GRAHAM BROCK, INC.
Broadcast Technical Consultants
P.O. Box 24466 St. Simons Island, GA 31522-7466
912-638-8028 912-638-7722 Fax 202-393-5133
www.grahambrock.com
Vol. VII, No. 12 -- December 2000
During its December 6th meeting, the Commission adopted a Notice of Proposed
Rule Making proposing to change the manner in which the number of radio stations in a
particular market is calculated. The current rules base the number of stations on the
number of facilities with overlapping city grade contours (3.16 mV/m for FM and 5.0 mV/m
for AM). In some cases, based on the coverage, a maximum Class C could bring in 60 or more
stations, thus allowing its owner to own up to eight stations in any market in which the
big station is considered the subject station. One possible change would be to apply data
from Arbitron to determine how many stations are in the actual market, rather than the
total number of stations with contour overlap. Other alternatives include retaining the
present method but excluding any other stations in the same market controlled by the
proposed buyer of the station (unless it is relevant to the market under study) or
determining the actual extent of the overlap between stations and setting a threshold to
include a station as a market contributor. The Public Notice stated that potential changes
will not affect pending submissions, which will be evaluated under the current overlap
rules.
Last month we reported numerous changes the FCC made to the commercial and
non-commercial FM rules. These changes among others created a new Class of FM station
(Class C0), changed the protection requirements for non-commercial FM and FM translators
with respect to second adjacent channel protection and made some changes to the contour
protection rules. All of these changes are scheduled to go into effect thirty days after
publication of the Order in the Federal Register. As of this writing, publication has not
yet occurred. As such, barring Petitions for Reconsideration, the rules will likely go
into effect in mid January. This does not, however, preclude the need to determine if
these changes will affect you. Do you have an under-built Class C that may be subject to a
potential downgrade? Can your non-commercial FM station increase power or delete the
directional antenna?
The December 29th deadline for those who filed applications for new AM
stations at various locations around the country who are mutually exclusive to submit data
regarding their respective proposals has been postponed until February 28, 2001. This
provides additional time for engineering solutions and settlements. Those applicants who
cannot resolve their mutually exclusive applications must submit an analysis that includes
area and population coverage of the proposed station; the number of stations licensed to
the same community as the proposed facility; the number of stations providing protected
service to the community; and the population of the proposed community. Information
relating to the community identia is also to be submitted. No date has been set as to when
the actual auction will take place.
On February 21st, 359 new FM facilities around the country are scheduled to
be auctioned. Which ones will you bid on? Although the date for submitting the necessary
FCC Form 175 (expressions of interest) has not yet been announced, many companies are
reviewing exactly what the channels will cover, as well as relocation and upgrade
potential. It is better to know that now before the auction. A small market Class A is
much more desirable if it could upgrade to Class C and provide coverage to a city of five
million.
The Commission had initially indicated the third LPFM window would be announced in late
October with a November filing date. Apparently, the on-going cases in the U.S. Court of
Appeals and potential action in Congress has put a temporary halt to LPFM. It is unknown
exactly when the next window will open. Further, the potential change in FCC Commissioners
may also impact how LPFM moves forward.
We would like to take this
opportunity to wish each of you a happy holiday season & a prosperous new year!