§ 73.30 - Petition for authorization of an allotment in the 1605-1705 kHz band.

§ 73.30 Petition for authorization of an allotment in the 1605-1705 kHz band.

(a) Any party interested in operating an AM broadcast station on one of the ten channels in the 1605-1705 kHz band must file a petition for the establishment of an allotment to its community of license. Each petition must include the following information:

(1) Name of community for which allotment is sought;

(2) Frequency and call letters of the petitioner's existing AM operation; and

(3) Statement as to whether or not AM stereo operation is proposed for the operation in the 1605-1705 kHz band.

(b) Petitions are to be filed during a filing period to be determined by the Commission. For each filing period, eligible stations will be allotted channels based on the following steps:

(1) Stations are ranked in descending order according to the calculated improvement factor.

(2) The station with the highest improvement factor is initially allotted the lowest available channel.

(3) Successively, each station with the next lowest improvement factor, is allotted an available channel taking into account the possible frequency and location combinations and relationship to previously selected allotments. If a channel is not available for the subject station, previous allotments are examined with respect to an alternate channel, the use of which would make a channel available for the subject station.

(4) When it has been determined that, in accordance with the above steps, no channel is available for the subject station, that station is no longer considered and the process continues to the station with the next lowest improvement factor.

(c) If awarded an allotment, a petitioner will have sixty (60) days from the date of public notice of selection to file an application for construction permit on FCC Form 301. (See §§ 73.24 and 73.37(e) for filing requirements). Unless instructed by the Commission to do otherwise, the application shall specify Model I facilities. (See § 73.14). Upon grant of the application and subsequent construction of the authorized facility, the applicant must file a license application on FCC Form 302.

Note 1:

Until further notice by the Commission, the filing of these petitions is limited to licensees of existing AM stations (excluding Class C stations) operating in the 535-1605 kHz band. First priority will be assigned to Class D stations located within the primary service contours of U.S. Class A stations that are licensed to serve communities of 100,000 or more for which there exists no local fulltime aural service.

Note 2:

Selection among competing petitions will be based on interference reduction. Notwithstanding the exception contained in Note 5 of this section, within each operational category, the station demonstrating the highest value of improvement factor will be afforded the highest priority for an allotment, with the next priority assigned to the station with next lowest value, and so on, until available allotments are filled.

Note 3:

The Commission will periodically evaluate the progress of the movement of stations from the 535-1605 kHz band to the 1605-1705 kHz band to determine whether the 1605-1705 kHz band should continue to be administered on an allotment basis or modified to an assignment method. If appropriate, the Commission will later develop further procedures for use of the 1605-1705 kHz band by existing station licensees and others.

Note 4:

Other than the exception specified in note 1 of this section, existing fulltime stations are considered first for selection as described in note 2 of this section. In the event that an allotment availability exists for which no fulltime station has filed a relevant petition, such allotment may be awarded to a licensed Class D station. If more than one Class D station applies for this migration opportunity, the following priorities will be used in the selection process: First priority - a Class D station located within the 0.5 mV/m-50% contour of a U.S. Class A station and licensed to serve a community of 100,000 or more, for which there exists no local fulltime aural service; Second priority - Class D stations ranked in order of improvement factor, from highest to lowest, considering only those stations with improvement factors greater than zero.

Note 5:

The preference for AM stereo in the expanded band will be administered as follows: when an allotment under consideration (candidate allotment) conflicts with one or more previously selected allotments (established allotments) and cannot be accommodated in the expanded band, the candidate allotment will be substituted for the previously established allotment provided that: the petitioner for the candidate allotment has made a written commitment to the use of AM stereo and the petitioner for the established allotment has not; the difference between the ranking factors associated with the candidate and established allotments does not exceed 10% of the ranking factor of the candidate allotment; the substitution will not require the displacement of more than one established allotment; and both the candidate allotment and the established allotment are within the same priority group.

[58 FR 27949, May 12, 1993]