Opinion ID: 725495
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Short-Spacing Waiver

Text: 10 The Commission need not grant a waiver of its Rules unless an application therefor sets out 'adequate reasons why the Rules should be waived....'  Rio Grande Family Radio Fellowship, Inc. v. FCC, 406 F.2d 664, 666 (D.C.Cir.1968) (per curiam) (quoting United States v. Storer Broadcasting Co., 351 U.S. 192, 205, 76 S.Ct. 763, 772, 100 L.Ed. 1081 (1956)). The FCC has explained that the 11 spacing requirements presumptively serve the public interest, and applicants seeking waivers to operate from short-spaced sites are required to demonstrate that the public interest will be better served by a waiver in the circumstances presented than by following the terms of the rule. 12 In re Caloosa Television Corp., 3 F.C.C.R. 3656, 3657 (1988), on recon., 4 F.C.C.R. 4762 (1989); accord Nelson County Broadcasting Co., 64 F.C.C.2d 932, 933 (1977). Further, waiver applicants must make a threshold showing that no fully spaced sites are available. Kenter Broadcasting Co., 62 Rad. Reg.2d (P & F) 1573, 1577 (1986), aff'd, 816 F.2d 8 (D.C.Cir.1987) (table); see also North Texas Media, 778 F.2d at 32. 13 If the short spacing is de minimis, i.e., less than one mile (1.6 km), an applicant such as Red Rock does not have to make this threshold showing; it must, however, be able to explain why a waiver is in the public interest. Kenter Broadcasting, 62 Rad. Reg.2d at 1577 n. 9; North Texas Media, 778 F.2d at 32 n. 15. A party challenging the FCC's refusal to grant a waiver 14 not only bears the burden of convincing the agency that it should depart from the rules, but, on judicial appeal, the applicant must show that the agency's reasons for declining the waiver were so insubstantial as to render that denial an abuse of discretion. 15 Id. at 31-32 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). 16 In its waiver request, Red Rock advanced three public interest considerations in support of a waiver: (1) the proposed FM service would reach nearly 33,000 people; (2) previous unsuccessful applicants for the channel had encountered difficulty in locating fully spaced sites while conforming with the FCC's other requirements; and (3) the notice announcing the availability of the channel provided a short application period that hampered site selection. Request for Waiver of Section 73.207 of the Commission's Rules at 2, reprinted at Joint Appendix (J.A.) 22-23. Red Rock also called attention to KGMN's failure to use its C1 allotment, which Red Rock said exhibited a lack of good faith on KGMN's part. Id. at 22 n. 1; Engineering Exhibits in Support of Application for Construction Permit at 9, reprinted at J.A. 31, 41. 17 In its initial response to the waiver application, the Bureau did not address Red Rock's public interest showing. Instead, it merely stated that, [s]ince the competing application for EAR, Inc. ... proposed a fully spaced site, you have failed to show that fully spaced sites do not exist. Letter from Dennis Williams, Chief, FM Branch FCC Mass Media Bureau, to Red Rock Broadcasting, Inc. (May 10, 1989), reprinted at J.A. 78-79. In reviewing Red Rock's petition for reconsideration, however, the Bureau agreed [320 U.S.App.D.C. 369] that because Red Rock's short spacing was de minimis, it was not required to show that no fully spaced site was available. Letter from Larry D. Eads, Chief, Audio Services Division, FCC Mass Media Bureau, to J. Dominic Monahan, Esq. at 2 (Dec. 27, 1990), reprinted at J.A. 107, 108. The Bureau concluded, however, that Red Rock had failed to make a sufficient public interest showing. Id. at 3. It noted that 18 an applicant's claim that operation from a short-spaced site will permit the applicant to provide a new service to a given population, will be of no consequence if the new area to be served is presently neither unserved or underserved.... Commission records indicated that St. George is currently served by 2 AM stations, one commercial FM station and one noncommercial, educational FM station. Therefore, we find that Red Rock has failed to make a compelling showing in support of this aspect of its request for waiver. Secondly, we do not find Red Rock's argument concerning a lack of time to locate a fully-spaced site to be a sufficient public interest showing. EAR was operating under the same time constraint.... 19 Id. 20 In its First Order, the Commission found no reason to disturb the [Bureau's] ruling. 