The FCC concluded Monday that 36 filings in 14 states from the 2023 window had commonalities that violated its localism requirements, potentially in an effort to launch a nationwide LPFM network.
The articles of incorporation for all 36 applicants revealed that they were incorporated in Louisiana and identified Stephen Wade Rathke as the registered agent.
Whether or not Rathke was the party behind all of the applications was not the Media Bureau’s reason for rejecting them.
“However, the similarities between the applications lead us to tentatively conclude that all of the applications are under the control of Rathke, and that the applications were filed in an effort to circumvent the ownership restrictions of the LPFM service with the stated intention of establishing a prohibited LPFM network,” it said.
Rathke, a community and labor activist, is the licensee of WAMF(LP) in New Orleans and general manager of KABF(FM) in Little Rock, Ark.
When reached by Radio World Monday, Rathke, who founded the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, said that he saw the LPFM window as an opportunity for many organizations and communities to create a voice for people.
“We evangelized on a short timetable and found many people excited about applying,” he told us.
Each application identifies in its contact information, according to the Media Bureau, a local address that is either the residence or place of business of one of its directors or a “local sponsor and representative.”
But in the cases where the applicants have identified a “local sponsor and representative,” none of the applicants’ directors reside in the community of license identified in the application, the commission said.
The applications in question were filed for LPFM construction permits in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Virginia and Wyoming.
They each were filed under different entity names, such as Colorado Springs Community Radio.
The applications in question either listed a headquarters address in New Orleans, or listed addresses without documentation that the entity in question was physically headquartered there, according to the Media Bureau.
Under FCC rules, nonprofit LPFM applicants must be physically headquartered or have 75% of their board members residing within 10 miles of the proposed transmitter site in top 50 markets, or 20 miles in all other markets.
Commonalities
The Media Bureau’s decision follows several informal objections and petitions to deny, including filings by Albert Adam David, who pointed out that the applicants shared the same New Orleans headquarters.
According to the commission’s account, every application also lists Rathke, the director of the Affiliated Media Foundation, as its contact representative and provides an “@affiliatedmediamovement.org” email address, which is the domain name for the foundation.
“I was never a party-in-interest on any of these applications,” Rathke said. “I was listed as an advisor, and I was proud to help get these applications together, create the corporations, recruit boards and local sponsors. It’s what organizers do.”
According to the commission, material on the foundation’s website from July 2023 explicitly outlined plans to build a network by organizing nonprofits or contracting with local partners to operate stations and distribute content.
As far as a network is concerned, no LPFM licensee may enter into an operating agreement of any type, including a time brokerage or management agreement, with either a full-power broadcast station or another LPFM station, according to the commission’s rules.
Five applicant oppositions to the objections were filed and according to the commission, those appear to have been prepared by Rathke, based on the FCC’s review of the document metadata.
Communities “will be disappointed”
Per the FCC, 12 of the applications relied on addresses belonging to non-board “local sponsors or representatives” who had no operational role in the filing organizations. In two cases, according to the Media Bureau, Grand Junction Community Radio in Colorado and Worcester Community Radio in Massachusetts used local organizational addresses even after representatives expressed reservations or explicitly withdrew support.
You can read email exchanges included by the commission between the local sponsors and Rathke. It argued that the exchanges demonstrate insufficient evidence that the various applications were physically headquartered at the addresses submitted for their applications.
The commission ultimately dismissed the 36 filings for failing to comply with LPFM localism requirements.
“Just like many organizations in the nonprofit and religious sector, we created a network of support for people to try and get on the air,” Rathke told us. “The FCC didn’t see it that way, it seems, so many local people, organizations and communities will be disappointed.
“Maybe another time, they’ll have a chance,” he concluded.
Those dismissals impact three mutually exclusive groups: Delta 2000 in California, Northern Illinois Radio Broadcasting Association in Illinois and Expresso Latin Radio Inc., in Massachusetts, which as a result have been granted their applications.
The bureau noted that two other pending applications tied to Rathke, Woodbridge Community Radio and LEAD, will be addressed in a separate action.
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