But it was not implemented until the end of the decade, with the first Docket 80-90 stations getting approval. They then launched in a window centering on 1990.
As mentioned, the whole thing started with a Class A station in Bonita Springs filing to upgrade to a higher power and change channel. At that time, a major change made stations vulnerable and subject to a strike application, and that station had a whole slew of such competitive applications. The station was owned by Dick Friedman of Puerto Rico for whom I worked as consultant for his WDOY at the time.
The FCC realized that strike applications against stations that just wanted to improve their service were unfair. The remedy of that issue turned into a larger review of station improvements and the table of FM allocations. That went back and forth for years as the re-regulation was expanded to add more channels to the Table of Assignments and resulted in redefinition of how stations could change class, power and even city of license.
Of course, the effects of Docket 80-90's implementation in the early 1990's were so severe that we got the ownership deregulation that ended up later in the decade allowing, first, "two and two" in each market and then up to 8 stations for a single owner. Docket 80-90 had so overpopulated the radio community in most markets, particularly medium and small ones, that nearly nobody was making money.
