At the June FCC Open Meeting, the Commission will consider a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) in MB Docket 03-185 in regards to Low Power TV (LPTV) stations operating on Channel 6 that provide an analog FM radio service on 87.75 MHz.  REC and the FCC refer to these as "FM6" stations and they are commonly referred to as "Franken FM" stations.  The FCC is also considering changes that would eliminate the reserved band FM Channel 6 protection requirements and to extend the FM broadcast band to 82.1 MHz in areas where no channel 6 operations are taking place.

The FCC has announced that over a dozen different types of filings that were done previously in CDBS and temporarily on "paper" (email notification), as well as some new filing types will be able to be done electronically through LMS starting on May 17, 2022. 

These application types include:

As we proceed through the aftermath of the 2021 NCE Filing Window, some may be asking, how long it is going to take for the FCC to start granting applications.  If we attempt to compare to the 2007 NCE window, it may be a challenge to compare since the 2007 window was much more enormous in scale.  In 2007, the FCC received over 3,000 applications, which resulted in the establishment of 457 groups of mutually exclusive (MX) applications.  By comparison, in the 2021 window, the FCC received 1,282 applications, resulting in 231 MX groups.

Let’s be up front on one issue before we continue, many years ago, REC issued a position statement about unlicensed operation of a broadcast station, commonly referred to as “pirate radio”.

Between February 4 and February 9, 2022, REC Networks (REC) conducted an exercise where in order to better predict the potential winners of mutually exclusive (MX) groups from the 2021 NCE Filing Window (Window), we reviewed applications that were subject to comparative review in the point system.  As such, we examined documents provided in order to support claims for the established local presence, diversity and state-wide network points.  If we had found a lack of supporting documentation or documentation contrary to the points being claimed, we would reject those claims in our system, note the reason for the rejection of those claims, re-compare the group and in some cases, select a new potential winner.