In a rarely-needed move, the FCC has ordered three applicants for a new non-commercial FM station in Cedar Rapids to come up with a plan to share one frequency.
The regulator has identified Friendship Baptist Church, Calvary Chapel Iowa, and Extend The Dream Foundation as the tentative selectees for the new station on 89.9. It directed the applicants to submit an agreement on how they will share time on the frequency within 90 days.
In almost all cases of competing applications for new non-commercial stations, the FCC is able to identify one tentative selectee using a points-based system followed by three tiebreakers. However, in this case, the three applicants scored the same number of points and none qualified to win on any of the tiebreakers.
Each scored three points for being an established local applicant and two points for diversity of ownership, which means the new station will be the only one owned by the group. (Calvary Chapel Iowa and Extend The Dream Foundation both currently own low-power FM stations that they have pledged to divest if the full-power station is granted.)
The FCC system also awards points for a proposed facility that would reach at least 10% more people than the next-closest application, but none of the applicants qualified for points in this case.
The tiebreakers concern other authorizations, other applications, and previous applications. Each of the three applicants has no other authorizations, no other applications, and no previous applications.
The three proposed stations are:
- Friendship Baptist Church: 4.5kW/74m (class A), licensed to and transmitting from Cedar Rapids
- Calvary Chapel Iowa: 1kW/193m (class A), licensed to and transmitting from Cedar Rapids
- Extend The Dream Foundation: 10kW/105m (class C3), licensed to Swisher and transmitting from Cedar Rapids
They were among a group of seven mutually-exclusive applications for the frequency. Bible Broadcasting Network, Community Public Radio, Rising Tide Broadcasting, and Vida Ministry all scored fewer points because they are not established local applicants.
The new station(s) will reach more than 200,000 people. New full-power stations are rarely possible in cities the size of Cedar Rapids, but the frequency became available when Cornell College returned the license of KRNL-FM/89.7 (Mount Vernon) in 2020.