Exact Time of License Expiration At Issue in Minneapolis Upgrade Battle

The exact time that a Twin Cities low-power FM station’s license expired has become an issue in a legal fight between two small suburban FM stations that want to take over its coverage area.

As previously reported, Park Public Radio’s KPPS-LP/97.5 (St. Louis Park) and the Central Baptist Theological Seminary’s K250BY/97.9 (Plymouth) are seeking to take over some of the coverage area of the former KQEP-LP/97.9 (St. Paul). KPPS filed its application on March 31 and K250BY filed on April 1.

The time that KQEP’s license expired, and the date that the other stations’ applications were filed by the FCC, are among many legal arguments in a flurry of subsequent filings from both sides.

K250BY alleged that KPPS filed too early because KQEP was still licensed as of March 31, and therefore, KPPS would have had to protect it. KPPS’ application to move to 97.7 and use a Minneapolis transmitter site was mutually exclusive with KQEP’s former facility.

“The only possible motive PPR could have for filing on March 31, rather than after expiration of the KQEP license, was to attempt to gain an unfair advantage over any other applicant who properly waited to file its application at the earliest proper time. Knowing that minor modification applications are processed on a “first come/first served” basis and are treated as simultaneously tendered if filed on the same day, the only way PPR could attempt to pre-empt any simultaneous filers would be to file early. But this is fundamentally unfair and an abuse of process.”

Central Baptist Theological Seminary objection to KPPS-LP facility change

KPPS countered that its application was not “reviewed by the Commission and placed on public notice” until April 2, after KQEP’s license had expired.

K250BY, which wants to move to the IDS Center, contends that KQEP’s license expired at 3 a.m. on April 1 and that it was therefore justified in applying for its upgrade at 9:50 a.m. the same day. But KPPS argues that KQEP’s license was actually valid until midnight on April 1 and therefore, K250BY’s application would also have been filed too early if using the criteria K250BY is setting out for the KPPS application.

KPPS contends that the K250BY application was not placed on public notice by the FCC until April 5, meaning KPPS should get the upgrade under first-come, first-served rules.

“It is clear that the PPR application was both filed and accepted prior to the CTS application, so
the PPR application would cut off the filing rights of the CTS application. The applications would not
be Mutually Exclusive (MX) because the CTS Application was both filed and accepted one day later by
the Commission.”

Park Public Radio response to Central Baptist Theological Seminary objection

KPPS and K250BY are currently short-spaced under FCC regulations and the two sides are also arguing over whether the short-spacing would still be grandfathered if KPPS changes frequency. KPPS cites an instance in which a Texas LPFM station was approved a frequency change and allowed to keep its short-spacing but K250BY contends that the situation was different because it involved a full-power license that was granted after the LPFM was already on the air.

Each side also suggests alternate plans for the other station. K250BY suggests that KPPS should move to a different tower site in St. Louis Park, while KPPS suggests that K250BY should instead seek a frequency change to 104.9, which became available when another broadcaster’s FM translator construction permit expired.

In a separate filing, KPPS contends that K250BY’s application is defective because it fails to protect the proposed KPPS facility.

K250BY is a translator of WCTS/1030 (Maplewood).

This article was originally posted April 21 and was updated May 10 with information from several subsequent filings.