In Monmouth County, N.J., one can seek to feel good by tuning to a Press Communications-owned Class D AM or its FM translator at 100.7 MHz, branded as “The Breeze.” While it is the lowest among the rated radio stations in the Monmouth-Ocean market, WHTG-AM has its loyal audience, and the FM signal plays a key role in attracting listeners.
Now, Press is pressing the FCC — along with 18 other licensees of Class C and Class D radio stations — to reinstate a 2016 FM translator filing window (with minor modifications) for AM properties.
If granted, the rule making would allow for “substantial FM translator transmitter site and channel moves, enabling additional FM translators to rebroadcast AM stations,” says Bob McAllan, CEO of Press Communications.
He explains, “With ever increasing noise floor levels, continued degradation of AM audio receiver quality, variable (if any) nighttime service, and digital technological change in the marketplace, there is ample public interest justification for once again allowing for AM stations to acquire and move FM translators to locations where AM listeners may be better served.”
McAllan notes that approximately one third of all AM stations nationwide do not, as yet, have an FM translator.
With the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act yet to see forward movement on Capitol Hill despite overwhelming bipartisan support for the bill, these are critical times for the smallest of kHz-band radio stations, which some may view as a relic of their grandparents’ generation. With limited coverage areas and in some cases the need to power down during nighttime hours to protect distant Class A facilities, these AM stations oftentimes persist with unique programming ranging from community-focused content to brokered ethnic offerings.
For Press and SSR Communications, Simmons Broadcasting, Kaspar Broadcasting Company, Mountain Top Media LLC, Priority Communications, Virden Broadcasting Corp., South Seas Broadcasting, Delta Radio Network, Hancock Communications, WYCQ Inc., The Cromwell Group Inc. of Illinois, R & F Communications, Eureka Broadcasting Co., O-N Radio, Viper Communications, Mentor Partners, Genesee Media Corporation, Dakota Broadcasting, and Community First Broadcasting, “FM translators assist in keeping AM stations alive and profitable.”
As such, the coalition of small AM radio station owners that includes Larry Fuss, Fletcher Ford, Bud Walters, Ken Kuenzie and Matthew Wesolowski, among others, argues that a reinstatement of the ability for AM stations to acquire and relocate FM translators to rebroadcast an AM stations’ programming would be an important step toward the continuation of our nation’s AM radio service well into the future.
Specifically, an amendment to FCC Rule Section 74.1233(a)(1) regarding FM translators is requested of the Commission. This would permit AM broadcasters to acquire an FM translator within 250 miles or more of their transmitter site and relocate it on any available frequency for local service using the rebroadcast of their respective AM radio station programming.
The Petition for Rulemaking, which can be seen here, includes a statement from Kenneth Forte, President and owner of WDKN-AM in Dickson, Tenn., one of the signatories on the petition. He “poignantly recounts the success an FM translator brought to his stand-alone facility” in the filing.
While getting the Carr Commission to open a new Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and reinstate the FM translator filing window is one concern, the other deals with FM dial space. In Eatontown, N.J., there are limited available commercial FM frequencies where interference concerns would not present a challenge: 95.1 MHz, 96.7 MHz, and 102.3 MHz, respectively. Moving a facility from a far-away local in 2026 may also be viewed as unfair, compared to the Pai Commission’s view in 2016, as a permissible move could theoretically shift an FM translator from a faraway community such as Stamford, N.Y., to Eatontown, N.J. — roughly 200 miles away.
Is that right, as the FM translator was intended to bring service to the Delaware County town in the Catskills and not a bustling Jersey Shore community full of FM stations from four rated markets?
Press and its coalition of licensees says yes — just as the Commission did a decade ago.
