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 Federal  Communications  Commission  DA  00-  1156 
 Before  the 
 Federal  Communications  Commission 
 Washington,  D.  C.  20554 


 In  the  Matter  of  ) 
 ) 
 Amendment  of  Section  73.202(  b),  )  MM  Docket  No.  99-  42 
 Table  of  Allotments,  )  RM-  9467 
 FM  Broadcast  Stations.  )  RM-  9618 
 (Whitefield  and  Northumberland,  New  ) 
 Hampshire)  1  ) 


 REPORT  AND  ORDER 
 (Proceeding  Terminated) 


 Adopted:  May  17,  2000  Released:  May  26,  2000 
 By  the  Chief,  Allocations  Branch: 
 1.  At  the  request  of  Dana  Puopolo  ("  Puopolo"),  the  Commission  has  before  it  the  Notice  of 
 Proposed  Rule  Making,  14  FCC  Rcd  7841  (1999),  proposing  the  allotment  of  Channel  256A  to 
 Whit  efield,  New  Hampshire,  as  t  he  communit  y's  first  local  aural  service.  Puopolo  filed  comment  s 
 reit  erat  ing  his  int  ent  ion  to  apply  for  the  channel,  if  allot  t  ed.  Comment  s  and  a  count  erproposal  were 
 also  filed  by  Barry  P.  Lunderville  ("  Lunderville")  request  ing  the  allot  ment  of  Channel  256A  to 
 Nort  humberland,  New  Hampshire,  as  its  first  local  aural  service,  st  at  ing  his  int  ent  ion  to  apply  for  t  he 
 channel,  if  allotted.  2 


 2.  As  an  init  ial  mat  t  er,  we  recognize  t  hat  Lunderville's  count  erproposal  did  not  comply  wit  h 
 Section  1.52  of  the  Commission's  Rules  by  including  an  affidavit  verifying  that  the  statements  contained 
 in  his  counterproposal  were  accurate  to  the  best  of  his  knowledge.  Section  1.52  requires  that  the 
 original  of  any  document  filed  with  the  Commission  by  a  party  not  represented  by  counsel  shall  be 
 signed  and  verified  by  the  party  and  his/  her  address  stated.  In  the  absence  of  such  verification,  the 
 petition  may  be  dismissed.  3  We  have,  however,  considered  proposals  which  did  not  init  ially  comply 
 with  the  verification  requirements  where  adoption  of  the  proposal  would  not  adversely  affect  another 
 allotment  or  proposed  allotment.  See,  Grants,  New  Mexico,  8  FCC  Rcd  851  (1993).  In  this  case,  the 
 staff  has  found  that  an  alternate  channel,  Channel  268A,  is  available  for  allotment  to  Northumberland, 
 thus  allowing  the  allotment  of  Channel  256A  at  Whitefield.  Therefore,  we  will  consider  the 
 Northumberland  proposal. 


 1  The  community  of  Northumberland  has  been  added  to  the  caption. 
 2  Public  Notice  of  the  filing  of  the  counterproposal  was  given  on  May  6,  1999,  Report  No.  2328. 
 3  See,  Section  1.420(  b)  of  the  Commission's  Rules  and  Amendment  of  Sections  1.420  and  73.3584  of  the  Commission's 
 Rules  Concerning  Abuse  of  the  Commission's  Processes  ("  Abuse  of  Process"),  5  FCC  Rcd  3910,  n.  41  (1990).  See  also, 
 Lancaster,  Groveton  and  Milan,  New  Hampshire,  MM  Docket  99-  9,  DA  00-  649,  released  March  24,  2000. 
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 3.  Lunderville  st  at  es  that  Nort  humberland  is  a  township  in  Coos  Count  y  and  has  a  1990  U.  S. 
 Census  population  of  2,492  persons.  He  states  that  Northumberland  should  be  preferred  over 
 Whit  efield  since  it  has  a  great  er  populat  ion.  Lunderville  goes  on  t  o  point  out  t  hat  Puopolo  has  pending 
 before  the  Commission  eleven  (11)  petitions  for  new  allotments  and  contends  that  it  is  unlikely  that  he 
 has  the  financial  wherewithal  to  apply  for  and  build  each  station,  given  the  current  auction  procedures. 
 He  also  submits  that  Puopolo  would  not  be  allowed  to  own  the  number  of  stations  he  has  proposed  in 
 northern  New  Hampshire  and  Vermont  since  they  are  all  within  40  kilometers  of  each  other  and  all 
 with  service  contours  into  the  same  core  market. 


