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Filing for new frequency & hoping to avoid other bidders in auction

T

TheMakdaddi

I'm considering filing a petition for a new allotment in a market that currently has no other commercial FM stations. It's about 75 miles from a large metro area with many CC stations that DO broadcast over "my" market, but don't actually solicit for advertisers in it.
For obvious (financial) reasons, would it be best to petition for a frequency at a fairly low power (say 500-1000 watts) to stay under the radar and hopefully prevent others from competing against me for the frequency; then if/when I get the station up and running, petition to raise my ERP to a higher, more desirable level (say 5000 watts)? The stations in the large metro area a HUGE and I don't really see them going after "my" market, but I REALLY don't want to have to bid against anyone...especially Clear Channel.
 
Forget about "flying under the radar." If the market has any potential, others will discover it. You can pick the most obscure city of license, but a simple check of the coordinates will tell a possible bidder what communities the station has the potential of covering. Also, FM allocations are based on classes, so that 500-1000 watt station still will have to clear the same distance separation as one with 6KW at 100 meters (class A). If you're serious about this, you need to contact a consulting engineeer to get the ball rolling as it will . Keep in mind there is no advantage in the bidding process to the party who does the work in securing an allocation.
 
Neil Griffin said:
Forget about "flying under the radar." If the market has any potential, others will discover it. You can pick the most obscure city of license, but a simple check of the coordinates will tell a possible bidder what communities the station has the potential of covering. Also, FM allocations are based on classes, so that 500-1000 watt station still will have to clear the same distance separation as one with 6KW at 100 meters (class A). If you're serious about this, you need to contact a consulting engineeer to get the ball rolling as it will . Keep in mind there is no advantage in the bidding process to the party who does the work in securing an allocation.
Click to expand...

Also keep in mind that FMs are "assigned" to a market, often after a potential applicant files a petition to have a channel dropped in. FMs are all part of auctions, where each applicant bids. AMs are also now auctioned. The one with the most money wins.
 
If it's already an allotment for a specific COL I would say the FCC has already put a minimum bid on it.
I saw one here in Tenn. that wasn't even close to metro area and the minimum was $100k. It only had one bidder and has yet to be built. The COL had less than 5000 population.
 
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