FCC Media Bureau Audio Division Chief Al Shuldiner has made his determination as to who should be awarded the right to build a new noncommercial FM radio station in Wisconsin.
Some eight applicants ended up with mutually exclusive applications, including Educational Media Foundation. Alas, EMF is not the winner of the Construction Permit in “NCE MX Group 223” — but another religious broadcast ministry is.
Vanguard Association of Sunbelt Colleges Corporation, which recently was given the right to build a Dubuque, Iowa-area noncommercial FM over the objection of Augustana College, has been given Shuldiner’s approval to create a new facility licensed to Rosendale, Wisc.
Rosendale is a village of 1,063 due west of Fond du Lac, Wisc., and the VASC application beat out applications filed by The Salvation Poem Foundation, Call Communications Group, the State of Wisconsin, Immanuel Bible Church, Waupun Baptist Church, WRVM Inc., and EMF.
VASC was the tentative selectee, but that was hardly met with applause from others in the “MX Group.” Call Communications filed an informal objection. Then, a Petition to Deny was filed by WRVM.
Call Comm questioned the validity of VASC’s reasonable site assurance certification. It also argued, as did Augustana College in its own fight to get a new noncomm FM, that attributable interests might exist between VASC and Elijah Radio. As was the case in the Augustana College matter, Shuldiner here says no such ownership concern is at play.
WRVM argued that the VASC is ineligible to hold a non-commercial license because
VASC is not registered as a nonprofit business entity in the State of Wisconsin and is not a 501(c)(3) under the Internal Revenue Code. WRVM also took the tact of questioning VASC as possibly trying to circumvent a 10-application limit — also an argument Augustana presented but failed to win.
In the end, Shuldiner stood by VASC’s statements, and as such it may proceed with construction of a new noncomm serving Fond du Lac County.
