An embattled FM translator in Phoenix, Ariz., may be getting a new lease on life.
In May, the FCC canceled the licenses of Radio Hogar’s 1540 KASA(AM), as well as its associated 106.7 FM translator. The translator was said to have broadcast original programming throughout 2022 and 2023 while the primary AM was either silent or operating from an STA site that had expired.
In the cancellation, the Media Bureau referenced the translator’s relationship to KASA “in perpetuity.” Radio Hogar contends, in a petition it filed in June, that the 106.7 translator should not be linked to KASA; however, its original license, granted in 2016, linked the FM translator to the primary station for four years.
Radio Hogar said it should have an opportunity, through an STA, to have the translator rebroadcast 1280 KXEG(AM), licensed to Phoenix, instead.
The FCC sided with Radio Hogar, to an extent.
It is giving the translator a chance to return to the air, with one condition. The translator’s owner must provide engineering evidence that its new facility for the translator will not cause interference to surrounding full-service stations, including same-channel, full-power station 106.7 KFUE.
Entravision owns KFUE, licensed to Buckeye, Ariz., — a westernmost suburb in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area — and it has expressed concern throughout the ordeal, including in response to Radio Hogar’s latest petition.
Entravision originally filed an interference complaint last December, citing 28 reports of KFUE’s signal being impacted within its 45 dBu contour, the threshold at which the commission considers translator interference complaints. Radio Hogar’s translator is 31 miles east of KFUE’s. Entravision contends that Radio Hogar must first address the interference before returning the translator to the air.
“We agree with Entravision that Radio Hogar must show that the translator will not cause predicted interference and will take immediate steps to address any actual interference, prior to our considering any reinstatement of the translator license,” the Media Bureau wrote. It had originally dismissed Entravision’s interference complaint as moot due to the superseding of KASA’s STA expiration. The commission admitted the perpetuity condition was placed on the 106.7 translator by mistake.
In the FCC’s 2017 and 2018 Auction 99 and Auction 100 windows, AM stations could apply for an FM translator. The stations involved were mainly seeking a low-cost opportunity after missing out on the 2016 window, so the commission placed a condition that the applicants could not transfer an authorization to another party, hence, the “in perpetuity” condition.
But the perpetuity condition did not apply to Radio Hogar’s 106.7. “The Bureau was unaware of this error until (Radio Hogar) brought it to our attention in the petition. Administrative agencies have authority to correct inadvertent administrative errors, and we find that such action is appropriate here,” the Media Bureau wrote.
The commission also noted that, even if the translator were to return to the air, Radio Hogar would be responsible for any action it takes regarding the original programming violations the translator was found to be producing.
Radio Hogar has 60 days to file a request to modify the terminated license for the translator, with the engineering evidence the commission seeks.
The station Radio Hogar wishes the 106.7 translator to rebroadcast — 1280 KXEG — is currently being sold by Stephen Sloan. Radio Hogar indicated in its STA request that KASA’s programming, a Spanish-language classic, regional, Mexican format, would be moved to KXEG.
