Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

FCC Move Could Shut Down High School Radio Station

Posted by timothy on from the arrogance-at-play dept.

Saeed al-Sahaf writes "This probably has been happening all along, maybe just not in my area. A broadcasting company bought an FM radio station in The Dalles, Oregon (a little hick town east of Portland), and wants to move it to a much choicer market in Seattle, Washington. The FCC has given the green light for the move. Problem is, the frequency in Seattle is being used by a station owned by a local high school, Mercer Island High School. The school has appealed, saying the decision ignores the FCC's own rules, and questioned the FCC's assertion that there's space available elsewhere on the Seattle-area radio dial. The school says the proposal is 'little more than an effort to migrate from a rural community to an extremely well-served urban area.' Critics of the proposal contend that the move is an attempt to tap the much larger Seattle radio advertising market."

15 of 212 comments (clear)

  1. Space on the dial? by EvanED · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "...and questioned the FCC's assertion that there's space available elsewhere on the Seattle-area radio dial"

    If there's space elsewhere on the radio dial, why doesn't the other station take it?

    1. Re:Space on the dial? by LostCluster · · Score: 5, Informative

      KMIH has been an exception to the FCC rules since 1978, when after being backed by NPR and universities operating larger stations in the dedicated "educational band" from 88.1 to 91.9 got the minimum power requirement for any station in that band to keep its primary status to be 100 watts. KMIH was lucky to have survived this timeframe... dozens of similar stations got bumped out of the band when larger stations filed for upgrades leaving the smaller station with nowhere to go other than out of business.

      KMIH didn't meet its match until the 1990s when finally a larger station came forward with a plan that bumped them off their allocation. The FCC, however, was nice to them... they were given a gift in the form of being allowed to start a Class D allocation at 104.5. That represented an FCC rule being waived for them... Class D stations don't belong outside of the educational space. But, it came with a catch. Being a non-compliant grandfathered station, they were still stuck with "secondary status" which means any application for primary status would be able to bump them out of existance. The only thing that protected this station was the fact that the surronding 104.5 FM stations were owned by different owners, and none of them could really upgrade themselves without crashing into another commerical user who'd most definitely object.

      Now, when LPFM came out... there was a chance for KMIH to get themselves out of the doghouse. They could have simply filed the paperwork to convert their Class D license into an LPFM1. It turns out, they were fully compliant already and they wouldn't have had to change their technical operations at all to change status, but it'd gain them the chance to become a primary user of the space they were hanging onto so that nobody could knock them out of it. They likely didn't do that because they didn't see this kind of problem coming, or if anybody raised the posiblity they weren't able to get the school to pay the legal fees to get the paperwork done.

      So, when the surronding 104.5 FMs were able to create a plan that benefited all of them but left KMIH with no place to hide, KMIH's lease on life expired.

      When you've got a secondary allocation, you've got to beware of those things possibly happening... clearly this high school operation wasn't and that turned out to be their undoing.

  2. The school missed its chance to protect the slot! by LostCluster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Class D stations are hanging on by a grandfather clause at this point. The FCC is handing out no more new Class D allocations, and all Class D stations have been demoted in status such that if any higher-class stations (which include all commercial stations, since Class D's are by definition non-commercial) gets an allocation that interferes with them, the Class D must cease operations.

    In short, Class D is in a phase-out period... stations in the Class D status need to get themselves moved into the dedicated educational slice of the FM band from 88.1 to 91.9, or convert their license to being LPFM station (possibly with lower power than they had before) in order to regain primary status so that nobody else can stomp on their turf.

    This poor high school hasn't acted, and now the bulldozer of several stations re-aligining themselves on "their frequency" is coming in to knock them down. Sure, changing frequencies or converting to LPFM isn't a free thing to do, but it was part of their obligations as a broadcaster to keep up with the changes in the FM band. They did nothing, and if they can't afford to get themselves onto a safe channel then that's there problem. They clearly had a chance to do so when LPFM came out, and they passed...

  3. Same thing happened in my area by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A college radio station was pre-empted because a major new york radio station wanted the frequency. The college refused to move and put up a fight against the FCC, which fined them for various "other" violations.

    The taxpayers ended up flipping the bill because of the greedy commercial radio station and the hard nosed college administrators. The FCC is a bunch of corrupt people buyable by whoever has the most money. it just goes to show that the US government is corrupt.

  4. What! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    You mean to tell me an agency of the United States government is putting corporate interests before the public's interests?

    I never thought I'd live to see the day!

  5. This is hypocritical but.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I live in Seattle and I have heard this high school radio station. It's complete and utter crap in my opinion. They play all the heavily commercialized rap and R&B songs. We have two great radio stations in Seattle that pay little attention to commercialization of music:

    103.7 The Mountain plays all sorts of music, not just the singles everyone else plays. Furthermore, they don't overplay songs and they aren't afraid to take risks (They played artists like Jack Johnson before anyone else caught on).

    90.3 KEXP plays almost any kind of music that has not been commercialized by the RIAA. Sometimes they play things that are a little too weird for me, but sometimes I hear a GREAT song and look it up online (they log all their playlists since you won't recognize their music from TRL).

