Quick action by an Iowa LPFM prevented displacement

Sat, 01/07/2012 - 02:59

The FCC has prevented an FM station from doing a metro "move-in".

The station at issue is KTIA-FM, currently licensed to Boone, IA to Truth Broadcasting. KTIA has filed a minor change application to move the station to Johnston, IA. In response, LPFM station KFMG-LP, licensed to Des Moines Community Radio Foundation filed an informal objection.

The issue at hand is whether the community of license change would result in a preferential arrangement of allotments in comparison with its current service.

In support of their application, Truth claims that the proposal satisfies Priority 3 of the four allotment priorities because the proposed change would provide a first local service to Johnston and Boone would continue to maintain 3 services (2 AMs and 1 FM). They state that KTIA would get a net gain of 312,451 persons with this move-in. This move-in would also allow KTIA to provide service to 78% of the Des Moines urbanized area. Currently, KTIA does not cover any part of Des Moines or any other urban area.

In order for an allotment to be given priority as a first local service, there must be proof that the proposed community of license is truly independent of the urbanized area, the community's specific need for an outlet for local expression separate of the urban area and the ability for the new station to provide such an outlet. This is also referred to as a Tuck analysis.

In the FCC's analysis of this application:

  • The extent of the coverage to 78% of the Des Moines urbanized area can be seen as a move-in on Des Moines rather than Johnston.
  • Johnston is a suburb of Des Moines, 13.5 miles from the city center and less than 8 miles from the outer boundary.
  • While Johnston has their own local government, they receive bus service through the Des Moines transit agency.
  • Johnston and Des Moines are in the same advertising markets.
  • Johnston is included in the same telephone directory that covers Des Moines.
  • Residents of Johnston are more likely to work in Des Moines than in Johnston itself.

Based on this analysis, the FCC can look at the application under Priority 4, other public interest considerations. The FCC determined that consistent with their goal of protecting listeners in smaller communities from loss of transmission services that the public interest will be better served by keeping KTIA in Boone. KTIA is being given an opportunity to dispute any of the FCC's findings that lead to their decision.

If this application would have been granted, it would have resulted in a first adjacent channel encroachment to KFMG-LP which would have resulted in displacement of the station to either a second adjacent waiver situation or completely off the air.

REC reminds all LPFM licensees to monitor the LPFM Encroachment Report and the FCC Broadcast Applications public notice in the Daily Digest to assure that your station does not get encroached. Also, learn about the allotment policy for commercial FM stations including the Tuck criteria, especially if you are an urban LPFM. The timely action of KFMG-LP triggered to put KTIA's application under additional scruitny resulting in the prevention of a fateful end to another LPFM.

Over the years, REC has been involved in stopping abuses of community of license both in the former allotment process and in the current processes. REC still calls on the FCC to modernize the Tuck third-prong criteria to determine a community's independence from an urban area. You can find the current Tuck criteria and our proposed changes in our Comments on MB Docket 05-210. In 2006, the FCC declined to make any changes to the Tuck criteria mainly to reduce confusion to broadcasters who were already going to have many procedure changes that came out of this docket. The KTIA change was attempted under the community of license change application process that was established in MB Docket 05-210.

REC remains opposed to the current application process to change community of license and we remain opposed to the use of any kind of facility change to move rural FM stations into a metropolitan area, regardless of the impact to LPFM.

FCC letter to KTIA-FM denying the community of license change.

Report and Order in MB Docket 05-210 that outlines the new change in community process.