The Microradio Empowerment Coalition (MEC) was formed to advance the rights of community broadcasters and low-power radio operators across the United States. We believe that access to the public airwaves is a fundamental democratic right protected through legal advocacy, public education, and regulatory engagement with the FCC.
Low Power FM (LPFM) is an FM broadcasting service authorizing community stations at up to 100 watts, covering approximately 3.5 miles. Established by the FCC in January 2000, the LPFM service was the direct result of years of advocacy by organizations including the National Lawyers Guild's Committee for Democratic Communications.
LPFM stations serve neighborhoods, campuses, religious organizations, and underrepresented communities who lack access to commercial broadcasting. These stations operate on a non-commercial basis and provide locally relevant programming that larger broadcasters often ignore.
Throughout the late 1990s, the MEC and its partner organizations filed extensive comments in FCC rulemaking proceedings arguing that the scarcity of available licenses had been artificially maintained to benefit commercial broadcasters. The First Amendment, we argued, demands a level of accessibility in broadcast licensing that prevailing rules did not provide.
The National Lawyers Guild has long maintained that broadcast licensing policy must be evaluated against First Amendment standards. Where licensing rules concentrate spectrum ownership in a small number of commercial interests while excluding community organizations, those rules raise serious constitutional questions.
The MEC's legal briefs made the case that the FCC had failed its public interest mandate by maintaining an artificial scarcity that served incumbent licensees. The creation of LPFM in 2000, while imperfect, validated years of advocacy and opened the door to a new class of community broadcasters.
For more information, visit our legal briefs archive or review our resources for community broadcasters.