Errors Spotted in Many ‘Self-Filed’ LPFM Applications

Some applications were filed using the name of the individual who filed rather than the name of the organization that plans to license the desired station, said Sanjay Jolly, policy director of Prometheus Radio Project. “That’s fatal for an applicant.” There also were applicants who included poor images required to accompany second adjacent waivers, he said.

A large percentage of “self-filed” applications are going to wind up defective, said Leo Ashcraft, CEO of the LPFM Store. So far, Ashcraft’s group has noticed about 60 applications from “self-filers,” he said. “Probably 70 percent of those have major defects,” he said. “If they come up in a mutually exclusive group, there’s no way to fix that.” Some applications will be missing information on reasonable tower assurance, “which is permission to use whatever tower they filed for,” he said. “Most self-filers don’t realize they have to get that before they file and that can get their applications kicked out if they don’t have that at the time of filing.” He also spotted missing programming statements, duplicate filings and defective filings based on engineering, he said. “We found [that] several of these self-filers seemingly put technical information on the applications [on] which clearly no sort of engineering had been completed as the frequencies were not even available for application.” There are “all kinds of little snafus in there,” he added.

Austin Airwaves noticed similar mistakes while reviewing about 20 applications filed in the Austin area, said Jim Ellinger, a member of Austin Airwaves. There were applications without physical addresses and some applicants failed to document that they were an existing group for at least two years, he said. He attributed the mistakes to human error and unfamiliarity with the federal regulatory process. “It will be interesting to see how hard a look the FCC will give to minor errors,” he said. In the past, some applications that didn’t have all the “T’s” crossed and “I’s” dotted were thrown out, he said. However, the FCC may be more flexible, he said.

Some defects are correctable and some are not, an FCC official said. The Media Bureau plans to shortly dismiss less than 20 filings by individual applicants, the official said. That problem can’t be fixed unless it’s clear from the application that listing a contact person as the applicant was simply a mistake, the official said. The bureau has identified about 900 applications that are both singletons and technically acceptable, the official said.

With applicants allowed to file on their own, some errors were expected, said LPFM advocates and consultants. A lot of applicants are “folks who are not always filling out government forms, so there’s a fair number of small errors,” Jolly said. “It’s evident these folks aren’t filling out these kinds of forms every day.” The people that hired engineering firms filed applications that are going to have a much better chance against a self-filer, Ashcraft said. “The FCC is going to go with the more complete application and throw out any that have any major defects that can’t be amended.” While most major errors were made by self-filers, some engineering firms have put out some defective applications, Ashcraft said.

Some of the consultants said there were “bogus” applications. There’s evidence of a group that is filing on behalf of other groups, Ellinger said. There is an issue around “sneaky mass filers who have created fake organizations to apply during the window,” Ashcraft said.