Commissioners Reject Premier FM Appeal

The full FCC has denied a petition for reconsideration from a broadcaster challenging the allotment of an unbuilt FM station, said an order in Thursday’s Daily Digest. This was the second challenge by Premier Broadcasters of the agency’s 2017 ruling that Threshold Communications could relocate its allotment from Clatskanie, Oregon, to Napavine, Washington. Premier had argued that Clatskanie had a greater need for a radio service and that Napavine wasn’t the optimal choice under the FCC’s urbanized area service presumption, but the commissioners ruled that Premier didn’t present sufficient evidence for that argument. “To afford Premier additional bites at the evidentiary apple would further delay the provision of new radio service at Napavine, contrary to the express Congressional intent.”