It’s a unique Adult Standards operation that is licensed to use an FM translator covering the state capital of Washington, fed by a 250-watt Class D AM with a tower on Capitol Peak. “Whether you like piano rolls, pre-1920 cylinders, 78s from the ’20s, ’30s, ’40s and ’50s or early 45s and mono LPs, this is your station,” promises the Northwest Rock ‘N Roll Preservation Society.
Now, this non-profit could be on the hook for a hefty fine. Why? It lied to the FCC about the status of a construction permit, fibbing its status for a good seven months.
The matter involves K266BM at 101.1 MHz, serving Olympia, Wash., and two for-profit broadcast licensees that filed informal objections to the Society’s 2020 license application: Bustos Media Holdings and Bicoastal Media.
After a back-and-forth series of filings among the three parties, Al Shuldiner, Chief of the FCC’s Media Bureau Audio Division, determined that the Society apparently willfully and repeatedly engaged in unauthorized operation of the FM translator in violation
of section 301 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.
Additionally, the Society apparently willfully made false certifications to the Commission in an earlier application.
These transgressions are so severe that Schuldiner issued a $20,000 forfeiture notice to the not-for-profit group.
The history of K266BM’s use by the Society dates to April 2013, when it began to rebroadcast a LPFM licensed to Hoquiam, Wash. In August 2016, the Society obtained a construction permit that allowed it to boost the FM translator’s power while modifying the originating station to KGTK-AM in Olympia. In 2017, pushing the FM translator’s power to the maximum 0.25kw was granted.
By August 29, 2019, a 2017 permit reached its expiry date; a Modification Application remained pending. The Society then applied for a license to cover the facilities. Importantly, Schuldiner points out, “Our grant of a license to cover the 2017 Permit converted the pending 2019 Modification Application from a request to modify the 2017 Permit to a request to modify the license issued on
December 4, 2019.”
Enter Bustos and Bicoastal, each of whom filed objections alleging the FM translator was not operating as authorized. Furthermore, they said the Society made false statements regarding operations to the Commission.
Guess what? It’s true, as the Commission determined that the Society’s operation of the FM translator between December 4, 2019, and June 13, 2020, was unauthorized.
“Between December 4, 2019, and June 13, 2020, NWR continued operating the NWR Translator with the facilities authorized in its obsolete 2013 License and continued rebroadcasting the signal of KGHO-LP,” Schuldiner determined.
Could the FM translator’s licensed be stripped from the Society? No, Schuldiner said, noting, “While grant of the 2019 License Application is final and dismissal of that application is not an option, we can and will sanction NWR for the false certifications.”
In a related matter, the full commission has denied the Society’s application for review that challenged a Media Bureau decision that affirmed the grant of a construction permit for K267CX in Centralia, Wash., to Bicoastal Media.
While that facility uses 101.3 MHz and is to the south of Olympia, overlapping signal contours were used to bolster the Society’s argument that interference issues would become a possibility. The Commission disagreed.
