The FCC has dismissed a CP for a new LPFM in Florida for failing to meet its nonprofit organization requirements.
The Kissimmee-based Saint Cloud Community Mission filed an application during the 2023 filing window to construct an LPFM station on 93.7 FM in St. Cloud.
In its filing, the organization stated that it had been a nonprofit organization in Florida since 2020. It provided a notarized document as evidence. However, it did not include any articles of incorporation, according to the commission.
Manuel Arroyo, licensee of three Florida FM translators, filed an informal objection to Saint Cloud’s application.
Arroyo argued that Saint Cloud’s corporate filing date was not until Dec. 19, 2023 and that it was not effectively incorporated in Florida until Jan. 1, 2024. Arroyo noted that both of these dates fell after the LPFM filing window closed on Dec. 15.
He also argued that the state of Florida does not recognize unincorporated nonprofit associations as legal entities.
Arroyo said the application fails to demonstrate that Saint Cloud is eligible to hold an LPFM license and therefore should be dismissed.
According to the FCC’s rules, applicants organized as nonprofit educational institutions, corporations or entities under state law are eligible to apply for a CP. “Although some states recognize unincorporated nonprofit entities, the vast majority of LPFM licensees and permittees are incorporated through their Secretaries of State as nonprofits,” the commission states on its website.
Oppositions and replies
Multiple replies were exchanged between Saint Cloud and Arroyo, which the commission has on file.
(Read the FCC’s decision regarding the Saint Cloud Community Mission LPFM CP application.)
Saint Cloud submitted a letter of opposition to the commission stating that the effective date of its Florida corporate filing was one day before the LPFM window closed. The organization acknowledged filing for nonprofit status with the Florida Department of State on Dec. 19 but explained that state law allows applicants to specify an effective date up to five days before filing.
The organization said it intended to use Dec. 14 as its effective date, but a third party inadvertently entered Jan. 1, 2024, instead. Saint Cloud later filed an amendment with the Florida Department of State to correct the error.
Saint Cloud also submitted a letter from its attorney stating that the organization was formed as a “partnership” in 2020 and is recognized as a Florida business entity.
Arroyo then replied, arguing that a partnership, by definition, is a for-profit entity. He reiterated that Florida does not recognize unincorporated nonprofits as business entities. He also asserted that Saint Cloud’s amendment was “untimely” and proposes a major change.
Saint Cloud responded, arguing that Arroyo lacked standing to file a petition against it and that because no challenge to its corporate status had been made in Florida court, the FCC should disregard Arroyo’s arguments.
[Related: “FCC Turns Down LPFM Application for Page, Ariz.”]
In June, Saint Cloud amended its application to include a statement from the Florida Department of State correcting its effective date.
The FCC’s decision
The Media Bureau found that Arroyo did, in fact, have standing to challenge Saint Cloud’s application as FCC rules allow “any person” to file informal objections to application grants.
It ultimately granted Arroyo’s objection and dismissed Saint Cloud’s application.
“An LPFM must meet basic eligibility requirements and the commission found Saint Cloud failed to meet the requirements in terms of corporate status and not being incorporated in the state of Florida,” the Media Bureau wrote.
Regarding Saint Cloud’s corporate status, the commission did not accept the organization’s retroactive filing with the state of Florida. “The commission has stated that applicants must be incorporated or otherwise organized in a form recognized under state law at the time of filing their applications in order to be eligible for an LPFM authorization,” it wrote.
Regarding Arroyo’s argument that a partnership — the structure Saint Cloud’s attorney claimed it had used in 2020 — is by definition a for-profit organization, the commission noted that Saint Cloud’s notarized bylaws were not created until Nov. 30, 2023, in preparation for its corporate filings, and that these bylaws were the only document originally provided to support its nonprofit status.
“Based on Saint Cloud’s admission that it was organized as a partnership under Florida law and that partnerships are inherently for profit under Florida law, we cannot find that Saint Cloud was a nonprofit entity recognized under Florida,” the commission wrote.
As a result, the FCC dismissed Saint Cloud Community Mission’s LPFM CP.
The organization stated it intended to use the station to work with local schools and churches to produce educational and informational programming. It also planned to devote large blocks of programming to Spanish-speaking members of the Kissimmee-St. Cloud area.
