FCC Grants New Non-Comm Radio Licenses, But Few Go to College Radio

On Radio Survivor I just reported on the great news this week that the FCC had finally awarded licenses for full-power educational FM stations to 59 organizations. Back in 2007 a licensing window briefly opened and non-profit groups were allowed to submit applications in the hopes of being granted a new license.

After a head-ache inducing scan of the FCC's PDF grid of the applicants and winners, I was pretty bummed to realize that college radio was not well represented. I guess I shouldn't be all the surprised, as it can be quite costly to get a station up and running. But it was also disheartening that religious groups continued their left-of-the-dial takeover, obtaining more of the new licenses than community groups, public radio organizations, or universities.