In response to a Petition for Rulemaking submitted by a radio station owner just one week ago, the Media Bureau is now seeking comment on a proposal that would create a new FM station class.
Importantly, this proposed FM station class would supersede a dormant plan that would have established a new “Class C4” category of FM stations in the U.S.
In a surprise public notice distributed by the FCC on Thursday (6/20), the Bureau’s Audio Chief, Al Shuldiner, moved forward with establishing a comment and reply comment period on the petition submitted by Commander Communications Corp., filed with the Commission on June 13.
Commander is the owner of Class A WRTM-FM 100.5 in Sharon, Miss., which has a rim-shot signal covering Jackson, Miss., from the north. Its President is Carl Haynes.
Haynes believes the FCC should create a “Class A10” designation for FM stations, permitting a maximum of 10kw effective radiated power (ERP) and 100 meters (328.08 feet) height above average terrain.
With the new “Class A10” designation, existing stations would be able to amend their facilities to accommodate or embrace the new class.
A July 22 Comment Date and a August 21 Reply Comment Date are in place.
A HOPEFUL MOVEMENT FORWARD
WRTM is presently licensed for 4,600 watts at 374 feet as a Class A. With a “Class A10” proposal, Haynes believes the changes would serve the public interest and benefit listeners “with reliable signals” in times of emergency.
How would other stations be potentially impacted by a new Class A10 FM?
Commander offers the following:
Other amendments proposed by Commander can be found here.
What makes the Class A10 proposal differ from the Class C4 plan, which has been dormant for some six years at the Commission? While each offers a maximum height of 100m above average terrain, the Class C4 ERP limit was 12kw. The Class A10 proposal also be available to licensed stations regardless of the “Zone” the station is in, as determined by the Commission; the Class C4 plan was limited to “Zone II” facilities.
To be clear, the Class A10 proposal is not a reworking of the Class C4 proposal that Matthew Wesolowski of SSR Communications had been advocating for. His efforts began in earnest in January 2013, when SSR co-drafted a Petition for Rulemaking along with the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council (MMTC) requesting the “Class C4” allocation. In April 2014, due to inaction at the FCC, Wesolowski reached out to the industry for its support of his proposal, which would have directly benefited his company’s WYAB-FM 103.9 in Flora, Miss., a Class C3 FM serving Jackson.
Ajit Pai, then a Commissioner of the FCC, said at the 2016 Radio Show in Nashville that he supported Wesolowski’s plan. He then became Chairman of the Commission, and in February 2018 moved forward with a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking squarely focused on the Class C4 proposal from Wesolowski.
Despite those efforts, nothing moved forward at the Commission; the NAB opposed Wesolowski’s plan, on the grounds that it would increase interference on the FM band.
Meanwhile, an effort to bring geo-targeted radio to life, pushed by GeoBroadcast Solutions so it could bring to market its “ZoneCasting” technology, gained traction at the FCC. It eventually saw the permissive use of FM boosters as a program originator for select minutes of every hour, essentially giving GBS the green light to offer rim-shot FMs an opportunity to hyperlocalize its advertising, weather, traffic and other information.
Interestingly, one of the two beta tests for “ZoneCasting” happened to take place in Jackson, Miss., with Roberts Broadcasting’s WRBJ-FM 97.7 in Brandon, Miss., a key facility that was integral to the Commission’s OK of the GBS proposal.
