The FCC is proposing the deletion of a Class C FM allocation southwest of Houston. Station KJOJ, its former occupant, has been silent since its tower collapsed several years ago.
The commission’s Audio Division is considering deleting 103.3 FM, allocated to Freeport, determining it no longer complies with minimum distance separation requirements.
KJOJ operated as a “rimshotter” into the Houston market. Its nearly 2,000-foot-tall tower stood west of the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge, about 10 miles southwest of Freeport and about 65 miles southwest of downtown Houston.
Operating with 100,000 watts ERP, it ran in tandem with 98.5 FM in Port Arthur, a Class C FM signal about 30 miles east of Houston, since 1996.
But the station went silent in 2020 after its tower collapsed. Owner Liberman Broadcasting took it silent and it never returned.
By 2022, the license had expired and was not renewed.
Following the tower collapse, 7430 Technologies petitioned the FCC to amend the table of allotments to include a Class C2 allocation in Wharton, which is about 40 miles north of where KJOJ’s tower once stood, as Radio World reported. The commission granted that request after no counter-proposals or opposition comments were filed.
Now, since the two allocations are obviously short-spaced — well less than the required spacing of about 155 miles — the commission’s Audio Division is proposing that the Class C allocation in Freeport be deleted.
While the commission typically reinstates vacant channels in the FM table to preserve future licensing opportunities, the Audio Division said it proposed deleting this allocation due to the spacing violation.
Comments on the deletion are being sought through March 13, with reply comments due March 30. Any party interested in retaining the allocation must provide evidence that it is technically feasible.
103.3 Freeport’s history dates back to a construction permit granted in 1985, originally as KGLF. It gained the KJOJ calls in 1990. In 1996, KJOJ began simulcasting the then-smooth jazz format of Port Arthur’s 98.5 KHYS.
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