The Federal Communications Commission has granted the application of the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority for a new noncom educational FM at 88.9 MHz in populous northern New Jersey, while saying no to another organization that sought one in another nearby town.
This was a case involving a group of mutually exclusive applications. World Revivals Inc. had wanted a station in Chatham, but NJPBA was named the tentative winner for a station in Bernardsville in 2005. WRI then petitioned the FCC to reconsider, saying NJPBA did not have permission to use the proposed transmitter site atop a Basking Ridge water tower and that local policies would prevent it from obtaining such permission.
The FCC decided otherwise and now has handed a victory to New Jersey Public Broadcasting.
It’s a case involving “reasonable assurance of a transmitter site,” what kind of availability an applicant requires and when. Read the case history here.
