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FCC Turns Down LPFM Application for Page, Ariz.

Media Bureau said Lake Powell Community Radio failed to meet several criteria

A view at sunset looking down at the Horseshoe Bend in the Colorado River near Page, Arizona. The river coils far below the viewer and is surrounded by colorful stone formations.
Horseshoe Bend is a feature of the Colorado River near Page, Ariz., where the applicant hoped to start an LPFM station. (Getty Images/AMSR)

The Federal Communications Commission has rejected an application for a low-power FM station in Page, Ariz.

A group called Lake Powell Community Radio applied in last year’s LPFM window, saying it wanted to serve Page as well as parts of the Lake Powell area and a Navajo Nation community at Lechee.

The group certified that it is a nonprofit educational institution and that its headquarters and 75% of its board members reside within 20 miles of the proposed transmitter site. It also said it was proposing a public safety radio service.

But Albert Adam David filed an informal objection, as he has done with other FCC applications in the past.

He told the FCC that Lake Powell Community Radio had failed to provide an explanatory exhibit showing that it is a nonprofit educational organization, tribe or tribal organization, or public safety radio service.

He also pointed out that Lake Powell provided only a post office box address for its organization and sole member, failing to demonstrate that it met “community based criteria requirements,” and that it had given to documentation to support that it will offer a public safety radio service.

Lake Powell Community Radio did not file a response to his objection.

Now the FCC Media Bureau has ruled that Lake Powell failed to provide evidence demonstrating that it is recognized as a nonprofit educational institution or organization in any state. It added that a search of the Arizona Corporation Commission’s database shows no registered entity with that name.

Nor does the organization meet the FCC’s definition of “public safety radio services,” which include police, fire and emergency medical services; internal services for noncommercial use by entities such as utilities and railroads; and internal radio systems used by not-for-profits providing emergency road services. The application didn’t describe any such proposed service.

Last, the FCC said Lake Powell fails to satisfy the LPFM localism requirements, in part because it had listed a post office box as the sole address for its headquarters and sole member’s residence, which is not sufficient.

So the Media Bureau has dismissed the application. It noted that in such cases, an applicant has one opportunity to file a minor curative amendment and petition for reconsideration, which must be filed within 30 days.

 

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