Last week we reported that while the FCC is not including a special AM-only window to apply for an FM translator in its revitalization order being circulated for a vote, the agency is considering alternatives to make it easier to move a translator closer to an AM station.
Now, more details of that concept are coming out.
The FCC is considering an alternative plan to an AM-only FM translator window.
Fletcher Heald attorney Frank Montero says that he met with Media Bureau Chief Peter Doyle and other staffers last week to discuss a proposal that would be an alternative to those AM owners who want a special application window to apply for an FM translator.
Under the proposal the bureau discussed with Montero, plus MMTC leader David Honig and NABOB leader Jim Winston, there would be a one-time window or a pre-approved waiver to move an FM translator up to 250 miles. So in other words, what happens now with several hops could be done in one move, according to the proposal being floated by the bureau.
According to some of those in the room when the plan was being discussed last week, the FCC personnel had spread sheets and data tentatively concluding a 250-mile one-time-hop would put more FM translators within reach of more AM owners.
Both Montero and Honig praise the commission for working on the AM revitalization issue. However their concerns are the proposal could drive up prices for FM translators, further pushing them out of reach for many minority AM station owners they told RBR+TVBR in interviews. Sources not quoted in this article tell RBR+TVBR that could certainly happen without adding more FM translators to the available pool.
The latest proposal is similar to the so-called “Tell City Waiver” concept proposed by Cromwell owner Bud Walters, which was turned down by the FCC a year ago.
Part of the impetus for the translator proposal being discussed now is Chairman Tom Wheeler’s reluctance to include a special AM-only application window for FM translators in the proposal being circulated on the eighth floor of the commission for a vote.
