An LPFM application in Connecticut has been dismissed by the FCC following two failed attempts by the applicant to change its organization’s name.
The Meriden, Conn., applicant originally filed in the December 2023 window under the name Shalom Christian Center, indicating it had been in existence since 1998. But it provided no additional legal evidence to support that claim.
In March, the applicant filed an amendment to change its name to Centro Shalom Inc., along with a supporting document that affirmed the organization was incorporated in the state as of February of this year. The commission, however, dismissed the application as the incorporation would have occurred after the LPFM application was originally filed.
According to FCC rules, an applicant must be a nonprofit educational institution, corporation or entity recognized under state law at the time it files its application.
The applicant then filed a petition for reconsideration to the commission in May, claiming its actual organization’s name was Centro Cristiano Shalom Inc. It attached supporting documents from the state that the entity was formed in 2016, even though it said on its petition the incorporation occurred in 1996. The applicant asked the media bureau to process its LPFM application, claiming “misstatement of the name of the corporation inadvertently misled the bureau,” leading to “improper dismissal.”
But the FCC held firm on the dismissal of the LPFM application. It said no connection could be established between the original applicant and the entity formed in 2016, which the applicant now claims is the rightful organization.
The religious entity applied to broadcast on 105.3 FM from Meriden. It desired to use the station, if granted the application, to serve the community with news, events and religious messaging.
