On Monday, the FCC has dismissed 8 applications that were assisted by Hispanic Christian Community Network that is headed by Antonio Cesar Guel. These dismissals include two dismissals in Minneapolis and one in Seattle. The remaining dismissals were in Wisconsin and Texas.
In these dismissals, the Commission sent a Letter of Inquiry to the tower owners to verify that either HCCN or the "applicant" received assurance (permission) to use that site for their tower. In these cases, the tower owners make swom statements that they did not provide assurance to either HCCN or the "applicant".
As site assurance had not been arranged on the date of application, the applications were dismissed by Peter Doyle, Chief of the FCC's Audio Division in the Media Bureau.
All applications that were dismissed were singletons that were accepted for filing.
Guel's Seattle application was on 104.9. This channel is also used by University of Washington Bothell.
In Minneapolis, these applications were on 94.9 and 107.5
These and the other frequencies that were dismissed today may not be immediately available to other applicants as HCCN has 30 days to file a Petition for Reconsideration. HCCN did file for reconsideration on the previous 14 applications that were filed as a result of the original Letter of Inquiry. The FCC has told us in the past that after a Commission dismissal, the channel is normally not available for 45 days due to the pleading cycle.
Of the 246 applications filed, there may be a small number of legitimate ones in the group. REC has already assisted Llmados Para Truinfar, Inc. of Miami, FL to legitmize their application. The application has been singleton for about two weeks and they are currently on track for a grant. If granted, they will be the first of the 246 HCCN assisted applications to receive a grant.
Of the 246 applications filed, 102 have been dismissed, 107 remain singleton and 37 are mutually exclusive with other applications.
REC is pleased that the FCC is taking actions in the investigation of the Guel applications. REC hopes that the Commission puts a priority on investigating singletons in areas that are currently in a 90-day MX settlement window as these dismissals can open vital bail-out channels prior to the end of the window.
