As September began, it became known that the North Carolina-based radio station ownership group led by Tom Birch had filed a 53-page interference complaint against a licensee led by one of the region’s biggest local broadcast leaders. It pits Birch’s Lakes Media LLC against Don Curtis, and a Class C3 FM licensed to Clarksville, Va., against a 150-watt FM translator designed to expressly serve the cities of Cary and Raleigh.
Nothing has transpired as of yet at the FCC, and he’s written to the Chairwoman to plead for its review.
In an e-mail sent to Jessica Rosenworcel directly, and to radio industry trade publications who were copied on the correspondence, Birch is “respectfully requesting” that she reads an attached letter and urges her staff to quickly act on its complaint, filed September 5.
According to Birch, tiny W252EL at 98.3 MHz in Cary, N.C., is interfering with the southern 45 dBu contour of WLUS-FM, also at 98.3 and serving Henderson, N.C., from across the state line.
W252EL is owned by First State Communications.
As RBR+TVBR previously reported, this is the second time in eight years that a FM translator has caused interference to WLUS. And, Birch notes, “It took the FCC over a year to act on our 2016 complaint against Arohi Media’s W252DK interference.”
Birch not only wants the immediate cessation of service from W252EL but also asks that Rosenworcel and fellow members of the FCC consider adoptions of proposed reforms of procedures regarding translator licensing and response to interference Birch has presented to the Commission.
In the letter to Rosenworcel, Birch believes First State will be liable for a fine, based on the population of the interference area, ranging from $100,000 to $1 million. “The industry needs fairness and intelligence in FCC regulation of translator interference and there needs to be a firewall to prevent ruthless operators from considering applications for facilities that might impair any of the coverage areas of full-power licensees,” he said in the letter to the Chairwoman.
