Should the FCC allow a new FM station to be built in Edgefield, S.C.?
Georgia-Carolina Radiocasting Co. would like that, and it has petitioned the FCC’s Audio Division accordingly. It also submitted an application for a construction permit. The principals for the company are Douglas M. Sutton Jr. and M. Terry Carter, both of whom have interests in several other stations in the region.
According to the company, the relocation of a transmitter by WSBB(FM) in Doraville, Ga., has opened “a small usable area for Channel 238A” in Edgefield County, S.C.
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Now the FCC engineering staff has found that the coast is clear technically: “Channel 238A can be allotted to Edgefield, S.C., consistent with the minimum distance separation requirements of the commission’s rules, using city reference coordinates.” So the FCC is asking for comments on whether to amend its FM table of allotments and allow the station.
It would be a Class A station at 95.5 MHz. The application was submitted by attorney John Garziglia of Womble Bond Dickinson.
This would be a “first local service” for Edgefield, a county seat of about 4,750 people located about a half-hour’s drive north of Augusta, Ga. “The petitioner asserts that Edgefield is governed by a mayor and six city council members, and has its own library, police and fire departments, weekly newspaper, banks, churches and many other indicators of a bona fide community for allotment purposes,” the FCC wrote in its summary.
Comments are due Aug. 3, reference MB Docket No. 20-155.
