular FM and
TV antennas. This same information is available through the
FM Query or
TV Query with the
"detailed output + CDBS links" option.
The Download Engineering Data provides links to public
versions of the relational tables that make up the CDBS database. Files
are generally updated each business day. Users are cautioned that the
database structure is not simple, and the staff cannot provide
assistance on the tables' proper arrangement and use.
Alternatively, the AM,
FM, and
TV Queries provide an
option to generate output in a formatted, pipe-delimited list (data fields
are separated by "|"). This provides the information generally sought by users
(see the Text and Pipe-Delimited Output Key) and can be imported into a
spreadsheet or other program for immediate use.
Assignment (sale of station) and Transfer of Control Applications
after 1999 usually will NOT be found using the CDBS Application Information link. Use the
second search form, entitled "ALTC Group Search", to locate information for these
applications. Please note that the FCC does NOT maintain data on which stations are
available for sale, or the selling prices of radio or television broadcast stations.
The Media Bureau releases information about applications received, granted,
modified, or dismissed in Public Notices that may be viewed over the Internet.
Broadcast Applications lists applications and filings
received by the Bureau. This notice is generated each business day.
Broadcast Actions shows staff disposals of applications applications,
e.g., granted, dismissed, returned. This notice is generated each business day.
Call Sign Changes shows call letter changes for broadcast stations.
Released as needed.
Links:
Easiest access to the Broadcast Actions, Broadcast Applications, and
Call Sign Changes Public Notices is through the drop-down menus at
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/status/.
Use the FCC Word Search at
http://search.fcc.gov/ to locate application
file numbers in Broadcast Actions and Broadcast Applications public
notices. For example, searching for "20010615AAB" (remove the "B***-" prefix)
may locate documents
containing that number. After opening a document, use the browser's
search-within-the-page function with the same file number to locate the particular
record quickly. File numbers can be obtained from
CDBS or the
AM,
FM, or
TV Queries. (Other search entries
such as call sign may return a large number of documents to sort through.)
Allotment petitions for rulemaking are filed by station owners and other entities
seeking to change station allotments in the FM or TV Tables of Allotments (47 CFR Sections
73.202
[FM] or
73.606
and
73.622
[television]). For a proposed FM allotment, a petitioner generally must show that a site
(latitude and longitude) exists that meets the minimum separation requirements in
73.207,
while providing the required coverage over the proposed community of license (see
73.315).
TV proposals generally must demonstrate that a site exists that would meet the
requirements in Sections
73.610
and
73.623.
Counterproposals filed by other entities may be considered.
Initial petitions for rulemaking and related documents are available for viewing in the FCC's
Electronic Comment Filing
System. If you know the docket number or the rulemaking number (RM), the
Quick ECFS/EDOCS Search may
provide results faster.
There is no "finder's preference" for successfully petitioning for an allotment for a new
FM or TV station. Commercial FM or TV allotments for new stations will be auctioned per
the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (general information about auctions). Applicants for an allotment for a
noncommercial educational FM or TV station will be selected on the basis of a
point system.
The AM service does not have a Table of Allotments.
The Media Bureau issues an official count of various types of licensed radio
and television stations on a quarterly basis. Current and previous
releases may be viewed at http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/totals/.
Low Power FM (LPFM) station counts are now included in these official releases.
In addition, you may generate a current count using the search function at
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/lpfm/index.html#SEARCH.
