ABSTRACT
In the early days of FM, residents of communities that lacked adequate FM coverage due to terrain blockage, or simply because they were too far away from existing FM stations, could be served by applying to the FCC for a license to operate a low powered station located such that it could receive signals from an existing full-service station and retransmit or “translate” them onto another FM channel that covered the community. The FCC sanctioned these stations provided there was no financial connection between the translator station licensees and the full-service stations they carried. Today, in certain situations, the licensees of full-service stations are permitted by the FCC to use translators to fill in areas where terrain blocks predicted service contours.
