The CP for a new FM in Lancaster NY awarded to Holy Family Communications has been upheld against the challenge of a CP competitor for the second time. The Mary V. Harris Foundation believes they should have received the permit, but the FCC thinks otherwise.
Harris had three basic objections – one was that HFC incorporated only after putting its name in for the station; that Harris was very close to achieving a fair distribution threshold that would have given it comparative hearing points; and that HFC listed an address as evidence of being a local entity that was not used to conduct its business, was actually a residence of some of its members and at that, wasn’t even used as a primary residence.
The FCC brushed the points aside one by one.
It said that HFC was incorporated well within necessary parameters, even if it wasn’t at the beginning of the process. It noted that Harris may have been close to a 10% benchmark for fair distribution, but that close wasn’t good enough. Finally, it noted that even if HFC used other addresses cited in the Harris objection, they would still be in in the vicinity of the Lancaster allotment and therefore still entitled to get a local interest point.
For all these reasons, the Harris petition for reconsideration was denied and the HFC CP stands as awarded.
