Re: new FM allocations?

["Dan Strassberg" <Dan.Strassberg@att.net>]

The FCC doesn't make AM allocations. If someone who wants to put an AM on
the air finds a frequency that he believes workable, he simply applies for
it. Once the application has been accepted for filing, the applicant must
publish notice of the filing in the area where the proposed station would be
located, and the FCC opens a filing window for competing applications.
Others may then also apply. Recently, an auction process was added to this
drill. I gather--and maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong--that if more
than one party applies for mutually exclusive AM facilities, the FCC must
schedule an auction. I think the auctions replace the competitive hearings
that the courts apparently held to be unconstitutional.

As for AM frequencies that might work in this area, I've wondered for a long
time whether a 540 station couldn't be built in the Merrimac Valley or
southern NH. This station would have to be directional days to protect the
550s in Pawtucket RI and Waterbury VT and the 540 in Islip NY. 560 in
Portland might also be a problem, but probably not. At night, the new
station would have to protect the skywave service of CBK in Saskatchewan. I
don't think that Islip would require protection because I think it's a Class
D, although the night power is very close to 250W, and if the antenna
efficiency is sufficient, Islip might be a Class B, which would have to be
protected. The problem, of course, would be finding enough properly zoned
land for a directional facility on 540. The lower you go on the dial, the
more land you need. So much land would be needed that there is, at best,
minimal likelihood of finding a suitable parcel at a price such a station
could afford.

--

Dan Strassberg, dan.strassberg@worldnet.att.net
Phone: 1-617-558-4205, eFax: 1-707-215-6367

-----Original Message-----
From: Bob Nelson...WMWM <bobonradio@yahoo.com>
To: boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org
<boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Date: Sunday, April 15, 2001 12:45 AM
Subject: new FM allocations?
>
>Which leads me to wonder: are there any FM (or AM)
>frequencies in the Boston area which are allocated
>to certain towns but nobody ever put a station on
>there? Or, if the FCC got a proposal to allocate
>a frequency, would they act on such an idea? I mean,
>if some people who wanted to establish a non-comm
>station on the North Shore would go to the FCC
>saying 89.3 could be a good frequency, would they
>act? Maybe, maybe not...Somehow I get the idea
>that the FCC doesn't want to allocate any more
>frequencies in this area, and we know how Low Power
>FM is not really going anywhere at the moment...