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Prometheus Press Center
Prometheus De-Livered
Our Periodic Newsletter
July 2001
[90 Construction Permits Released, First LPFM on the Air]
[New Low Power Email List]
[Appendix B Applications and Petitions to Deny]
[Scamologist Alert!]
[Changes: Major and Minor]
[Rumour Control]
[New Contact Information]
[Get Prometheus De-livered in the comfort of your own electronic mail box -- register online]
90 Construction Permits Released, First LPFM on the Air
Over 90 Construction Permits have been released by the FCC. The first station, from a Christian network that targets urban youth, is on the air in Virginia. Several applicants we have worked with have permits in hands, including la Radio Montainessa in Laramie Wyoming, Neighbors Corp in Indiana, South Arundel Citizens for Responsible Development in Maryland, and others. We are totally elated for them, and eagerly awaiting the receipt of the rest of the permits. We are still pinching ourselves to be sure that it has really happened: low power radio is starting to blanket the country...Watch out, Media Barons!!!
New Listserv for Low Power FM Applicants
Licensees et al. Named for Nathan B. Stubblefield, a legendary figure in radio history, this is a listserv for LPFM applicants and license holders. The list-serv will be a forum for application questions and answers, programming ideas, technical questions, legal issues, funding, building your organization and everything the new stations will care about. Eventually we will probably separate out the topics, but for now we will keep everyone together. We are really excited to introduce all of the really great new radio people we have met over the years to each other. In fact, we feel a little stupid that we haven't done this before! Between all of the people we have talked to, we know that there is every kind of skill and expertise that you will need to build and operate your stations. And anything that Prometheus and other applicants can't answer, we'll refer to professionals. The list will be unmoderated, but Pete Tridish is the listcop and all subscriptions have to be approved by prometheus to keep out the credit card spam and whatnot.
to subscribe,
send a message to:
lists@tao.ca
in the text,
write: subscribe stubblefield
Appendix B Applications,
and Petitions to Deny
Apendix B
Now that all the windows are closed, we can really roll up our sleeves and try to find ways for "appendix B" applicants to fix their applications. Appendix B applicants are those who applied for a good frequency in windows 1 and 2, but their ability to use the frequency they wanted at the location they proposed was taken away by congress. Sometime late in the summer, if you are one of the 800 applicants in this category, you will have the opportunity to change frequency, location or both. We can help you look and see if there is another opportunity in your area. If we can't find one for free, you might try an engineer, who might find a sneaky one for you.
Petition to Deny
You may want to think about putting in a petition to deny against other groups that are competing for your license. We generally don't encourage this because we are nice people, and we feel that everyone should have a chance for a license. But if you look into your competitors and you discover that they are not really local, that they lied on their application, that they are just a front for some national dreck satellite operation, or that they torture small helpless furry animals, that is what a "petition to deny" is for. Petitions to deny are due within thirty days of the FCCs' "tentative approval" of the applications. The only windows that has had any "tentative approvals" are windows 1 and 2. Windows 3, 4 and 5 can still have petitions to deny.
See the two guides at http://www.mediaaccess.org/programs/lpfm/index.shtml look under petitions to deny, towards the bottom of the page. If you are planning to petition to deny, definitely call us, and then probably a lawyer. It is not hard, and it is not a big deal, but you should have advice to do it correctly. There are several kinds of petitions to deny, with different processes.
Scamologist Alert, the Sequel
Once again, shysters are fishing for LPFM suckers. "Professionals" are sending out scare mail to persuade you to purchase their services. There are a number of excellent, fair engineers and lawyers out there whose services you may need at some point, but be wary of mass mailings from manufacturers and engineers telling you that if you don't take advantage of their services, you will be rejected. If you have a concern with your application, at Prometheus we are always happy to check on your status for free and tell you whether you need professional help or not. There are some deadlines for minor changes to applications, petitions to deny and appendix B applicants coming up so now is a good time to see if any apply to you.
Changes, Minor and Major
Fix Your Application!
In the frenzy of filing your application, there may have been some mistakes made. We have heard stories of inaccurate co-ordinates, un-filed for preference points, non-profits filing as "public safety entities."
You name it, we've heard it.
We advise going back through your application, now that the dust has settled, and making sure it is all right. Especially make sure that the FCC has your current address- some things we've sent out to applicants at the address given on the form come back "no such address." If the FCC is trying to send you your construction permit, and it gets lost in the mail- you'd feel pretty silly, right?
If you find that there are changes that need to be made, you must determine whether the change is a "major change," a "minor change," or an administrative correction. An administrative correction is a mis-spelled name, change of address, phone number, contact person, etc. These corrections can be done at any time.
