The North Carolina-based radio station ownership group led by Tom Birch has 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.
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.
Birch argues that the interference area includes six North Carolina counties. The complaint filed with the Commission includes a map of the interference area, as well as eleven listener declarations of interference.
The story of W252EL, licensed to Curtis’ First State Communications, begins in late March 2020. It saw First State convert an LMA to an outright purchase of the facility, then at 98.5 MHz. At the time, it rebroadcast WPTF-AM 680 in Raleigh-Durham. Today, it is a signal that is part of “The Triangle’s Rock FM.”
According to Birch, Curtis provided notice to hin in 2021 that it was planning to file a Construction Permit to move the translator from 98.5 MHz to its current 98.3 MHz home.
Birch responded via e-mail, phone and “personal responses” that interference would occur to WLUS. He also provided Curtis with a map prepared by du Treil Engineering that provided “clear evidence of interference” to WLUS in six North Carolina counties.
The license application was approved by the Commission on August 23, 2021. Birch “immediately notified” Curtis of interference from WLUS listeners; Birch personally drove through the interference area, providing Curtis with four audio files demonstrating the issues. Communication was also initiated by Birch to First State manager Trip Savery.
Birch then hired noted broadcast contour specialist Cavell and Mertz to update the interference map for WLUS and to assist in the filing of a complaint by Birch’s FCC counsel Sciarrino & Shubert.
While Birch is disappointed by Curtis’ “refusal to consider our multiple requests and incontrovertible evidence that W252EL would unlawfully interfere with WLUS,” it remains to be determined if the interference areas are within what the FCC considers to be WLUS’s main broadcast area.
Birch comments, “It took us more than a year to remove interference from Arohi Media’s W252DK in 2016, but we are hopeful that the FCC complaint guidelines introduced in 2019 and the FCC’s knowledge of our 2016 experience will expedite the removal of W252EL interference to WLUS in 2024.”
In addition to WLUS, Lakes Media owns Classic Hits WKSK-FM and Urban AC WSHV-AM in South Hill, Va.; Adult Contemporary WHLF-FM in South Boston, Va.; and both Classic Country WMPW-AM and Classic Rock WWDN-AM in Danville, Va., along with those AM stations’ respective FM translators.
