The FCC has dismissed an LPFM application in Newport, R.I., after an objection revealed the applicant’s status as a nonprofit in the state had been revoked.
Iglesia Cristiana de Jehova filed an application to broadcast on 104.7 FM from Newport in the December 2023 LPFM window. The organization sought to air religious programming, including Bible study sessions, to Newport on its signal. In its December application for a CP, the organization indicated it was a registered nonprofit in the state of Rhode Island.
Aaron Read, a longtime broadcast engineer in the state, filed an informal objection to the application at the end of December. He referenced the Rhode Island Secretary of State corporation search database, where Iglesia Cristiana de Jehova was marked as a revoked entity in June 2022 for “failure to maintain a registered office.” The FCC requires that an applicant claiming eligibility as a nonprofit must certify it is recognized under state law at the time its application is submitted.
This is the second successful objection Read has filed in Rhode Island related to the 2023 LPFM window.
In response to Read’s objection, Iglesia Cristiana de Jehova filed an amendment with the commission in February. It claimed the members listed on its application did not receive notice of the state’s revocation due to “relocation.” The organization updated its office address information with the state of Rhode Island and, as of Jan. 16 of this year, it is a registered nonprofit in the state.
But the commission sided with Read and granted his objection. It said that Iglesia Cristiana de Jehova did not provide any evidence that it was performing the functions of a nonprofit entity at the time of its original December application filing. “We have found that an organization is ineligible to hold an NCE license when its corporate status has lapsed, or the corporation has been administratively dissolved, by the relevant secretary of state for failure to make required filings,” the commission said.
The commission decided to dismiss Iglesia Cristiana de Jehova’s Newport LPFM application. The organization has 30 days to file a petition for reconsideration, which would include evidence that it continued to qualify as a “de facto nonprofit entity” in the state during its lapse period.
[Related: “FCC Announces 109 MX Groups From 2023 LPFM Window“]
