In advance of the Federal Communications Commission open meeting on Thursday, the FCC has adopted the Audio Division's request to adjust the comparative review points of applicants in the Baltimore MX Group #198.
The Baltimore MX group started with with 7 applicants including The Benedictine Society of Baltimore City, St. Joseph's in Eldersburg, Center for Emerging Media, The United Workers Association, Loyola University, Johns Hopkins University and Radiant Foundation Corporation in Ellicott City. All groups except Johns Hopkins and Radiant originally claimed 5 points. Loyola lost their broadcast diversity point due to a disclosure that a member of the Board of Trustees has a stake in a full power station but has recused themelves from the LPFM. Johns Hopkins would eventually amend their application to add a fifth point for broadcast diversity. Radiant Foundation would be dismissed due to a lapse of their corporate status. They did not file for reconsideration. Benedictine Society, St. Joseph's and Johns Hopkins entered into a time share agreement however St. Joseph's was able to move their station to a different location to make them into a singleton. This station was granted in June and assigned the call letters WSJF-LP.
Loyola University would file a Petition to Deny which is the standard process to protest the deduction of points. They also protested the Johns Hopkins amendment to increase points. The LPFM rules do not permit amendments to add points in order to obtain a better standing.
In their decision, the Commission upholds Loyola's deduction stating that while a board member can recuse themelves from the operation of the station, that does not exempt them from being able to deduct the diversity point. The Commission did agree with Loyola in regards to Johns Hopkins increasing their score after the end of the original filing window and has a result has proposed the reduction of Johns Hopkins from 5 to 4 points. Any actions that require a change in points must go to the full Commission for approval.
As a result of Johns Hopkins being reduced to 4 points, they can no longer aggregate their points with the Benedictine Society. This will leave a three way tie between Benedictine Society, Center For Emerging Media and United Workers Association. The Commission will open a new 90 day period where these three applicants can aggregate points to reach a two-way or three-way time share agreement.
In other Commission actions, the dismissals of Christian Charities Deliverance Church, ByFaith Ministries Association, Rooftop Productions and Massasoit Community College have been upheld. All of these groups have filed Applications for Review which are requests for review of the Audio Division's decisions by the full Federal Communications Commission. An additional Application for Review decision for Hispanic Broadcasting Institute, which is on circulation is expected either before or during the full Commission meeting on Thursday. See more details about these Applications for Review.
There are several pending Applications for Review that will be addressed in later months. Also, with the resolution of Baltimore, the only pending disputed groups of mutually exclusive (competing) LPFM applications remain in San Francisco where two groups of two applicants are vying for 102.5 and Southern California where where 18 applicants are looking for their piece of 101.5.
Baltimore MX Group:
https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-15-123A1.pdf
Christian Charities Deliverance Church, ByFaith Ministries Association, Rooftop Productions and Massasoit Community College:
https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-15-125A1.pdf
Updated September 17: FCC also denies Application for Review of Hispanic Broadcasting Institute. The FCC's text of that dismissal can be found here:
https://apps.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/FCC-15-127A1.pdf
