REC History - 2004

The year starts off the 300th LPFM station filing their final license application. A whole bunch of Calvary Chapel LPFM applications are dismissed for having "cookie cutter" information. Using that case-law, REC files informal objections against 18 LPFM applications doing a similar cookie cutter method. So far, most of the applications have been dismissed. 2004 saw another rulemaking proposal for digital audio broadcasting, a contraversial proposal to allow wi-fi devices on TV channels, broadband over powerline, changes to the Amateur Radio Service, an AM broadcast filing window and the long awaited FM auction that netted millions of dollars for the FCC. 2004 was not a good year for Mercer Island High School in Washington State. The Class-D educational station KMIH, though secondary in nature (like LPFM) was being threatened by a very interesting attempt to move a rural Oregon station to the Seattle metro area. At the beginning of the year, this proceeding is still being reviewed. REC provided assistance in this case and made sure that Class-D FM stations were considered for protection in REC's filings. Some movement on the repeal of the third adjacent channel restrictions but not enough for any change. REC broadcast database services were converted from using legacy flat-files to SQL databases to improve the information given by our tools. REC filed significant comments in the broadcast localism proceeding as well as a proposal to restrict LPFM stations in New Jersey. REC took on Educational Media Foundation (K-Love and Air1) in comments made to the FCC regarding broadcast localism and the preclusion of local religious and secular radio by large chain religious organizations setting up de-facto national networks using full power and translator stations. REC reached out to EMF listeners to assure them that many of their stations were not going to be displaced based on REC's translator proposal. 2004 saw the granting of the first LPFM timeshare agreements and the dreaded consecutive licenses to those groups that could not agree. To celebrate REC's 20 year anniversary, all of the old REC Telephone Entertainment line recordings were placed online and a project was started to place old Observatory recordings online. At the end of the year, REC appeared for about 90 minutes on the "Tech This" radio show to discuss LPFM, the FCC, phones and virtually everything else. Anime Hardcore Radio and Hardcore J continued to play Japan's hottest music. Hardcore J's capacity was expanded in December for 2005. Ayaka Hirahara's hit "Jupiter" was this year's #1 song on the Hardcore J Top-100 of the Year.