‘Extraordinary Relief’ Request Denied For Dead N. Mex. AM

A New Mexico licensee of an AM radio station with an FM translator in May voluntarily surrendered the station’s licenses, leading to their cancellation and the deletion of the call letters assigned to the facilities.

Three months later, a party with no relationship to the now-former licensee filed an “Emergency Petition for Extraordinary Relief” with the FCC. Why? It wants the licenses and call letters reinstated so may operate them.

That petition has been dismissed by Audio Division Chief Al Shuldiner. 

The “Emergency Petition,” filed on August 2 by the Albuquerque Board of Education, requested that the FCC reinstate the cancelled licenses of KRSN-AM 1490 in Los Alamos, N. Mex., and FM translator partner K296GI. 

Both the AM and the FM translator saw their licenses cancelled and their call letters deleted — at the request of Gillian Sutton, the owner.

The May 2023 action by Sutton was hardly news to locals in Los Alamos County, N. Mex. In August 2020, Gillian Sutton, who owned the station along with David Sutton, announced that KRSN would conclude broadcasting at the end of Sunday, August 30, 2020.

“With the cancellation of high school sports, events, the closure of small businesses and the struggles of those remaining (due to the COVID-19 pandemic), KRSN can no longer raise the advertising revenues it takes to run your free to you community radio station,” the Suttons said at the time.

For nearly three years, KRSN remained silent under Special Temporary Authority, with Gilliam Sutton finally turning in the station’s licenses earlier this year.

Enter the Albuquerque Board of Education, licensee of KANW-FM, the NPR Member station serving much of New Mexico known for its “New Mexico Spanish Music” afternoon block. Sensing an opportunity to add the dark AM and FM translator in Los Alamos, it asked Shuldiner to resurrect KRSN and the FM translator. This would allow KANW to run it “on an emergency basis.” The Albuquerque school board submitted a letter from Sutton in support of the plan, which would have returned local radio service to Los Alamos County.

Shuldiner said no, basically rendering the petition “procedurally defective” while noting the KANW owner lacked standing. He explained that the KRSN cancellation’s Public Notice was released on May 4, with any petition for reconsideration due on June 5.

RBR+TVBR OBSERVATION:

Where the heck was the Albuquerque Board of Education between September 1, 2020 and August 1, 2023? For more than 2 1/2 years, the KANW owner had an opportunity to work with Sutton on gaining control of the failed AM and its FM translator. To file such an “emergency petition,” especially as KANW’s signal at 89.1 MHz covers Los Alamos as a local, is gutsy. What about any other potential buyer? Why should the FCC give preferential treatment to a party that, while it has a letter of support for Sutton, didn’t contact a broker or a lawyer to actually try to buy the stations from her before she surrendered their licenses? Al Shuldiner did the right thing, and the KANW owner can now seek a new noncommercial facility, perhaps, with an adjustment to Los Alamos’ table of allotments should it really seek to serve Los Alamos County.