FCC Denies Texas Bid for LPFM Exception

The FCC denied Angelo State University’s request for a waiver so it could have a low-power FM station in San Angelo, Texas.
When the application was originally filed in 2001, the FCC rejected it because it did not meet channel-spacing requirements.
ASU’s proposed site was only 9.8 kilometers from first-adjacent KMDX(FM) in San Angelo. The commission requires a distance of 80 km between such facilities.
A year later, ASU amended its application, asking for a different LPFM channel to avoid the spacing conflict, considered a major modification.
But ASU applied after the commission’s filing window for LPFM applications had closed and said it was unaware of the short-spacing problem when it originally filed.
The FCC said WSU failed to show why the agency should bend the rules and grant the waiver.