FCC Denial of Tolling Request Was Arbitrary, AM Broadcaster Tells DC Circuit

The FCC Media Bureau's denial of a construction permit extension for an unbuilt California AM station was “a material error” and ignored evidence of mitigating circumstances from wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic (see 2201060048), said Schwab Multimedia in an appellate brief filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit Friday. The FCC said Schwab’s multiple requests for delays didn’t provide sufficient evidence connecting the construction delays for KWIF(AM) Culver City to the fires and the COVID-19 pandemic, but Schwab said Friday the Media Bureau misconstrued its filings. Schwab submitted documentation on pandemic restrictions in Los Angeles County making it hard to hire construction crews to work on the station, but the agency rejected that evidence because broadcasters weren’t included in the restrictions. The bureau “failed to acknowledge that many construction crews were ‘simply unavailable or unwilling to travel’” because “of the high number of COVID-19 cases at the time,” Schwab said. Schwab also argued the bureau applied its tolling policies inconsistently when Schwab changed site locations, and that the rejection went against the FCC’s AM revitalization efforts. The FCC “impermissibly reinterpreted its tolling rules in the Order, applying an arbitrary and capricious standard,” the filing said.