Three low-power FM applications associated with alleged serial-applicant Antonio Cesar Guel were dismissed by the FCC on Wednesday. In all three cases the Commission found that the applicant addresses provided to the FCC were not legitimate.
In perhaps the most absurd case, the headquarters location listed for Beaumont Iglesias Cristo Viene turned out to be a vacant lot. The same address was cited as the residence of one the organization’s board members. On top of that, the home addresses for two other board members turned out to be a different church and a daycare.
In the case of the North Longview Hispanic Education Family Foundation in Longview, Texas, the FCC found that the address listed for the organization and all three of its board members is actually a Church of Christ. However, staff at the church told the Commission that the organization had never been headquartered there.
The situation is similar with the South Victoria Hispanic Education Family Foundation. Again, the same address was listed for the organization and all of its board members. And, surprise surprise, turns out that the property is owned by a church whose staff say that organization was never there.
A cornerstone of LPFM is that stations are owned and operated by truly local non-profit organizations, and that organizations do not own more than one station. A major test of localness is that the applicant/licensee has its physical headquarters within 10 miles of the station’s transmitter in the top 50 urban markets, or within 20 miles in all other markets. Another qualifier is that 75% of board members must reside within these same geographical limits. Of course, that headquarters has to actually exist to even evaluate this.
In happier news, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports on KIOF-LP which just went on the air last month as Las Vegas Public Radio. In Springdale, Arkansas there is a relatively new LPFM that broadcasts in the Marshallese, according to the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette, serving local residents who have Marshall Islands heritage. The station operates alongside a Marshallese newspaper.
Finally, the Harbor Country News reports that WNBI-LP, which is operated by New Buffalo Schools in New Buffalo, Michigan, is now broadcasting “around-the-clock” which a schedule that includes “easy listening and light rock to rhythm and blues, country and Motown music.”
