The FCC has released the winners of another twenty-six full-power noncommercial FM broadcast licenses from the 2007 application window [PDFs: 1, 2]. Like the fifty-seven licenses announced in February, the winners in this set were chosen from amongst two or more mutually-exclusive applications. The Commission uses a point system to judge which group should receive a noncommercial FM license amongst multiple competitors. The system awards points with preference to candidates that are locally headquartered with an “established” presence, do not have a controlling interest in another nearby station and which propose to serve the largest number of people.
The owner of WSCA-LP was awarded a full-power NCE license.
Amongst the other twenty-two license winners there were six universities and colleges, with New Mexico Highlands University winning a total of three. One independent Catholic school, Vineyard Academy, won a license for Vicksburg, MI. The vast majority of licenses–fourteen–went to churches or other religious organizations.
One of the most interesting winners is the Committe for the Rescue and Development of Vieques in Puerto Rico, which is apparently dedicated to the rehabilitation of this region that has been used for military exercises–including bombing–by the US military. A couple of other interesting community groups that won licenses are Neighborhoods United for a Better Alachua in High Springs, FL and North Curry Families and Childrens Center in Port Orford, OR. It also looks like the Americana music group the Western Oregon Opry won a license in Cottage Grove, OR.
There are also a couple of mysterious winners of licenses. One of them is the B. Stephen Demchuk Foundation in Glen Spey, NY. It is listed as an IRS 170(b)1)(a)(vi) community foundation, but I cannot easily find any information about what the foundation actually does. The best I can figure out is that the applicant, Julian Demchuk, seems to be active in the Ukranian-American community.
Another mysterious winner is ST’AL-SQUIL-XW of Kettle Falls, WA. Looking at the name I’m guessing it may be a Native American associated group. The group has received grants from the Environmental Support Center, so it’s not a bad guess to say that it has an environmental outlook, too.
Overall I’m glad to see that some groups dedicated to a variety of community work, in addition to arts and culture, were able to win licenses.
I should note that these awards are still tentative because there is now a thirty-day period for filing peitions to deny against any of the winners. For better or worse, in practice it’s highly unlikely for such a petition to be successful. Nevertheless, it could happen.
