How Do I Send A Complaint To The FCC???

[RK]

There is a religious translator station in the northern tier of PA that is about to be granted a construction permit which will limit the coverage area of WAAL in certain parts of PA and I would like to submit a complaint to the FCC. Legally, there is only a small window of time before the FCC will not accept complaints.

Can someone please be so kind as to hook me up with a link to send a complaint to the FCC?? This will save me a ton of time.

 

[Reporter]

Google search FCC, you may have to spell it out...Then send a professional letter, with a cover..

 

[ThePickleReport]

There is a religious translator station in the northern tier of PA that is about to be granted a construction permit which will limit the coverage area of WAAL in certain parts of PA and I would like to submit a complaint to the FCC.

I feel for you. However, WAAL is only protected within certain contours. A word of warning, just because you can hear WAAL doesn't mean they are protected. I would still file a complaint but also do some research.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Ever Heard of the INTERNET?

It took me 3 clicks to find THIS.

 

[Reporter]

Re: Ever Heard of the INTERNET?

It took me 3 clicks to find THIS.

Read above..google.

 

[fybush]

There is a religious translator station in the northern tier of PA that is about to be granted a construction permit which will limit the coverage area of WAAL in certain parts of PA and I would like to submit a complaint to the FCC.

I feel for you. However, WAAL is only protected within certain contours. A word of warning, just because you can hear WAAL doesn't mean they are protected. I would still file a complaint but also do some research.

The translator rules are quite interesting in that respect. At least according to the letter of the law, a translator must protect regular reception of any licensed full-power station if there's a complaint, regardless of whether the listening takes place within "protected" contours.

In practice, the FCC doesn't act on such complaints at the CP issuance stage; they wait for the translator to be built and then expect the translator licensee to take whatever steps are needed (including, in some cases, discontinuing operation) to remedy the interference. And in general, the FCC would rather hear from the licensee of the station that's suffering the interference than from an individual listener.

There have been a few recent cases in the region of translators being bumped to new frequencies because of listener complaints - I know of one in Hazleton, and another up in Geneva. So it *can* happen...but it's not easy.

 

[amfmxm]

There is a religious translator station in the northern tier of PA that is about to be granted a construction permit which will limit the coverage area of WAAL in certain parts of PA and I would like to submit a complaint to the FCC.

I feel for you. However, WAAL is only protected within certain contours. A word of warning, just because you can hear WAAL doesn't mean they are protected. I would still file a complaint but also do some research.

The translator rules are quite interesting in that respect. At least according to the letter of the law, a translator must protect regular reception of any licensed full-power station if there's a complaint, regardless of whether the listening takes place within "protected" contours.

In practice, the FCC doesn't act on such complaints at the CP issuance stage; they wait for the translator to be built and then expect the translator licensee to take whatever steps are needed (including, in some cases, discontinuing operation) to remedy the interference. And in general, the FCC would rather hear from the licensee of the station that's suffering the interference than from an individual listener.

There have been a few recent cases in the region of translators being bumped to new frequencies because of listener complaints - I know of one in Hazleton, and another up in Geneva. So it *can* happen...but it's not easy.

My company (station licensees) successfully petitioned to have a translator moved away from one of our stations three or four years ago. But the FCC did NOT want to hear from us about the interference the translator was causing, even though the translator was clearly located within our station's protected contour. The commission demanded/required/insisted on receiving complaints from listeners before they would take action. Fortunately for us, we had noted the phone numbers of people who had called us complaining, and several were kind enough to write letters documenting their complaints. It took a few years to get it done, but the commission finally forced the translator to find another channel.

 

[fybush]

My company (station licensees) successfully petitioned to have a translator moved away from one of our stations three or four years ago. But the FCC did NOT want to hear from us about the interference the translator was causing, even though the translator was clearly located within our station's protected contour. The commission demanded/required/insisted on receiving complaints from listeners before they would take action. Fortunately for us, we had noted the phone numbers of people who had called us complaining, and several were kind enough to write letters documenting their complaints. It took a few years to get it done, but the commission finally forced the translator to find another channel.

Right - sorry. I may have been less than clear. What I meant was that the FCC doesn't want (at least in my experience) to hear DIRECTLY from listeners - but they absolutely do want to hear listener complaints sent to them via the stations suffering interference. At least, that's what I've found.

 

[clouseau]

There is a religious translator station in the northern tier of PA that is about to be granted a construction permit which will limit the coverage area of WAAL in certain parts of PA and I would like to submit a complaint to the FCC. Legally, there is only a small window of time before the FCC will not accept complaints.

Can someone please be so kind as to hook me up with a link to send a complaint to the FCC?? This will save me a ton of time.

Scott and AMFMXM did a great job of laying out the situation. I feel kind of ripped off since I actually knew the answer, but nice job guys.

(Doing the Wayne and Garth "We are not worthy" thing.)

Let me add, (Of course) the FCC's exact rule citation...

Sec. 74.1203 Interference.

(a) An authorized FM translator or booster station will not be
permitted to continue to operate if it causes any actual interference
to:
(1) The transmission of any authorized broadcast station; or
(2) The reception of the input signal of any TV translator, TV
booster, FM translator or FM booster station; or
(3) The direct reception by the public of the off-the-air signals of
any authorized broadcast station including TV Channel 6 stations, Class
D (secondary) noncommercial educational FM stations, and previously
authorized and operating FM translators and FM booster stations.
Interference will be considered to occur whenever reception of a
regularly used signal is impaired by the signals radiated by the FM
translator or booster station, regardless of the quality of such
reception, the strength of the signal so used, or the channel on which
the protected signal is transmitted.


According to the rules the "Litmus test" is REGULARLY USED signal.

In loking through the new grants, I'm not seeing a potential WAAL problem, necessarily. Can you give us the Frequency/location of the problem translator. I'd be glad to assist you if I knew what it was. Of feel free to PM Me.

Clouseau