In this week’s issue… – NCE window apps filed – WFAN announces new lineup – WPVI’s Gardner, WCSH’s Williams set retirement dates – GBH names multiple morning hosts – Remembering Chris Lash – New apps in Canada, too
By SCOTT FYBUSH
Jump to: ME – NH – VT – MA – RI – CT – NY – NJ – PA – Canada
*If you know a consulting engineer who does FCC applications, don’t be surprised if they look a little dazed this week. There aren’t many of them out there these days, and most of them had lots of work over the last few months getting applications ready for the first window the FCC opened for new noncommercial FM applications in eight years. (Yes, that includes us here at Fybush Media, and by way of disclaimer, we’ve carefully noted below which applications were done with our assistance.)
That window closed last Tuesday night after more than 1100 applications were filed – and now applicants and consultants have to wait for a little while. Unlike in previous windows, the FCC moved with lightning speed to make these applications public. Within two hours of the window closing, applications were already appearing in the public LMS database, and so (as you’ll read later in the column) we have the complete list of NERW-land applications for you already.
We can identify a few trends this time: some of the “application mills” that generated lots of applications in previous windows were absent this time. There were very few applications for new Catholic stations, for instance, and some of the filers from down South who had flooded previous windows with questionable applications were also missing from this round.
Much of the spectrum is, of course, simply full. There was no room this time for anything at all near most large or even medium cities, leaving much smaller holes to fill in more rural areas, some of them more attractive than others. (New Hampshire, in particular, drew almost no applicants, while most of the New Jersey applications went after just two small holes in north Jersey and on the shore.)
And there was no shortage of flawed applications. It’s a complex process and it’s easy to overlook all the details, which might explain why one group filed a bunch of applications that ignored third-adjacent channel spacing and will likely get dismissed as a result.
What happens next? On Nov. 29, the FCC will release its official list of which applicants get the coveted “singleton” status (grantable applications that didn’t conflict with any others and can thus proceed to construction permits) and which ones fall into “MX” (mutually exclusive) groups. Some applicants will be able to make technical amendments that can remove them from those MX groups, while the rest will then be sorted according to the FCC’s complex points system to come up with “tentative selectees.” We’ll be there to let you know how it all shakes out.
SPRING IS HERE…
And if you don’t have your Tower Site Calendar, now’s the time!
If you’ve been waiting for the price to come down, it’s now 30 percent off!
This year’s cover is a beauty — the 100,000-watt transmitter of the Voice Of America in Marathon, right in the heart of the Florida Keys. Both the towers and the landscape are gorgeous.
And did you see? Tower Site of the Week is back, featuring this VOA site as it faces an uncertain future.
Other months feature some of our favorite images from years past, including some Canadian stations and several stations celebrating their centennials (buy the calendar to find out which ones!).
We still have a few of our own calendars left – as well as a handful of Radio Historian Calendars – and we are still shipping regularly.
The proceeds from the calendar help sustain the reporting that we do on the broadcast industry here at Fybush Media, so your purchases matter a lot to us here – and if that matters to you, now’s the time to show that support with an order of the Tower Site Calendar. (And we have the Broadcast Historian’s Calendar for 2025, too. Why not order both?)
Visit the Fybush Media Store and place your order now for the new calendar, get a great discount on previous calendars, and check out our selection of books and videos, too!