The FCC has denied three AMs in the South Pacific’s Application For Review after failing to file their longform translator application in time.
Holonet Corporation’s 1080 KCNM Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands (applying for 106.3 Garapan-Saipan), Guam Power II’s 1530 KVOG Agana, Guam (applying for 94.7 Agana), and Management Advisory Services 1350 KUGS Agana (applying for 98.3 Agana) all failed to file their longform application during the window open from April 18 through May 9 because their engineer was away for the two weeks prior to the deadline. The stations also argued that the AMs face significant financial difficulties, the owner was willing to invest in upgrades contingent on adding the translator signal, would provide valuable services to their communities including additional programming and information during emergencies, that reinstatement would be consistent with the Commission’s policy of providing FM translators to broadcasters that do not have one in the same market, and the Applicants need the translators and have not “gamed the system” to gain an unfair advantage over other broadcasters because the Applications were singletons.
The FCC cited that the applicants were responsible for the error of their engineer and the challenges faced by the AMs were not unique to them. They failed to show the FCC that deviation from the standard of abiding by the deadlines would serve the public interest.