AM Owners: Don’t Jump the Gun on FM Translator Applications

The FCC's Media Bureau is not processing FM translator applications for AM owners until its new rule takes effect. At its public meeting last week, the agency adopted an order to relax restrictions on siting FM translators to be used as fill-ins for gaps in AM coverage. However that change has not yet become effective.

In order to be fair to all stations that may want to take advantage of the new rule, the Media Bureau said in a Notice that "any application or notification that does not comply with the current siting rule, including those that seek a waiver of the order's effective date, will be dismissed."

The bureau says this processing policy will ensure that all AM stations "have the same opportunity to propose potentially conflicting facilities in spectrum-congested areas and to prevent filers from gaining cut-off protection for proposed facilities that at the time of filing are patently defective." The bureau will issue a notice announcing the effective date of the rule changes. In the meantime, please contact FHH with any questions.