Text of letter to the FCC
> Including a link to a .pdf file (Adobe Reader may be
> required) of a letter to the FCC
> from Maynard Board of Selectmen (with Cc:s to several
> politicians)
>
>
http://www.fybush.com/nerw.html
I'd rather have a student-run station than another religious ministry on the air. The next generation of talent gotta start somewhere before they're replaced with voice tracking.
PDF is a bloated format, it's like using a CDR for a text file. Here's Google's translation into HTML:
This is the html version of the file
http://web.maynard.ma.us/gov/selectmen/maynard-bos-fcc-letter.pdf.
G o o g l e automatically generates html versions of documents as we crawl the web. Google is neither affiliated with the authors of this page nor responsible for its content.
Page 1
October 26, 2005
Ms. Marlene Dortch, Secretary
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, S.W.
Washington, DC 20554
Re: Appeal of Construction Permit to Living Proof Inc., and the Section 307(b) Preference
1800B3-ALV
Dear Ms. Dortch:
The Maynard Board of Selectmen respectfully requests that the Federal Communications Commission(FCC) submit for the record our support of the Maynard School Committee’s request for a redetermination and reversal of the FCC decision to grant a section 307(b) preference and construction permit to Living
Proof Inc. for the construction of a new NCE FM station in Lunenburg, MA. Further we, request that the decision be reversed and the application for major changes to NCE station WAVM (91.7 FM), Maynard, Massachusetts, be approved without prejudice and that the permit for WAVM be granted forthwith.
FCC rules require that your agency makes a threshold determination as to whether grant of any of the four applications would further the fair, efficient and equitable distribution of radio service among communities. While the FCC may have determined that Living Proof Inc., or any other of the applicants, may have met this threshold, it is clear that the existing permit holder, NCE FM WAVM, clearly meets this threshold now and through the changes it proposes, and further that the FCC has not provided evidence to the contrary that this threshold has not been met by WAVM. Giving this lack of determination that WAVM has not met the threshold, it’s status as current permit holder should not be subordinated and the permit should in all good conscience, logic and practicality, remain with WAVM and we respectfully request such determination.
Further, as stated in your October 6 letter, the FCC itself states that “each applicant timely supplemented its application with a Section 307(b) showing”, thus NCE FM WAVM did indeed showed a “fair distribution analysis”, again meeting the requirements of the FCC. In our opinion, it would not be in the best interest of the listening public if the FCC makes determinations on permits based on the degree or breadth of “fair distribution” or to determine that applicants with much greater resources present a more “fair” or more
“equitable” distribution of radio service since such determinations can be subjective. The requirement that applicants serving at least 5,000 more listeners than the next applicant be granted 307(b) preference is
again, unfair and anticompetitive to the smaller applicant.
The FCC states that Living Proof was the “only applicant to claim that it would provide new first or second NCE service to at least 10% of the population and at least 2,000 people, within its service area…” and therefore the FCC states it should receive the fair distribution preference. To the contrary, at least one NCE already serves the entire Eastern and Central Massachusetts area (WBUR for one) and few if any applicants could argue that they are the new first NCE for most all service areas in this region.
However, the FCC did not even count WAVM’s existing service and, as stated in your letter, only included newly added service in the 307(b) analysis for WAVM. With WAVM’s application we will now serve a larger population (48,862 based on census data) in a 163.2 sq km contour area, a 121.8 sq. km increase over our
existing contour area. This compares to only 38,111 in the Living Proof contour area, thus to ignore our existing service and only analyze newly added service minimizes the benefits and impact of WAVM’s service and puts our and any existing station at a competitive disadvantage. By it’s very ruling the FCC
reduces the chances of any existing applicant from being competitive against a new applicant constructing a new station, since the new applicant’s entire service area is new, whereas the existing applicant is looking
Page 2
to expand its service area to the benefit of both current and future listeners. The FCC has set a threshold and it should not base its permit determination solely on how much an applicant exceeds that threshold, nor SHOULD IT DISREGARD THE CURRENT SERVICE AREA OF THE EXISITING APPLICANTS.
It is the opinion of the Board of Selectmen that although the proposals would serve different communities (Living Proof would serve one, while WAVM would serve at least three) you cannot determine that Living Proof’s service area needs an NCE station significantly more than WAVM’s service area. In fact by
granting this permit to Living Proof, the FCC eliminates service in the Maynard and Stow service area and eliminates our regionally oriented and extremely successful and effective NCE aural service. The fair distribution analysis points to WAVM as being most needed given its many decades of providing service to the area; the fact that it serves as an Emergency Alert System notification station for the State of Massachusetts; that it is the only radio station located in the service area and it is community based and oriented.
We dispute that living Proof “appears to qualify” for the dispositive fair distribution preference. Given this fact, it is clear that WAVM would prevail in the subsequent point system that should be applied to this determination due to it’s local diversity in that the principal community contour of our station does not overlap the principal community contour of any attributable station; technical parameters due to the size of the area it covers; and that it is an established local entity being physically headquartered within the community for at least two years; in fact it has been located in Maynard for 35 years.
It seems clear that, one, given our strength in the point system analysis; two, the strength of its application of a fair and equitable distribution analysis; three, the important role that the station plays in educating our youth for a future in radio, TV and communications; four, the role the station plays in providing emergency notifications to the service area; five, the important charitable and social role the station and its students play in the region; and six, it’s 35 year history of providing service to the area; the FCC should immediately grant a permit to NCE FM WAVM so that we can continue to improve the excellent service that we have built over the years to an even larger service area to the benefit of listeners throughout the region.
Thank you very much for taking the time to review our request and for making this part of the record.
Sincerely,
Robert Nadeau
Chairman
Maynard Board of Selectmen
Cc:
Ann Pratt, Chair, Maynard School Committee
Mark Masterson, Maynard School Superintendent
David Owen, Maynard Interim Town Administrator
Joe Magno, WAVM Faculty Advisor
Senator Edward M. Kennedy
Senator John F. Kerry
Congressman Martin Meehan
Governor Mitt Romney
State Senator Pam Resor
State Representative Patricia Walrath
Living Proof, Inc.
More local, more student radio! Thanks for copying the