Eight LPFM applications for construction permits in the Texas panhandle were dismissed after objections were raised with the FCC over applicants’ attributable interests and nonprofit standing in the state. The commission also found that the applicants lacked reasonable site assurance for their transmitter sites.
LPFM radio applications were filed during the December 2023 window for the cities of Amarillo, Cactus, Canyon and Dumas.
The applications were:
- Amarillo: Refugee Advancement Media Project Amarillo, 98.3 FM
- Cactus: Ethne Radio Cactus, 106.5 FM, and Refugee Advancement Media Project Cactus, 99.1 FM
- Canyon: Refugee Advancement Media Project Canyon, 92.5 FM, and Ethne Radio Canyon, 103.5 FM
- Dumas: Ethne Radio Dumas, 102.5 FM, Life Point Church Radio Dumas, 106.1 FM, and Refugee Advancement Media Project Dumas, 107.5 FM
All of the listed applicants were outreach organizations affiliated with parent ministry Christian Life Church in Lubbock, according to the Media Bureau.
REC Networks filed objections against six of the eight applications in January. It noted that none of the applicants were recognized as organizations in the state of Texas. The organizational documents the applicants provided, REC noted, did not include any evidence of legal standing in the state. As the commission has stated, “an applicant’s status as a valid nonprofit organization at the time it files its application is fundamental to determination of the applicant’s qualifications to hold an LPFM authorization.”
In addition to questions about some of the applicants’ legal standing in Texas, REC said all eight applications had numerous similarities with other LPFM applications in the state, indicating “prohibited cross-ownership and hidden parties in interest.”
In total, REC identified 10 separate applications with commonalities, including 99.1 KRAP(LP), which was granted a CP on July 9 and was verified as a nonprofit in the state.
REC said all 10 applications used the same email address, identifying as the Ethene Group, and the same contact phone number. Four of the applications used the same N. Meredith Ave. address in Dumas as its headquarters. The applications also sported the same mission statements verbatim.
“In a service with an ownership limit of one station, there should not be ten applications with the same telephone number and email address for the licensee,” REC wrote in its objection. The LPFM advocate emphasized the service was originally created in 2000 so distinct voices can be heard.
The applicants collectively responded to REC by pointing to definition of a nonprofit in Chapter 252 of the Texas Business Organizations Code. They added “although parent ministry Christian Life Church in Lubbock has planted refugee-related outreach organizations in several Texas communities,” each outreach organization is a fully-local organization with “specific educational purpose related to their people-group outreach, unique staff and full autonomy from the parent church.”
REC responded in turn by citing a lack of evidence on the applicants’ part of how each organization upholds the law, other than by quoting it.
The commission sided with REC. It said the applicants “failed to demonstrate that they are eligible to hold LPFM licenses as recognized nonprofit unincorporated associations in Texas.” Because the applicants are not separately incorporated, the commission said the applications were in violation of its policy regarding attributable interests in other broadcast stations. And it said the commonalities REC highlighted “suggest a significant degree of interconnectedness and a lack of a distinct local presence and mission.”
The FCC said the organizational documents for the eight applications listed in its dismissal are “nearly identical, differing only in the organization’s name and officers.”
The commission also found that each of the applications lacked reasonable site assurance for their desired transmitter sites. It noted the Refugee Advancement Media Project Amarillo said it owned its desired site; but KRAP(LP)’s application, as well as a mutually exclusive application for Ethene Radio Amarillo, also claimed ownership of the same site.
“Either these three applicants are not legally distinguishable from each other, or only one owns the site,” the commission wrote. It concluded that the remaining seven applications also lacked site assurance by failing to provide details for the site owners listed.
As a result, the eight applications for the outreach organizations affiliated with Christian Life Church were dismissed. Each of the applications stated the station’s purpose was to support refugees and immigrants and influence them through biblical teaching and Christian worship.
