**March 12, 2007**

> **DA 07-1206**

In Reply Refer to:

1800B3-TSN

> Released: March 12, 2007

Minnesota Christian Broadcasters, Inc.

P.O. Box 409

Pequot Lakes, MN 56472

Ms. Carol J. DeLaHunt

P.O. Box 49

Park Rapids, MN 56470

DJ Broadcasting Corporation

P.O. Box 49

Park Rapids, MN 56470

**Re: FM Broadcast Auction No. 25**

> Minnesota Christian Broadcasters, Inc.

WZFJ(FM), Pequot Lakes, Minnesota

Facility ID No. 76432

File No. BLH-20021205ABP

**Petitions to Deny Application for FM**

**Broadcast Station License**

Dear Applicant and Petitioners:

We have before us two Petitions to Deny the above-captioned application
of Minnesota Christian Broadcasters, Inc. ("MCBI") for a license to
cover its modified construction permit for Station WZFJ(FM), Pequot
Lakes, Minnesota. One Petition was filed by Carol DeLaHunt ("DeLaHunt")
on December 26, 2002 (the "DeLaHunt Petition"),[^1] and the other by DJ
Broadcasting Corporation ("DJ") on May 15, 2003 (the "DJ Petition").[^2]
For the reasons set forth below, we deny both Petitions to Deny and
grant the license application.

**DeLaHunt Petition.** Previously, DeLaHunt petitioned to deny MCBI's
application for the initial construction permit for WZFJ(FM).[^3] She
contended that MCBI was not entitled to the 35 percent new entrant
bidding credit that it had claimed when it was the successful auction
bidder for the construction permit for the station. In addition, she
argued that MCBI was not financially qualified to be a Commission
licensee, and thus that its application for construction permit should
be denied. After DeLaHunt's Petition to Deny was denied by the Mass
Media Bureau,[^4] and it also denied her Petition for Reconsideration of
that action, the Commission partially granted her Application for
Review, concluding that MCBI was financially qualified but that it was
not entitled to the new entrant bidding credit.[^5] However, the
Commission gave MCBI the opportunity to pay the balance of its gross
winning bid for the Pequot Lakes permit, without application of such a
credit.[^6] MCBI paid the full amount of its winning bid, and the
construction permit was issued on March 21, 2002.[^7] The United States
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the
Commission's action.[^8]

At the outset, neither the Communications Act of 1934, as amended (the
"Act"), nor the Commission's Rules (the "Rules") provides for the filing
of a petition to deny a covering license application.[^9] We thus treat
the DeLaHunt Petition as an informal objection under Section 73.3587 of
the Rules.[^10]

The DeLaHunt Petition was filed before the Commission released its
Memorandum Opinion and Order partially granting DeLaHunt's Application
for Review. As such, the DeLaHunt Petition merely re-stated the same
arguments and facts presented in DeLaHunt's challenges to MCBI's
construction permit application. Those issues were adjudicated by the
Commission and have been affirmed by the court. Accordingly, the
DeLaHunt Petition is denied.

**DJ Petition.** With regard to the DJ Petition, again, because no
petition to deny lies against an application for covering license, we
consider this filing as an informal objection.[^11] At the time of
filing, DJ was licensee of then-KBKK(FM) in Pillager, Minnesota.[^12] DJ
alleged that it had received complaints from "certain of its listeners"
that they were receiving interference to KBKK(FM)'s signal due to
WZFJ(FM)'s signal.[^13] According to DJ, this interference occurred both
in WZFJ(FM)'s blanketing contour and as a result of "receiver induced
third-order intermodulation effect" ("RITOIE") throughout portions of
KBKK(FM)'s listening area.[^14] DJ requests that we hold the MCBI
license application in abeyance, direct MCBI to investigate and cure all
interference complaints, and require MCBI to reduce power or discontinue
service until such time as a plan to eliminate interference could be
implemented.[^15]

We find no substantial or material question regarding interference
problems precluding grant of the WZFJ(FM) license application. The
interference complaints presented by DJ (many of which were reported by
its advertisers) arise from communities, such as Pequot Lakes and Breezy
Point, that are not located in KBKK(FM)'s 60 dBµ contour. Thus, the
KBKK(FM) signal is not protected from interference in those
communities.[^16] The fact that KBKK(FM) could not be heard in those
communities due to interference is not in itself reason to grant the DJ
Petition.

With regard to the complaints of blanketing interference, the complaints
in the record, while coming from areas in or near the WZFJ(FM) community
of license, do not indicate whether they were in fact within that
station's 115 dBµ blanketing contour. The WZFJ(FM) blanketing contour
extends approximately six-tenths of a mile from the station's
transmitter.[^17] Moreover, it appears from the record that very few of
the complaints were directly reported to MCBI. Instead, MCBI first
learned of them from DJ, in some cases only from DJ's pleadings.
Nevertheless, the record shows that MCBI took affirmative steps to find
and contact the complaining parties and, in all cases in which the
complainant could be located,[^18] either resolved the complainant's
technical problems or the complainant withdrew its interference
complaint.