7 F.C.C.R. at 5948. It also considered and rejected an additional factor advanced by Red Rock, namely, that granting the waiver would provide the FCC with a choice of applicants. The agency rejected the suggestion because Red Rock's proposal was defective and its consideration would be inconsistent with the principles underlying the 'hard look' policy. Id. 21 In its Second Order, the FCC again affirmed that Red Rock had not made a sufficient public interest showing. Before arriving at this conclusion, it stated: 22 In determining whether to grant a de minimis waiver request, we have summarized the public interest factors we will consider as follows: 23 (i) the unsuitability of the existing site in technical terms or in terms of a licensee's inability to reach areas containing a significant number of viewers who lack service, a network service, or independent service; (ii) the magnitude of the short-spacing created; (iii) the aeronautical and environmental benefits and drawbacks of locating a tower in a particular area; (iv) the concerns, if any, expressed by the licensee(s) to which the short-spacing would result; and (v) the extent to which the licensee obtained its license knowing there were spacing restraints imposed in a rulemaking. Caloosa Television Corp., 3 FCC Rcd 3656 (1988), on recon. 4 FCC Rcd 4762 (1989) (Footnote deleted). 24 Second Order, 10 F.C.C.R. at 5990 (quoting R & L Broadcasters, 7 F.C.C.R. 5551, 5553 (1992)). 25 One of Red Rock's principal contentions on appeal is that the FCC arbitrarily and capriciously limited the public interest factors that it will consider to the five listed above (Caloosa factors). We disagree. The FCC acknowledged that it has considered other factors in de minimis situations, but it found that none of them were relevant here. See Second Order, 10 F.C.C.R. at 5991 & n. 2. But more to the point, because we conclude that the FCC has adequately addressed the public interest considerations advanced by Red Rock in the proceedings before the agency, Red Rock's claim that the Caloosa factors are inapplicable here because they were taken from a non-de minimis waiver case involving television rather than radio is simply irrelevant. 26 We turn now to the FCC's disposition of the public interest considerations that Red Rock claimed in its waiver request as well as others that it advanced before the Commission. In evaluating whether the FCC's reasons for declining to grant the waiver were so insubstantial as to render the denial an abuse of discretion, we emphasize that the role of the court is not to determine the public interest, but to determine whether the agency's delineation is contrary to law. WAIT Radio v. FCC, 459 F.2d 1203, 1207 (D.C.Cir.1972). Given this standard, we cannot say that the FCC abused its discretion. 27 In response to Red Rock's claim that its station would reach nearly 33,000 people, the [320 U.S.App.D.C. 370] Commission observed that Red Rock had not shown that it would be offering service to an area that was either unserved or underserved. Second Order, 10 F.C.C.R. at 5991. Contrary to Red Rock's assertion, the FCC did not state that provision of service to unserved or underserved areas is a prerequisite to a waiver. It merely noted that when an applicant cites service as a factor supporting a waiver, the test ... is whether the proposal will provide service to listeners who currently lack it. Id. As the FCC points out, every applicant for a new station will provide a new service to listeners within its reach. Therefore, we cannot fault the Commission for discounting the public interest value of a new station that does not reach areas that currently have little or no service. Cf. WAIT Radio, 459 F.2d at 1209 (holding Commission may take into account, in considering waiver of clear channel rules, whether applicant would offer service to an area lacking it). 28 The Commission dismissed KGMN's failure to use its C1 allotment with the statement that the fact that Station KGMN ... neither pursued its upgrade nor complained of the short-spacing--does not constitute a public interest showing which would warrant a grant of Red Rock's waiver request. Second Order, 10 F.C.C.R. at 5991. This response is undeniably terse; but Red Rock has not explained the relationship between KGMN's failure to upgrade its facilities and the public interest that would be served by granting its waiver request. Under the circumstances, we cannot find that the FCC's summary rejection of the suggestion was an abuse of discretion. 29 It appears that, in the proceedings before the Commission, Red Rock also called attention to the fact that KGMN had not objected to its application. The FCC acknowledged that the failure of a short-spaced licensee to object is a factor to be 30 considered in evaluating the sufficiency of an applicant's public interest showing[,] ... where ... an applicant has failed to make an affirmative demonstration that a grant of its waiver request would be in the public interest, the absence of opposition to its proposal does not in itself justify a grant. 