Eric Rhoads' Blog
FCC Rejects Appeal Of AM Allocation
November 6, 2009: The FCC has rejected a petition for reconsideration filed by Jet Fuel Communications over a dispositive preference granted to Bott Communications when the companies filed mutually exclusive application in AM Broadcast Auction 84 back in 2007.
Mutually exclusive applications would ordinarily be resolved by competitive bidding, but the FCC decided to grant the preference to Bott, on the grounds that its proposed city of license, Black Hawk, SD, meets more of the criteria the commission uses to determine independence from an urbanized area --in this case, Rapid City. Jet Fuel had proposed a station in Orchard Homes, MT, but the FCC concluded that a preponderance of the evidence showed that Orchard Homes is dependent on the Missoula urbanized area.
Jet Fuel filed a petition for reconsideration, but the FCC has now found that the petition was procedurally unacceptable at this early stage. Jet Fuel will have another opportunity to object when notice is issued that Bott's Form 301 has been accepted for filing.
The FCC has also denied a petition for reconsideration of a ruling that the license of A-O Broadcasting's KTMN-FM/Cloudcroft, NM, had expired due to its failure to operate for 12 consecutive months.
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