Minor Changes
The process for a minor change is simple: at any time, up to thirty days after the FCC has accepted your application, you simply go back to your account on the FCC's CDBS website. Make whatever change you need to. Leave the rest the same. The only difference is that in the box where it says "application purpose" , you check "amendment to pending application," rather than "new application" (which is hopefully what you put on your original application, right)? If the Aether gods are smiling upon you, that will be that...
You can do a minor change at any time, except for the period from 30 days after your application has been tentatively approved by the FCC to the day that the FCC issues your construction permit. Of course, if your application was defective, they won't issue your construction permit. We should point out that the actual rule says that the date for the deadline is set in the notice of acceptance of applications- it has typically been 30 days after that, but the FCC has the flexibility to set that date however long it feels is appropriate. You can watch the FCC website (www.fcc.gov) front page for public notices. We usually try to send out notice of any major public notices over Making Waves within two or three days.
Examples of Minor Changes:
• Changes in board membership, that do not improve the comparative position of the applicant to other applicants
• Filling in the % of votes, if you left it out (if there are 4 directors, each gets 25% of the votes, if there are 5, each gets 20% of the votes, etc. in column 4
• Transmitter site moves that are less than 2 kilometers
• If you mistakenly answered "no" to one of the questions where you were supposed to answer "yes," try to submit this as a minor change and attach an exhibit explaining your misunderstanding. There are no guarantees, but you might as well see what happens. For example, in section II, question 9, you were asked to certify that you were "not subject to denial of federal benefits...of the anti-drug abuse act..." Many people checked no: meaning "No, I am not subject to denial of benefits." The correct answer is "yes, I certify that i am not subject to denial of benefits." Go figure...
• You can also move to an adjacent channel, or an IF channel that meets the spacing requirements as per the FCC website. An IF channel is a channel that is either 10.6 or 10.8 MHz away from your original channel.
With a minor change, you generally can not move to another channel besides the ones listed above. An exception is if you can produce an engineers report showing "reduced interference" as a result of your move. It is not exactly clear how this process will work, but it may be worth a try if you really need to change channel.
Major Changes
A Major Change, on the other hand, can be a Major Drag. There is nothing different about how you do it, except that you have to file these changes inside a filing window. These filing windows are not scheduled- and it could be years before one opens. The procedure is the same as for the minor change- If you need to make a major change, do all the work now- it may take considerable time to find a new site or deal with other logistics around the change.
Examples of Major Changes:
• Changes that would improve your comparative position: for example, if you originally did not claim that you would do eight hours local programming and did not receive that preference point, you can not go back and change that. perhaps you could do so in a major change window, but by then it would be too late).
• Moves of your frequency that are not on adjacent or IF frequencies
• Changes in physical location of the transmitter that are more than 2KM
One more note on changes
If you are uncertain about whether you are allowed to make a change, it may be helpful to submit an attachment requesting a waiver of the rules and explaining your predicament. For example, "We did not include the percentage of votes in the original rules because we were unfamiliar with the rules and thought that the request for voting percentages referred to an elaborate voting system which my organization is not familiar with and thus we believed that the question was not applicable to us. We submit this amendment in order to include the information that was requested on the application."
Nothing like conflicting rumors to brighten your day
We have heard two different stories about what the game plan is at the FCC for the next steps in awarding licenses. One source says that after the non-competing licenses ("singletons," as they call them) have been given out, the FCC will move on to conflicting applications (known as MX, for mutually exclusive) in window 1, 2 and 3. We have also heard the opposite: that the FCC will do all the singletons from all the windows first, and then start on MXes for window 1 and 2. Who knows...? When we were running our pirate radio station, we raised needed money for the station by forming a betting pool on what day the station would get busted. For three bucks, you could buy a day that the FCC would come to shut us down. Whoever guessed the day closest got to keep half of all the cash raised, the other half went to the station. We raised about $450 this way (the woman who won bought us all consolation beers, and ended up deciding to re-donate most of the money to the station). You might try this for your station: but more happily, you can place bets on the date that the construction permit will come in the mail...
Changing Contact Info, Etc.
After years of working out of our bedrooms, Prometheus finally has an office! We are in the basement of a beautiful old stone church.
Our new phone number is 215-727-9620
the old one, 215-727-9620 still rings at Pete's house. It will actually still kind of work, because Pete's house is about 300 feet from the new office, and we have a cordless phone which can be spoken on if you stand on a chair by the window. Office hours are 9am to 11pm, but we drift in and out. We also have a new P.O.Box:
PRP
P.O.Box 42158
Philly, PA, 19101
drop us a line!
