As part of an FCC initiative to bring new noncommercial FM radio stations to life, the Media Bureau conducted an auction. As part of the recent affair, mutually exclusive (MX) applicants arose, as is normal in such endeavors. For one MX group, the Media Bureau identified a tentative selectee.
That brought forth a petition to deny from one of the two other applicants. And, they’ve gotten their wish.
Full Potential Ministry had all but sealed the Construction Permit for a new facility in Mississippi.
However, fellow applicant Open Sky Radio Corporation felt otherwise, and filed the Petition to Deny with the FCC.
The petition was granted, and Open Sky is getting the noncommercial FM CP.
In its original assessment, the Bureau found that the Full Potential Ministry application, which proposed a second NCE service, exceeded Open Sky’s application for a second NCE service by more than 5,000 people. On that judgment alone, FPM was identified as the tentative selectee.
Open Sky, in its petition, argued that the Bureau improperly relied on a revised fair distribution document that FPM provided after the close of the window; the original document didn’t include population numbers.
Interestingly, Free Potential Ministry didn’t file an opposition to the Open Sky petition.
Was Open Sky accurate in its description of what transpired? After the close of the filing window, the Bureau staff says it received an email from FPM’s engineer stating that he had experienced problems with the LMS filing system and asked to replace the original
fair distribution exhibit with a revised one. The Bureau staff misconstrued this email as suggesting that LMS had not accepted the original fair distribution exhibit. However, LMS had in fact accepted this exhibit, which was missing several population figures, and it is clear that FPM simply uploaded the incorrect attachment.
“The Commission and the Bureau have consistently rejected similar post-window
amendments, which claim, for the first time, a fair distribution preference, or which attempt to correct population figures,” Audio Division Chief Al Shuldiner determined.
As such, Open Sky is now the tentative future licensee of a station serving Clarksdale, Miss.
