Non-commercial broadcasters have known since February that a reserved band FM translator window was coming. Now they have the details. The FCC’s Media Bureau has set the application window dates and released the full framework governing eligibility.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, during the 3-0 vote that launched the process in February, said the window would particularly benefit educational broadcasters seeking to reach remote, rural, and underserved communities.
The window opens at 12:01a ET on August 11 and closes at 6p ET on August 25. Applications must be filed electronically through the FCC Licensing Management System. A freeze on LPFM, FM translator, and FM booster minor modification applications, reserved and non-reserved band alike, takes effect July 10 and runs through the close of the window.
Eligibility is limited to existing NCE FM, noncommercial AM, or LPFM licensees or permittees whose proposed translator would rebroadcast their primary station. The Commission has proposed a general cap of ten applications per applicant entity nationwide. Tribal LPFM applicants are capped at four; all other LPFM applicants are capped at two.
Competing applications that cannot be simultaneously granted will enter a point system awarding up to seven merit points across four criteria: established local applicant, diversity of ownership, state-wide network, and technical parameters. Fill-in translators whose predicted coverage falls entirely within the primary station’s protected service area receive priority.
Tiebreakers run in this order: fewest attributable radio authorizations, fewest pending applications, and earliest filing time within the window.
Applicant qualifications for points are measured as of the August 25 deadline. Changes after that date can only hurt a comparative position, not improve it. Applications filed outside LMS, submitted before August 11, or received after the 6p ET deadline will be dismissed; dismissed applicants have 30 days to file a minor curative amendment and petition for reconsideration.
