AM Advocates Criticize Media Bureau Denying FM Translator Waiver Request
FCC Media Bureau denial of an AM station’s request to move its transmitter to a site in Tell City, Indiana, raised concerns within the AM radio industry about the efforts to help stations on that band obtain FM translators. The bureau’s denial missed an opportunity to give such stations immediate relief, and goes against the AM band revitalization effort, an executive and industry attorneys said in interviews. They also bemoaned the bureau’s timing of the decision, issued two years after the request.
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The bureau’s Audio Division said that the waiver request is a “regulatory change,” which would be more appropriately considered in the ongoing AM revitalization rulemaking proceeding (http://bit.ly/1qS8SaD). A waiver isn’t the proper forum to address AM revitalization public policy goals, it said. The waiver was requested by Way Media to change its Central City, Kentucky, FM translator from Channel 218 to Channel 279 (CD Sept 22 p15).
Some lawyers claimed that the FCC dropped the ball. Making it easier for AM stations to obtain FM translators through the waiver request “was an AM revitalization solution staring the FCC in the face,” said John Garziglia, a Womble Carlyle attorney representing Hancock Communications, which proposed to buy the translator. There was an urgency to the petition for the waiver, he said. The proposals of the AM revitalization NPRM, including the FM translator window, will be a lengthy process, he said. “The premise of the waiver was that AM stations needed help now.” It was designed to give relief to AM stations within a time period of two months, not two years, he said. Because the waiver sought immediate assistance to AM stations, Garziglia isn’t interested in filing an application or review, he said. “There’s nothing about an application for review that’s immediate.”
Way Media’s petition included another waiver request from Hancock parent Cromwell Group to let WTCJ(AM) Tell City move a distance greater than normally allowed to better serve its coverage area, which also was denied. It’s not possible for an AM stations in a small town to financially succeed and continue serving its community “in the current and changing competitive environment,” said Cromwell President Bud Walters. He urged the commission to take quick action on the NPRM, as the bureau’s decision took more than two years, “and required our significant investment exceeding $50,000 that is now for naught."
The decision derailed a potential opportunity for other AM stations to file similar waivers, Walters said. The bureau agreed that granting the waiver would open the door for other stations to follow suit, he said. “That was the intent of the request.” The decision “cuts off that opportunity for folks who have AM stations that are languishing around the country,” he said. Denying AM stations relief from their dire straits because some alternate relief is on the way is fine, Fletcher Heald attorney Steve Lovelady said in a blog post (http://bit.ly/1pf0ix7). But if that relief can’t be expected soon, “should it really be cited as a reason to deny interim relief?” he asked.
The petition should have been handled at the commission level, said David Honig, president of Minority Media & Telecommunications Council. A more expeditious availability of translators, tax certificate restoration and incubators are needed to help AM turn a corner, he said. “This is another setback.” MMTC is going to ask the FCC to consider this on its own motion, he said. When there is a scarce asset, and it isn’t being utilized in its present location, it should be moved to where it’s urgently needed right now, Honig added.
Initial waiver requests are almost always handled by a bureau on delegated authority, emailed an FCC spokeswoman. “No matter the issue, parties can always appeal a Bureau decision to the full Commission.” Commissioner Ajit Pai, who has pushed for AM revitalization, said he'd have voted against the waiver denial if a vote was held. He had no further comment.
The AM industry will have to wait for action on the pending revitalization proceeding, said an industry executive and lawyers. There are many proposed solutions that will aid individual stations, Garziglia said, referring to the lower efficiency standards for antenna replacement, and other solutions. “That won’t make the dramatic changes that one hopes.” The only two good solutions for fixing the AM band are securing FM translators and making an all-digital transition, he said. Honig hopes the FCC will not feel it necessary “to compel the small broadcaster to go yet another round begging for this relief,” he said.
Awaiting the implementation of the AM proposals is the only choice “unless someone wants to file a request for FCC commissioners to review the decision,” Walters said. He added that he will not file for a review.
With the full commission supposedly toiling away on the revitalization proceeding, the Audio Division is “apparently reluctant to take any steps that might be seen as a prejudgment of issues under consideration there,” Fletcher Heald’s Lovelady said. “That’s not good news for the AM industry.”