| This dissertation undertakes a cultural analysis of Low Power FM radio by examining the relationship between service rules and LPFM licensees' broadcast practices in order to make claims about contemporary conceptions of localism in U.S. radio broadcasting. There are two sites of investigation. The first is discursive, specifically the documents produced by, and submitted to the FCC related to the shaping, creation, and aftermath of the LPFM policy. The second site of investigation is field based. I examine the operation of 25 LPFM stations located in areas within each region of the U.S. that have the highest concentration of LPFM licensees. Based on findings in these two areas of research, I argue that despite the FCC's rules designed to institute noncommercial community broadcasting within a small geographic area, stations operating in accordance with the rules confront obstacles to connecting with their community of license. Even though the FCC structured LPFM service by setting clear power, fundraising, and ownership limitations, the everyday efforts of LPFM broadcasters to follow the rules and bring the intentions of localism to fruition produce ambiguous results. Instead of consistently reproducing communicative dynamics associated with small local communities---familiarity, presence, trustworthiness, loyalty, reliability---the practices and comments of LPFM broadcasters point to a contradictory set of attitudes about, sensibilities for, notions of, and approaches to facilitating local community. This dissertation presents the experiences of LPFM service as an index of the complicated nature of the public's current understanding of local community. |
