The FCC has dismissed an appeal from a Chicago LPFM station that had objected to a proposed translator move-in by another broadcaster.
The translator isn’t moving though. The commission says the translator in question was never moved and its deadline has passed, so the appeal is moot.
Sound of Hope Radio is the licensee of WQEG(LP), which broadcasts on 98.3 in Chicago. It was upset when the FCC Media Bureau granted an application from Edgewater Broadcasting to move translator W256CL on 99.1 MHz from Park Forest, Ill., to Chicago. That translator rebroadcasts the signal of iHeart station WLIT(FM).
Sound of Hope asked the FCC to reconsider but lost; the commission then issued a construction permit. Sound of Hope then came back with an application for review and a motion for stay.
Subsequently, however, Edgewater handed the translator license to Ohana Del Sol, which now holds it.
“Ohana failed to construct the translator’s modified facilities as authorized by June 5, 2022, the expiration date of the permit,” the FCC wrote this week. Thus the CP expired and was automatically forfeited.
Given that outcome, the FCC said it didn’t need to act further on the LPFM’s legal arguments.
