The FCC’s abolition of the rule that prohibited same-service radio stations serving the same area from substantially duplicating their programming becomes effective today, as the FCC order repealing the rule was published in the Federal Register. The rule had prohibited radio stations in the same service (AM or FM) that have over 50% overlap of their principal community contours (the 70 dBu for FM stations and the 5 mV/m contour for AM stations) from duplicating more than 25 per cent of the total hours in their average programming week. In August, the FCC voted to abolish that rule (see our article here), and that decision is now effective so stations, especially those suffering from the economic pinch of the pandemic, have more options for programming their stations.
