FCC So Far Not Allowing Area Low Power FM CPs

To date, numerous applications for low power FM stations in San Diego county filed during the October-November 2013 window have been dismissed due to violations of 2nd adjacent channel spacing rules.

In March, applications by Dennis Newsome and The Rice Church for 101.1 MHz stations were rejected. Each is inside the 2nd adjacent channel interference zones for KFMB-FM and KGB-FM in San Diego. Other applicants for 101.1 have yet to be addressed.

An application for 99.5 MHz in Fallbrook dismissed in January has been appealed after moving transmitter location and is awaiting approval.

The FCC requires that applicants have no potential listeners in the calculated 2nd adjacent interference zone, making it virtually impossible to create a low power FM station in a highly populated area or between large markets.

A number of other local applications were objected to by REC Networks earlier, with some of those applications having been withdrawn and others not addressed yet by the FCC. Those objections were based on the allegation that hundreds of applications were filed by the same entity. The FCC requires that each LPFM application be filed by a unique, local person or group.

Interestingly, numerous 2nd adjacent FM stations co-exist just across the border in Tijuana. The practical interference zone for these stations decreases to zero when stations are co-located.