An application for a new LPFM construction permit in Rhode Island has been granted by the FCC.
The Broadcast Learning Group (BLG), a nonprofit organization describing itself as teaching broadcasting to youth and interested parties for non-degree credit, applied for an LPFM station during the 2023 filing window. Initially, BLG was part of a mutually exclusive group for a proposed facility broadcasting on 96.5 FM in Woonsocket, R.I.
Aaron Read filed an informal objection against BLG’s application last December, arguing it should be dismissed on three grounds.
- First, BLG had emerged from the MX group by claiming a point for being a tribal entity. Read contended there was no documentation to support this claim.
- Second, BLG earned a point for having at least a two-year community presence at the time of filing. However, Read noted the organization’s incorporation date — listed as late December 2021 — was less than two years before its filing.
- Finally, Read highlighted a discrepancy in BLG’s channel availability study, which referenced 95.1 FM instead of its proposed frequency, 96.5 FM.
[Related: “FCC Dismisses Another Rhode Island LPFM Application”]
In its opposition letter, BLG acknowledged errors in its application, stating it mistakenly claimed a tribal point due to inexperience with FCC filing processes. It also admitted listing the wrong channel number in its engineering exhibit. In October, the nonprofit amended its application, formally requesting to broadcast on 95.1 FM. The FCC allows “major amendments” to pending LPFM applications from the 2023 filing window through Dec. 16.
The Media Bureau ruled in favor of BLG and granted its amendment. Since BLG’s application is now a singleton, the bureau no longer needed to evaluate its claimed points. It also found BLG’s technical exhibit sufficient to demonstrate it would not cause second-adjacent interference to Providence’s 95.5 WLVO(FM), a Class B station.
As a result, Broadcast Learning Group was granted an application for 95.1 FM construction permit. Its desired transmitting facility is located just south of the Rhode Island/Massachusetts border in Woonsocket, near a shopping center on Diamond Hill Road. BLG states it will use the station to educate the Woonsocket community in creating broadcast content.