 4.  Based  on  the  information  before  us  and  our  independent  research,  we  find  that 
 Nort  humberland  is  not  a  communit  y  for  allot  ment  purposes.  Nort  humberland  is  list  ed  in  the  U.  S. 
 Census  as  a  county  subdivision  which  are  statistical  entities  established  by  the  Census  Bureau  and  state 
 and  local  government  officials  for  the  purpose  of  collecting,  presenting  and  analyzing  census  statistics. 
 Our  research  shows  that  the  two  zip  codes  assigned  to  Northumberland,  03582  and  03584,  reflect  post 
 offices  in  Groveton  and  Lancaster,  NH,  respectively.  Further,  our  search  of  the  internet,  shows  that 
 there  is  a  Northumberland  School  District  located  in  Groveton  and  there  are  no  elementary,  middle  or 
 high  schools  with  a  Northumberland  address,  no  grocery,  pharmacy,  police  department,  fire 
 depart  ment  ,  church,  bank  or  library  wit  h  a  Nort  humberland  address.  Whit  efield  is  also  list  ed  in  t  he 
 1990  Census,  as  a  CDP,  and  attributed  with  a  population  of  1,041  people.  It  has  its  own  post  office 
 and  zip  code,  03598.  In  addition,  Whitefield  has  two  elementary  schools  and  a  high  school,  its  own  fire 
 and  police  depart  ment  s,  medical  facilit  ies  and  doct  ors,  rest  aurant  s,  grocery  st  ores,  library  and  bank. 
 Thus,  Whitefield  qualifies  as  a  community  for  allotment  purposes. 


 5.  We  believe  the  public  interest  would  be  served  by  allotting  Channel  256A  to  Whitefield  as 
 the  community's  first  local  aural  service.  Channel  256A  can  be  allotted  to  Whitefield  in  compliance 
 wit  h  t  he  Commission's  minimum  dist  ance  separat  ion  requirement  s  wit  h  a  sit  e  rest  rict  ion  of  10.  9 
 kilomet  ers  (6.  8  miles)  nort  heast  to  avoid  a  short  -spacing  t  o  St  at  ion  WOKO,  Channel  255C1, 
 Burlington,  Vermont.  4  Canadian  concurrence  in  the  allotment  has  been  obtained  since  Whitefield  is 
 located  within  320  kilometers  (200  miles)  of  the  U.  S.-  Canadian  border. 


 6.  Accordingly,  pursuant  to  the  authority  contained  in  Sections  4(  i),  5(  c)(  1),  303(  g)  and  (r) 
 and  307(  b)  of  the  Communications  Act  of  1934,  as  amended,  and  Sections  0.61,  0.204(  b)  and  0.283  of 
 the  Commission's  Rules,  IT  IS  ORDERED,  That  effective  July  10,  2000,  the  FM  Table  of  Allotments, 
 Section  73.202(  b)  of  the  Commission's  Rules,  IS  AMENDED,  wit  h  respect  to  the  communit  y  list  ed 
 below,  to  read  as  follows: 


 City  Channel  No. 
 Whitefield,  New  Hampshire  256A 
 7.  A  filing  window  for  Channel  256A  at  Whitefield,  New  Hampshire,  will  not  be  opened  at  t  his 


 4  The  coordinates  for  Channel  256A  at  Whitefield  are  44-  27-  17  NL;  71-  31-  36  WL. 
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 Federal  Communications  Commission  DA  00-  1156 
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 time.  Instead,  the  issue  of  opening  a  filing  window  for  this  channel  will  be  addressed  by  the 
 Commission  in  a  subsequent  order. 


 8.  IT  IS  FURTHER  ORDERED,  That  the  petition  for  rule  making  filed  by  Barry  P. 
 Lunderville  (RM-  9618)  IS  DENIED. 


 9.  IT  IS  FURTHER  ORDERED,  That  this  proceeding  IS  TERMINATED. 
 10.  For  further  information  concerning  this  proceeding,  contact  Leslie  K.  Shapiro,  Mass 
 Media  Bureau,  (202)  418-  2180. 


 FEDERAL  COMMUNICATIONS  COMMISSION 


 John  A.  Karousos 
 Chief,  Allocations  Branch 
 Policy  and  Rules  Division 
 Mass  Media  Bureau 
3