Press Communications believes that its country-formatted 106.3 WKMK(FM) has many listeners in the New York City metropolitan area.
And after the company raised an objection to a move of a translator that it argued would cause interference within its protected signal contour, the Federal Communications Commission is taking its side.
In October 2024, Family Stations sought to operate its New York W292FV(FM) 106.3 FM translator in the Bronx after it lost its lease for a transmitter site in Westchester County. The FCC granted Family’s application.
But Press Communications argued that would cause interference to listeners of its same-channel Class A FM, licensed to Eatontown in Monmouth County.
Press and Family Stations exchanged objections and replies. Among its contentions, Press believed that, due to the translator’s license nearing expiration due to a year-long period of silence because of that loss of lease, Family Stations was using the deadline for action to spur the commission in making a decision on the grant, and thus, not giving Press the time it needed to gather listener interference complaints.
The FCC granted the petition and license objection from Press, accepted its showing of predicted interference to country-formatted WKMK(FM) in Eatontown, Monmouth County, rescinded the grant of a modified application and returned the translator’s license to pending status.
For Family Stations, the outcome may not be a huge detriment to its desire to be heard on a Manhattan-based FM signal. This month, it purchased 107.9 W300EI(FM) from Apple 107.1 Inc. for $425,000 to relay Family Radio from 1560 WFME(AM). The translator is located on the east side of lower Manhattan.
The religious network is also heard on Class A 106.3 WYMK(FM), licensed to Mount Kisco, N.Y., in Westchester County.
Particulars
In December 2023, Family submitted a silent special temporary authority request for the translator, reporting that it had been off the air since that October due to a loss of its transmitter site lease in New Rochelle, N.Y. It operated with two watts from a site just east of the campus of Iona University.
A year later, just before its license would potentially expire, Family filed a modification for a new site to the southwest within the New York City limits in the Bronx, just north of The Bronx Zoo.
Press objected, arguing that the modified facilities would cause interference within WKMK’s 45 dBu signal strength contour, which it said covers approximately 3.9 million people across the New York metropolitan area.
(Read the commission’s full decision.)
The company provided the names and locations of 15 WKMK listeners within the interference zone and said it was in the process of obtaining signed declarations from those listeners.
In response to the objection, Family modified its application by reducing the translator’s operating power in the Bronx from five watts to a half watt. That reduction, Family said, would eliminate interference to all but two of WKMK’s listener complainants.
But Press filed another objection, arguing the proposed facilities would still cause interference and that one watt of effective radiated power is the lowest authorized in the FCC’s rules. It also identified additional listeners subject to experiencing interference.
Press requested the application not be granted until it had reasonable time to supplement its original objection.
The Media Bureau granted the modification that October. Family then filed for a license application, which included program test authority. Press contended that Family put the FCC “in the position of having to act quickly” on its application to prevent the license from expiring.
Following an exchange of further objections and replies, Press argued in November 2024 that the central issue in the proceeding was that the FCC failed to provide Press with “any time” to put together an interference package pursuant to the commission’s rules, thus “effectively precluding Press” from participating in the proceeding.
Upon engineering review, the Media Bureau found that Press had satisfied its requirements for a reconsideration and established that interference was predicted to occur to WKMK at the time the petition was filed.
“We caution Family against future reliance on processing staff’s willingness to accommodate last-minute filings and emphasize that timely restoration of permanent facilities is the responsibility of the licensee and should be undertaken expeditiously,” the bureau wrote.
W292FV, as a result, will return to its previously licensed facilities from the New Rochelle site.
Because the translator did receive program test authority to operate from the Bronx site, however, it is not currently in danger of losing its license due to the period of silence, the Media Bureau said.
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