Four applicants are in the running in the contest to build an AM station in Rockland County NY to assure that there will be emergency broadcast service for residents near the Indian Point nuclear power plant.
At this point in the proceeding, the applicants have a window in which they may file technical modifications to their application, which are all for a facility on 1700 kHz, or to negotiate among one another in order to determine a winner by settlement. The deadline for these types of maneuvers is 12/9/09. Settlement proposals must be accompanied by affidavits from all parties to the settlement.
Since the allocation of the station is specifically for the purpose of serving the people in the area of the power plant, we suspect that the odds of finding a technical solution that would allow more than one station to be built and eliminate mutual exclusivity at the same time to be rather slim, but that route is mentioned by the FCC.
If neither of these possibilities results in determining a winning applicant, it will go to auction.
The applicants are S&B Broadcasting Company, proposing a station in Stony Point Town NY; Talkline Communications Corporation, proposing a station in Monsey NY; Alexander Broadcasting Inc., proposing a station in Ramapo NY; and Polnet Communications Ltd., proposing a station in Haverstraw NY.
The area in question is along the Hudson River in the lower portion of upstate New York, not far from New Jersey.
RBR-TVBR observation: It’s not every day that the China Syndrome is the basis for a station auction, although of course there could be a lesser event that would warrant evacuating the area just in case. But the winner must be prepared to cover an event it sincerely hopes never takes place.
