A church in Columbus, Ind., has been granted a construction permit for a new LPFM station to broadcast on 98.9 FM in the city.
The FCC has denied an objection that attempted to link one of the parties on the church’s application with an unlicensed signal operated in Columbus a decade ago.
La Iglesia de Dios Pentecostes, or the Pentecostal Church of God, filed its application during the 2023 LPFM window.
But Columbus Community Radio Corp. which operates 98.5 WHUM(LP), also in Columbus, submitted an informal objection in January. It cited a 2014 Notice of Unlicensed Operation issued by the FCC’s Chicago field office against Rafael Gonzalez, a party on the church’s LPFM application.
[Read more coverage of LPFM and other FCC rulings.]
The NOUO concerned an unlicensed signal on 93.5 FM originating from a location on U.S. Route 31 in Columbus. FCC rules require that any party to an application certifies that they have never engaged in unlicensed operation of any station beyond the very low power levels allowed in Part 15 of the rules.
In response to the objection, Gonzalez, the church’s pastor, acknowledged the 2014 incident. He said the transmitter was operated by his friend Sergio Ramos, who was visiting from Mexico. Gonzalez described himself as having been “gullible and naïve.” He recounted an FCC agent visiting his church to which he showed them the transmitter and complied with the agent’s instructions to turn it off. Gonzalez added that he “was not guilty of radio piracy.”
The commission sided with Gonzalez. Simply put, because all Columbus Community Radio could provide as evidence was the original NOUO, the commission said the objection did not conclusively establish that Gonzalez, rather than Ramos, had operated the unlicensed station.
The church’s LPFM construction permit has been granted. It seeks to serve the Spanish-speaking community of Columbus with Christian programming from an antenna at its property on U.S. Route 31.
