FCC Posts Long List of San Diego Area LPFM Hopefuls

The FCC wasted no time in posting to its database all of the 2,819 LPFM applications filed during the October-November 2013 window.

A search of all L1 FM applications entered during November finds 18 San Diego County listings within 80km of Mt. Woodson.

A number of interesting patterns emerge. Most applicants are area churches. Many are mutually exclusive, with four applicants each on 93.7 and 101.1 MHz and two each on 95.3 and 103.3 MHz. Interestingly, some of the applicants, including one in Chula Vista, were registered as being given 100W when they are within the Mexican border zone that limits maximum power to 50W ERP. Since only one station will occupy each channel, the FCC will have to work with the mutually exclusive applicants using a published scoring system to determine the winner of the channel. In the event of a tie, licensees will be asked to share or give up their claim for a construction permit.

When the FCC will issue the construction permits associated with this filing window is unknown. There was speculation that it might take five to six months to sort through the applications, but with the FCC out of business for nearly a month during the October government shutdown, the backlog of filings may delay release of those construction permits.