She was my best friend's mom. A go-getter, if I was asked to describe her. Frieda had her hand in every aspect of her community. She helped the homeless, ministered to the needy, provided food, helped to pastor a local church, and ran a thrift shop.

We were sitting at a restaurant here in Tulsa when I shared with her an upcoming opportunity. I took out a map filled with irregular multicolored shapes. "You could reach about 20,000 people around your town with an LPFM radio station. The window to ask for it from the government is approaching."

Frieda took the initiative and never looked back. A few months later, we submitted her application to the FCC. It was approved in about a year. And less than two years later, she was on the air, reaching even more of her community with a full-time supply of family safe programming that includes local news and information about her ministries.

Her station is even the official broadcast source for emergency information in her community. During a recent hurricane, residents turned to her station for important emergency announcements from local officials. It was information that was unavailable anywhere else because the only station that serves her town is part of her ministry.

The Current Opportunity
For many non-profit organizations and churches, the thought of owning and operating a radio station isn't currently in the strategic plan. It's too big. Too much. Too complicated. Too expensive.

But many of the preconceptions about owning and operating a radio station, especially a noncommercial one, are wrong. When you consider how the number of people that can be reached, a radio station is one of the most inexpensive outreaches available. And, it provides a means to communicate continually with individuals who may never set foot in your church, attend your school, or contact your ministry.

Many years ago, the Federal Communications Commission set aside the bottom 10 percent of the FM dial for noncommercial educational radio stations. The "reserved band" includes 20 frequencies (the Commission calls them "channels") extending from 88.1MHz to 91.9MHz. It's allocated for use exclusively by organizations with an educational purpose: schools, churches and ministries.

Periodically, the Commission accepts applications from groups seeking to build one of these stations. The FCC recently announced that it will accept applications in October. It is the first time in more than eight years that this opportunity has existed. It is likely that another window will not be opened for many more years.

Frieda obtained permission to build a low power FM radio station. LPFM stations operate with a maximum power of 100 watts and adequately serve one or two small towns. In October, you may request a similar station or you may seek permission to build a station that broadcasts with significantly higher power and serves a much larger geographic area.

The Process
The application process can seem challenging, but it's not hard to have a good chance of obtaining a construction permit if your organization is well prepared. We suggest breaking the process into three steps: commissioning a frequency search, planning the station, and preparing the application.

1. The Frequency Search
The first step in determining if this opportunity is appropriate for your organization is finding out if there is room on the radio dial for a new station in your community. The FCC enforces rules designed to keep radio stations from causing interference to one another. Before you invest any significant effort in this project, you must determine if at least one channel exists that can host a new radio station and comply with these rules. The likelihood of finding a frequency that can serve your community is significantly influenced by your proximity to large cities. In Oklahoma, no frequencies are available in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, but numerous channels are available in most other areas of the state.

Frequency searches are performed by firms who use special software to examine each of the 20 potential channels. If one or more channels are available in your area, this study often also makes it possible to estimate where a new station's signal will reach and how many people that station might serve.

2. Planning the Station
The Commission requires information about the basic technical characteristics of your proposed station on the application. Determining this information now is also beneficial because it permits you to determine how much it will cost to build the station.

This step includes identifying a suitable site for the station's antenna and determining how much power you will request from the FCC. In theory, your organization can submit an application requesting a Class C radio station. Class C stations broadcast from very tall towers with an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts. There are very few places left in the United States where it is possible to construct a new Class C noncommercial educational FM radio station and comply with the Commission's interference rules.

Most organizations will elect to request a Class A station. Class A radio stations broadcast with between 100 and 6,000 watts. It's usually possible to identify an existing tower or building on which the antenna can be mounted. Class A stations are more economical to build than more powerful stations and can provide service to listeners up to 30 miles away. A typical Class A station costs between $20,000 and $50,000 to construct.

3. The Application
The FCC requires that organizations requesting permission to build a new noncommercial educational radio station electronically submit Form 340. Copies of the application can be downloaded from the Commission's Web site at http://www.fcc.gov/formpage.html. The form is substantial. On paper, it is 16 pages long. Remember, even though the Commission makes a printable copy of the form available, it requires an electronic submission in October.

The most challenging part of completing the application is the preparation of the technical exhibits. The Commission requires that each application be accompanied with numerous studies that demonstrate the proposed facility complies with the rules. At a minimum, these exhibits usually include interference studies, main studio study, and an RF analysis. Additional studies and exhibits may be required if you propose a new station located near the borders of Canada or Mexico or if a television station broadcasting on channel six is nearby.

The application also requests information about the nature of your organization. Your responses allows the Commission to confirm your eligibility for a noncommercial educational license, determine whether your organization earns extra consideration for being locally controlled, and confirm your compliance with a number of miscellaneous rules and regulations.

The application must be electronically submitted during the application window. That window is currently scheduled to last for seven days beginning on October 12, 2007. Your application will not be considered if it submitted early or late. It will be many years before this opportunity is available again if you miss this filing window.

After You File
Eventually, the FCC will divide all of the applications into two groups. "Singletons" are applications that don't face competition. Applications in this category may be granted in as little as 18 months.

The rest of the applications are considered "mutually exclusive." For example, two organizations may propose building radio stations in the same area and on the same frequency. Those applications would be tagged as mutually exclusive because the new stations could not legally coexist.

You may be thinking this opportunity is not worth pursuing because the existing national and regional broadcasters will apply for and obtain the frequency for which you want to apply. That's simply not the case. The FCC's new point-system process favors organizations that have an established local presence and that possess no existing stations.

A significant number of points are awarded to applicants that demonstrate they are locally controlled and have existed for at least two years. Since only locally controlled organizations are eligible for these points, a local school, church, or ministry has a significant competitive advantage against the national groups. This analysis presumes that the local organization filed an application that was not defective and specified technical parameters that acquired sufficient points as well.

The FCC has also established a number of tiebreakers to select among competing applications that have the same score at the end of the point-system process. Both of these tiebreakers favor organizations that are new to broadcasting. The FCC starts by considering the number of stations each applicant already owns. An organization with no existing stations has a substantial advantage because the Commission favors those with the fewest existing authorizations. If necessary, the FCC considers the number of each organization's pending applications. If your group has requested a single station to serve your community, this analysis will likely favor you as well.

Jason Bennett is a member of the FM Expansion Group, www.fmexpansion.com, a group of professionals assisting nonprofit organizations obtain and build NCE radio stations to serve their local communities.