US Rep. Bob Filner interceded with FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski on behalf of a stalled FM applicant in his southern California district, but it seems that regardless of the high-level push, the wheels of bureaucracy are going to grind along at their own pace.
The group is Activist San Diego, which was awarded a CP for Ramona CA (east of the city) only to have it surprisingly pulled back by the Commission.
The FCC had cited numerous problems with the technical parameters of the station, not the least of which was interference with stations in Mexico. According to Filner, “ASD submitted a technically amended application with a contour design by Brown Broadcast Services that avoids interference with domestic and Mexican radio stations while increasing the coverage for the people of Ramona. After ASD submitted the corrections, they were informed by the FCC that their application was dismissed as it still overreached and the ratio of maximum power to the location exceeded the maximum of 15dB. ASD informed me that the highly experienced and FCC qualified design engineer (Michael Brown of Brown Broadcasting) could not have anticipated such a dismissal since this was a minor technical issue.”
That decision was appealed in April 2011, and according to Filner ASD was promised a swift resolution. However, that resolution has not yet materialized. He underscored the importance of the station in no uncertain terms, writing, “As you can imagine, there is a dire need for an FM station in this area as it will provide first non-commercial educational and emergency radio service to thousands of people, including the Los Coyotes Tribe, the Santa Rosa, Cahuilla, Mission, Rincon, Pasqual, Inaja, Barona and Capitan Grande Reservations.”
Genachowski turned the correspondence over to the Media Bureau, which said it received the Application for Review 5/9/11. It offered no further information on the matter other than to say it anticipates a recommendation some time in Q3 2012.
