Expanded FM Band

Expanding the FM band is one spectrum reform idea that could make more space for community-controlled media. Prometheus has teamed up with the National Federation of Community Broadcasters and the New America Foundation to make a "shared use" proposal to expand the FM radio band to include channels that have been vacated by analog TV channels 2 - 6. Since each analog TV station was allotted 6 megahertz of space (mHz), this would effectively expand the FM radio band to cover 57.9 FM - 107.9 FM.

The proposal accommodates the existing TV stations, creates significant room for new radio stations, and allows for the use of "white space" devices, which would use the pockets of unused spectrum between the TV and radio stations. By using a wider swath of spectrum, we would allow digital TV and LPTV stations to stay where they are, but still allow plenty of room for AM stations to migrate onto the FM band—part of a plan put forward by the Broadcast Maximization Committee, as well as new non-commercial and low power stations.