The southeastern Twin Cities suburb of Cottage Grove has been granted a new low-power FM station, but not where it originally intended to build it.
The FCC has granted the city government a construction permit for a new 50-Watt station on 104.5. However, due to an error on the original application, it will have to transmit from Hastings, at least when it first signs on.
An earlier filing explains that the city intended to construct the new station within its own municipal boundaries. A typo on the coordinates listed in the original application form placed the transmitter site eleven miles south in a rural area near Vermillion.
The FCC dismissed an earlier attempt to modify the application to move the transmitter to Cottage Grove; the theoretical coverage areas of the Vermillion and Cottage Grove sites did not overlap.
Now, the FCC has now approved an amended application that places the transmitter in Hastings, which is six miles away from the site specified on the original application form. The Hastings facility’s coverage area overlaps with the originally-proposed Vermillion coverage area.
It’s possible that the station, once built and operational in Hastings, could seek to move its transmitter site to Cottage Grove.
The city’s application states that the LPFM station will operate as an extension of its existing cable TV channel. Programming will include community news, city council and school board meetings, school events, and multi-genre and international music.
The neighboring suburb of Woodbury is also building its own LPFM station.