31 Second Order, 10 F.C.C.R. at 5991. Again, we see no reason to question the Commission's judgment in treating the silence of a short-spaced licensee as a makeweight consideration rather than as an independent basis for finding that the grant of a waiver would serve the public interest. 32 Finally, the FCC stated that [a]lthough retention of Red Rock's application would give the Commission a choice of applicants, this is not one of the public interest factors that the Commission will consider in evaluating waiver requests. 10 F.C.C.R. at 5991 (citations omitted). It is quite true, as Red Rock contends, that the FCC was once ready to accept curative amendments in the interest of enlarging the pool of applicants: 33 Since the public interest is best served by having as many qualified applicants as possible competing for each broadcasting facility, it has long been Commission policy to permit an applicant to remove a disqualifying factor through amendment during hearing. 34 In re Azalea Corp., 31 F.C.C.2d 561, 563 (1971); accord Gilbert Broadcasting Corp., 91 F.C.C.2d 450, 462 (1982). The FCC's interest in increasing the pool of applicants has been superseded by the FCC's hard look policy, which place[s] greater emphasis on providing service to the public in the most efficient, expeditious manner possible. In re James C. Rogers III, 2 F.C.C.R. 5536, 5537 (1987). Because the grant of a waiver will always add an additional applicant to the pool, no matter how flawed the proposal, we cannot say that the FCC abused its discretion in finding that the preservation of a choice of applicants was not a sufficient public interest to support a waiver of the spacing rules. 35 Red Rock cites various FCC decisions to show that the Commission has granted waivers for much larger short spacings. Red Rock does not, however, argue that the public interest considerations in those cases, or their factual context, are applicable here. As we have noted on more than one occasion, 36 the Commission has shown some leniency in the application of its mileage spacing [320 U.S.App.D.C. 371] rules to existing stations; but the FCC has, with only a few tightly contained exceptions, refused to permit the licensing of new stations that violate the short-spacing rule. 37 North Texas Media, 778 F.2d at 32 (citations omitted). In situations such as the one before us, where one applicant for a new station has proposed a fully spaced site while another applicant requires a waiver of the spacing rules, the FCC has declined to find that a waiver would be in the public interest. See In re Evans Broadcasting, 5 F.C.C.R. 1675, 1676 (Audio Servs. Div.1990) (it would be difficult to grant such a waiver in the public interest when other applicants propose to provide the same service without violating any Commission rule); Eugene Walton, 6 F.C.C.R. 6071, 6074 (Rev. Bd.1991) (waiver denied in light of the fact that the remaining applicants specified non-short-spaced sites, and that no public interest showing sufficient to support a waiver request was filed), aff'd, 7 F.C.C.R. 3237 (1992), on recon., 7 F.C.C.R. 6038 (1992). In light of this precedent, it cannot be said that the FCC has departed from its past practice in this case. 38 At various points in its briefs, Red Rock suggests that public interest considerations favor its application over EAR's. See Brief for Appellant at 21 (Red Rock ... showed that its site would be superior in terms of service); 28 (grant of waiver would have permitted a substantial gain in service as compared with EAR's proposal) (emphasis in original); Reply Brief for Appellant at 5-7 (FCC should have considered that Red Rock would provide service to more people than would EAR). These arguments might well be persuasive if its application had been accepted and then considered in a comparative hearing. The FCC, however, has a long standing practice of examining requests for waiver of the FM spacing rules prior to the comparative hearing at which the license is awarded. North Texas Media, 778 F.2d at 34. 39 Red Rock makes several additional public interest claims. Because these are advanced for the first time in these proceedings, however, we do not reach them. See id. at 33-34 (appellant precluded from raising on appeal any claim that it failed to assert before Commission). 40 As Red Rock has failed to establish that the Commission's dismissal of its public interest claims was an abuse of discretion, we affirm the denial of its waiver request.