    I doubt the radio station that is trying to displace the hich school station is as good as the two I have mentioned, but seriously, the high school station is not good at all. Also of note, Mercer Island, where the high school is, is where Washington State's most privileged families live. Mercer Island is where a 16 year old girl drover her new Audi A6 drunk and killed a child. (Not to generalize.....)

  6. Re:Not an unusual request... by EssenceLumin · · Score: 5, Informative

    The Dalles is 250 miles from Seattle and isn't a suburb of anything. It's 85 miles from Portland.

  7. So instead of the FCC shutting them down... by emcron · · Score: 5, Funny

    We'll take care of their site with a thorough slashdotting :-)

  8. Re:high school channel? by gui_tarzan2000 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    It doesn't matter how interesting the high school radio station is. What matters is that the students are learning the trade. My high school (I graduated in 1981) has had a broadcasting station for about 30 years. It has helped many students interested in radio and tv production and the local community which also houses Central Michigan University. Not exactly a small market although nothing like NY or LA.

    --
    Have you hugged your penguin today?
  9. Re:My Rights Online by jb.hl.com · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It would be bad if my rights were somehow jeopardized by some high-school vs. commercial radio station dispute in distant Washington state. Bad indeed.

    Don't you get it?

    The point is that the FCC is letting large corporations control the airwaves to the detriment of the public (i.e schools). They are prioritising the big and wealthy over the little guy. It doesn't affect your rights online, but holy fuck does it affect your rights.

    Put it this way: say that a large corporation wanted your domain name, which coincides with the name for one of their new products. Also say that your web host willingly handed the domain over to them, without giving you a say in the matter. You'd be crying "OMGWTF THE HOSTS TOOK AWAY MY NAME AND GAVE IT TO PROCTER AND GAMBLE!!!111". I think you'd have a right to be pissed then. Same thing here.

    --
    By summer it was all gone...now shesmovedon. --
  10. Bad yes, Clear Channel no by lothar97 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The station that is moving is owned by Mid-Columbia Broadcasting Inc. It looks like that Mid-Columbia only has 1 station, and 10 employees- so it's a pretty small fish compared to Clear Channel.

    Here is San Diego, we're lucky that Clear Channel can own stations in San Diego, and in Tijuana, Mexico (right across the border). We thus get double the Clear Channel, and yes, our radio sucks more than most cities.

    --

  11. Re:Not an unusual request... by zentec · · Score: 5, Informative

    This isn't necessarily true. There are still a number of small owners in very small markets that make a decent business out of serving the community. Granted, you're going to hear high school sports, and "trade-e-o", and community bulletin board and all that folksy stuff, but isn't that what serving the community of license is all about?

    Your comments that small communities had stations all to themselves isn't on point either. None of the reallocations I've been involved with had nothing to do with the smaller community not requiring the services of the station and everything to do with the new big owner (Cumulus, Clear Channel et al) wanting to push it into the market and require advertisers to buy multiple advertising packages on all stations.

    Let me tell you, you'll never hear high school sports scores or community bulletin board on a Cumulus station. You'll hear rap music being piped to farmers, but nothing of community interest.

  12. Re:Not an unusual request... by Detritus · · Score: 5, Insightful
    If the station received its license on the basis of its promise to serve Fooville, why should it be allowed to move to a nearby major market? If it can't comply with the terms of its license, it can return it to the FCC. Maybe another broadcaster, who didn't pay an inflated price for an existing station, can build and operate a profitable station in Fooville.

    I've seen this sort of thing happen several times in my local area. A big conglomerate buys a small station outside a major market for big bucks, and immediately applies to move the station to a more profitable location inside the major market. They never had any intentions of continuing to serve the community that the license was originally issued for. They just see an opportunity to gain an outlet in the major market.

    --
    Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
  13. The FCC and Mercer Island (the Rock) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    First they want to move the station in question a full state, from Oregon north several hundred miles to Seattle. I could possibly see moving it to Portland, but this is a real streach.

    Next, if the high schoolers really want to fight, all they have to do is to talk to their parents. Mercer Island, is located in the middle of Lake Washington and the residents are VERY well off. Paul Allen lives on the island as do a lot of the Microsoft millionairs. Bill Gates lives just north of the island. Quite a few Boeing executives in addition to at least one Senator for Washington (if I remember correctly). If they want, they (the school) have the connections to steam roll the station and make an example of them. Given that its the end of the shcool year with exams, now is the perfect time for this move on the station's part in the student body is out for the summer.

    Housing prices start around a million for a modest home....

  14. What's really sad... by Law1620 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I live in Seattle and do listen to the hishschool station. KUBE 93.3 is the biggest hip-hop and R&B station in the Greater Seattle area. They cater to the Top 40 format so on any given day you will here the same eight songs every hour. 104.5 plays more of the underground and non-mainstream (read: GOOD) hip-hop. You barely every here commercials and hear alot of older stuff that never made in big with commercial success. It is really sad if they do bring down that station. I guess big business is where it's at.