Additionally, MCBI's resolution of reported interference complaints
comports with its obligations as to the RITOIE issue. DJ cites, *inter
alia*, the case of *WKLX, Inc.*,[^19] to support its claim that MCBI's
program test authority ("PTA") for WZFJ(FM) must be revoked pending
resolution of the RITOIE complaints. However, that case does not support
its position. In *WKLX, Inc.*, although the Mass Media Bureau did
briefly revoke WKLX(FM)'s PTA, it was partially restored to allow the
station to resolve the complaints and, when the complaints were
satisfactorily resolved, PTA was fully restored and a license
application granted.[^20] Ultimately, in *WKLX, Inc.* the Commission
found that the licensee had carried out all of its obligations with
regard to interference complaints, and affirmed grant of its license
application.[^21] Here, as noted above, MCBI has already resolved all
locatable interference complaints either reported to it or to DJ.
Although DJ's engineer reported that WZFJ(FM)'s second harmonic was not
suppressed more than 80 dB below the carrier frequency,[^22] MCBI's
engineering report showed all unwanted emission products to be
suppressed more than the required 80 dB below the carrier
frequency.[^23] Given that all known and locatable interference
complaints regarding WZFJ(FM) have either been successfully resolved or
withdrawn, we find no reason to grant the DJ Petition or otherwise defer
action on MCBI's license application based on discrepancies between
these competing engineering reports. Accordingly, the DJ Petition is
denied.

**MCBI License Application.** We find that MCBI has fulfilled all its
obligations with regard to WZFJ(FM), including its "newcomer"
obligations to respond to and correct interference complaints,[^24] and
its timely payment of all amounts due from its provisional winning bid
in Broadcast Auction No. 25.[^25] We further find that MCBI is fully
qualified as a Commission licensee, and that grant of its license
application for WZFJ(FM) is in the public interest, convenience, and
necessity.

Accordingly, the application of Minnesota Christian Broadcasters, Inc.
for a license for Station WZFJ(FM), Pequot Lakes, Minnesota (File No.
BLH-20021205ABP), IS GRANTED, and the Petitions to Deny that application
filed by Carol DeLaHunt and by DJ Broadcasting Corporation ARE EACH
DENIED.

Sincerely,

Peter H. Doyle, Chief

Audio Division

Media Bureau

cc: Dan J. Alpert, Esq.

Matthew H. McCormick, Esq.

[^1]: Also before us are MCBI's Opposition to Petition to Deny and
    DeLaHunt's Reply to Opposition to Petition to Deny.

[^2]: Also before us are two Errata filed by DJ on May 7 and May 15,
    2003; MCBI's May 20, 2003, Opposition to Petition to Deny
    ("Opposition"); DJ's July 10, 2003, Reply to Opposition to Petition
    to Deny ("Reply to Opposition"); and MCBI's October 16, 2003
    Supplement to Opposition to Petition to Deny ("Supplement to
    Opposition").

[^3]: File No. BPH-19950601MA.

[^4]: *Letter to Ms. Carol DeLaHunt and Minnesota Christian
    Broadcasters, Inc.*, Decision, Ref. No. 1800B3-TSN (MMB Sept. 27,
    2000).

[^5]: *Minnesota Christian Broadcasters, Inc.*, Memorandum Opinion and
    Order, 18 FCC Rcd 614, *recon. denied*, 18 FCC Rcd 24421 (2003),
    *aff'd*, 411 F.3d 283 (D.C. Cir. 2005).

[^6]: *Id*., 18 FCC Rcd at 620.

[^7]: MCBI filed a subsequent application for minor modification to its
    construction permit, File No. BMPH-20020531AAJ, which was granted
    July 29, 2002. The instant application is for license to cover the
    construction permit as modified.

[^8]: *See supra* note 6.

[^9]: *See* 47 U.S.C. § 309(c); 47 C.F.R. §§ 73.3580(a)(3), 73.3584(a).

[^10]: *Id*. § 73.3587.

[^11]: *See supra* note 10 and accompanying text.

[^12]: On July 14, 2004, DJ consummated its sale of the station to Tower
    Broadcasting Corporation ("Tower"). File No. BALH-20040414ADD.
    Effective July 1, 2004, Tower changed the call letters of the
    station to WWWI-FM. We will refer to the station as "KBKK(FM)."

[^13]: DJ Petition at 1.

[^14]: *Id*. at 1-4.

[^15]: *Id*. at 7.

[^16]: *See* 47 C.F.R. § 73.215(a)(1).

[^17]: The formula for calculating the 115 dBµ blanketing contour, in
    miles, is 0.245 times √(ERP in kilowatts). 47 C.F.R. § 73.318. As
    WZFJ(FM)'s effective radiated power is 5.2 kW, the blanketing
    contour extends 0.559 miles from its transmitter.

[^18]: In its Reply to Opposition, DJ referenced and attached two
    complaints in which the complainant's names and addresses were
    hand-written on what appears to be a form prepared by DJ. One of the
    complainants lists only a partially legible name that MCBI took to
    be some variant on "Phillip Gantor" or "Phillip Gantore," with the
    address listed only as "Breezy Point." In its Supplement to
    Opposition, MCBI details several attempts to locate the complainant,
    but to no avail. Supplement to Opposition at 3-4.

[^19]: Memorandum Opinion and Order, 6 FCC Rcd 225 (1991).

[^20]: *Id*. at 225 n.3, 226.

[^21]: *Id*. at 227-28.

[^22]: *See* Exhibit 2 to DJ Petition. *See also* 47 C.F.R. § 73.317(d).

[^23]: *See* Exhibits A and B to Opposition.

[^24]: 47 C.F.R. §§ 73.318(b), (d).

[^25]: *Id*. § 73.5003.