Opinion ID: 725495
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Applications at Issue

Text: 5 Having been unsuccessful in a previous attempt to find a qualified licensee for FM channel 259C in St. George, Utah, the FCC announced, on May 25, 1988, that it would again accept applications for that allotment. Notice of FM Broadcast Allotment First-Come/First-Serve Filing Status, Report No. FCFS-8. On June 1, the FCC received an application from EAR, Inc., which proposed a fully spaced transmitter site. On June 2, Red Rock Broadcasting, Inc., submitted an application for a site that fell 1.16 kilometers short of the 209 kilometers required between it and Station KGMN in Kingman, Arizona. KGMN was a class A station that had been authorized to operate as a Class C1 facility but had not upgraded its facilities to do so. Red Rock's proposal was short spaced only with respect to this unused C1 allotment. With its application, Red Rock submitted a request for a waiver of the spacing rules, setting forth certain reasons why the waiver would serve the public interest. Red Rock also noted that KGMN had not taken any steps to operate as a C1 facility. KGMN did not file an objection to Red Rock's application. Red Rock's and EAR's mutually exclusive applications were accepted for tender on August 8, 1988. 6 The following succession of events involving Red Rock, EAR, and KGMN led to this appeal. On January 5, 1989, the FAA issued an aeronautical study which indicated that construction of EAR's proposed antenna tower would be a hazard to air navigation. On May 10, the FCC's Mass Media Bureau (Bureau) denied Red Rock's waiver request and returned its application. A month later, EAR's application was accepted for filing. Red Rock petitioned for reconsideration of the denial of its waiver on June 15, and on July 5, it filed a petition to deny EAR's application. In both petitions, Red Rock called attention to the FAA's adverse determination regarding EAR's proposed antenna site and requested that its own application be reinstated. On July 21, EAR filed an amendment to its application, which proposed a new transmitter site to cure the air navigation problem. 7 On September 25, 1989, KGMN applied for a permit to modify its facilities as authorized by the FCC and noted that it had decided to operate as a Class C2, rather than as a Class C1, facility. The application was granted. In July 1990, while its petition for reconsideration was still pending, Red Rock filed an Information Statement to inform the FCC of the significance of KGMN's modification: [E]ven the 'de minimus' [sic] short-spacing which once existed has been wholly removed as a factor in the consideration of Red Rock's proposal. In re Red Rock Broadcasting, Inc., Information Statement at 3 (July 19, 1990). Red Rock also maintained that, at the time the Commission dismissed Red Rock's proposal, the EAR application did not have an acceptable site proposal due to the FAA's air hazard determination; thus, the Commission unknowingly but mistakenly assumed [EAR] had a fully-spaced site. Id. at 2. 8 The Bureau denied Red Rock's petition for reconsideration and its petition to deny EAR's application. Letter from Larry D. [320 U.S.App.D.C. 368] Eads, Chief, Audio Services Division, FCC Mass Media Bureau, to J. Dominic Monahan, Esq. (Dec. 27, 1990). It also declined to consider Red Rock's Information Statement, treating it as an untimely amendment. Id. at 1 n. 1. The Commission denied Red Rock's subsequent application for review of the denial of its petition for reconsideration. In re Red Rock Broadcasting, Inc., Memorandum Opinion & Order, 7 F.C.C.R. 5947 (1992) (First Order). 9 Red Rock appealed that decision and, in 1993, we granted the FCC's motion for voluntary remand so that the agency could address Red Rock's arguments and the basis for its decision more fully. The Commission released its second decision on June 1, 1995, in which it affirmed its initial conclusions. In re Red Rock Broadcasting, Inc., Memorandum Opinion & Order, 10 F.C.C.R. 5990 (1995) (Second Order). Red Rock appeals both decisions.