Two organizations have been assigned to an involuntary timeshare for construction permits for an LPFM station on 99.9 FM in Fort Worth, Texas.
The first applicant is Christian Pentecost Church of the Worldwide Missionary Movement’s Fort Worth chapter. It is one of 17 LPFM applications filed during the 2023 window that all begin with the “CPC of the WMM” acronym, as REC Networks has detailed, including in nearby Carrolton. REC’s research concluded that each of the CPC chapters has its own local presence and mission.
[Related: “New LPFM Station CP Is Granted Near Dallas”]
The second applicant is nonprofit organization LGBTQ Saves, which is based in Fort Worth and provides youth ages 12—24 a safe space and opportunities for support and advocacy.
For the Fort Worth applications, after the FCC applied its usual point system for resolving mutually exclusive groups, CPC and LGBTQ Saves ended up in a tie. The commission directed the organizations to submit a voluntary time-sharing proposal within 90 days, dating back to last October.
In November, LGBTQ Saves filed a petition to deny CPC’s application. It argued that CPC should not be entitled to the point the commission awarded for community presence, claiming CPC failed to provide adequate documentation showing either that it had a headquarters within 10 miles of its proposed transmitting antenna for at least two years, or that 75% of its board members lived within the same proximity for that duration, which FCC rules require.
LGBTQ Saves said the articles of incorporation CPC submitted “appeared to be unfiled” with the State of Texas and lacked a date stamp. It also claimed to have confirmed independently that only half of CPC’s board resided within the required distance going back two years.
(Read the FCC’s statement on LPFM MX Group 90.)
The commission rejected LGBTQ Saves’ claims. It stated that documentation is not required to be date-stamped and that there is flexibility in what an applicant can submit. The commission accepted CPC’s certificate of incorporation — showing it was registered as a nonprofit in Texas in December 2016 — as sufficient evidence. It also noted a business address and registered office on N. Sylvania Ave. in Fort Worth, which CPC’s bylaws confirmed as its principal office. That’s also from where CPC listed its proposed antenna site.
As a result, the FCC denied the petition and affirmed its tentative selections of CPC and LGBTQ Saves, granting them construction permits on a timeshare basis.
Since neither party entered into a voluntary agreement, the commission asked the applicants to submit their preferred timeslots. Both requested 3:00 p.m. to 2:59 a.m. Since LGBTQ Saves has a longer-established community presence, according to the commission, they receive the preferred choice.
The assigned operating hours will be reflected in their respective construction permits.
CPC said it will use the LPFM to offer Spanish-language educational programming focused on moral guidance, community resource access and self-improvement. LGBTQ Saves said it aims to use the station to provide voice for those in the DFW Metroplex who are under-represented or socially excluded.
