On Thursday evening, RBR+TVBR learned more about purchase of a big Class B AM serving the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. The buyer is headed by the same individual who is involved in a testy FM translator battle in the Raleigh-Durham market that has resulted in a lengthy tussle with Tom Birch‘s Lakes Media LLC.
And, wouldn’t you know, FCC Audio Division Chief Al Shuldiner has just issued a ruling on said translator.
In a seven-page letter issued Aug. 30 to Arohi Media and Lakes Media’s legal counsel, Christine McLaughlin of Sciarrino & Shubert PLLC in Arlington, Va., Shuldiner denied a Petition for Reconsideration filed by Arohi of the Sept. 25, 2017 dismissal of its application to license an FM translator station in Durham, N.C.
But, that’s no death blow in North Carolina’s Triangle region for the rapidly growing company led by Ravi Cherukuri.
A request for Special Temporary Authority filed by Arohi to resume operations of W234AR — originally licensed for broadcast at 94.7 MHz in Pocomoke City, Md., and now holding a CP for broadcast at 98.3 MHz in Durham, N.C. — was granted.
However, there is a caveat: The facility once on the southern portion of the Delmarva peninsula and now on Durham’s south side can’t broadcast with the maximum 250 watts. Rather, it must use temporary, reduced power facilities for a term expiring 180 days from August 30.
What does this mean for Arohi? It has the right to broadcast at 10 watts, and within 30 days of resuming operations must retain an independent engineer agreed upon by Arohi and Lakes Media in a filing submitted to the FCC to review the STA operations, investigate any interference complaints — with an opportunity for Lakes to witness — and submit monthly reports to the Commission and Lakes Media LLC regarding any interference complaints arising from the STA operations.
Further, Arohi shall immediately cease the STA operations, and the STA will terminate automatically, without further action by the Commission, if Arohi is unable to resolve any such interference in accordance with Commission Rules.
Lastly, within the six-month term of the STA, Arohi must apply for a construction permit to operate the translator station on a noninterfering basis in the vicinity of Durham. If not, it’s on its way back to the lower Delmarva peninsula.
While that’s a lot to ask for Arohi, Cherukuri is pleased. “Another bit of good news about my STA approved for my translator,” he tells RBR+TVBR.
For Birch, Shuldiner’s ruling is a bit of a setback, as Lakes’ informal objection to the STA request was denied. But, he tells RBR+TVBR, Lakes will be vigilantly working to ensure that there are zero issues with his co-channel station serving areas to the north of central Durham.
“While we are surprised by the FCC’s decision to allow W234AR to temporarily resume operations at 10 watts using a directional antenna, we appreciate the FCC’s efforts in limiting the STA grant to ensure strict non-interference with WLUS-FM 98.3 listeners, and we will be closely monitoring the situation and will be immediately providing listener complaints to the Commission,” Birch said. “Per Nielsen, WLUS reaches hundreds of listeners in Durham County, the home county of W234AR. It is impossible for W234AR to sign on at any power without interfering with WLUS in Durham County, N.C.”
At just 10 watts, W234AR will barely cover central Durham, and mainly serve neighborhoods close to North Carolina Central University. Even reaching Duke University could be a challenge.
Still, Birch wants absolutely no interference concerns for his Class C3 WLUS, a co-channel facility licensed to Clarksville, Va., that serves as the classic example of the “rimshot” signal LPFM advocates claim aren’t local — thus giving them the right to use signals in the middle of metropolitan areas such “out-of-market” signals have benefited from.
For Birch, the situation is far more complex. WLUS’s “fringe signal” as shown in Radio-Locator.com encompasses all of Durham and much of neighboring Raleigh, to the east. WLUS’s “distant” signal is just to the north of Arohi’s translator. Thus, even 10 watts could prove vexing for WLUS listeners near Falls Lake and along the I-85 corridor.
Birch’s saga began two years ago. On Aug. 18, 2016, Cherukuri used the translator to expand WRSV-FM 92.1 in Elm City, N.C. — “The People’s Station — Choice FM” — and its hip-hop format across the Raleigh-Durham and Chapel Hill, N.C., listening area.
The result, Birch said in a May 2017 interview, is the documented loss by Nielsen Audio of 8,800 WLUS listeners in Orange, Durham and Wake and southern Granville County, N.C., representing the southern end of WLUS’s coverage area.
For eight months and 19 days, the translator wreaked havoc on WLUS, making life miserable for Birch and the company’s bank accounts progressively smaller. “This, for us, has been The Twilight Zone – the interference from this transmitter was ruinous,” Birch told RBR + TVBR.
Nine hours after receiving a Staff Letter from the FCC to immediately cease operations, as its Licensed to Cover was dismissed, Arohi Media LLC on May 9, 2017, officially complied and shut down FM translator W252DK, licensed to Durham, N.C.
But wait … that’s not the same call sign as the facility noted in Shuldiner’s ruling, right?
Correct. W252DK was deleted from the FCC call letter database on Sept. 25, 2017.
As such, Arohi is starting all over again with a new facility on the same signal that caused trouble the first time around. The facility would rebroadcast 1kw Class C South Asian WDUR-AM 1490, which uses the HD4 signal of Capital Broadcasting’s WCMC-FM 99.9, licensed to Holly Springs, N.C.
While the highly reduced power may resolve the issue, it serves as a reminder that the balance between full-power stations that have benefited from serving cities for years simply due to their signal contour may soon be losing that advantage.
It all depends on how the FCC views co-channel interference, and how strong the LPFM lobby can sway the Pai Commission.
Updated at 2:50pm Eastern with comments from Tom Birch.
