The FCC has granted a construction permit application to Mississippi College for a full-time LPFM station after its fellow selectee in a mutually exclusive group was disqualified for failing to comply with the commission’s signature rule.
This marks the third recent instance in which an objection was granted in an MX group due to an applicant’s failure to have a proper officer simply sign its application.
Mississippi College was part of an MX group in the 2023 LPFM window. It was the tentative selectee of the group for an LPFM station in Clinton, Miss. It shared this status with the People’s Advocacy Institute (PAI), based in nearby Jackson. The two parties had been awaiting the outcome of a potential timeshare agreement.
However, Mississippi College filed an informal objection, citing that the PAI application was signed by Brooke Floyd, listed as a “contact representative.” Floyd was not identified as an officer of PAI.
The FCC’s signature rule mandates that applications submitted by organizations like PAI must be signed by an officer of the entity. The Media Bureau has characterized violations of this rule as a “not curable” defect.
[Related: “Nevada Church’s LPFM Application Dismissed for Signature Rule Misstep”]
In its ruling, the FCC sided with Mississippi College, dismissing PAI’s application. The commission stated, “The PAI Application, which did not comply with the Signature Rule at the time it was filed, cannot be amended to correct this deficiency, and must therefore be dismissed.” It said PAI did not file an opposition to the objection.
Accordingly, Mississippi College became the sole remaining selectee from the MX group and the commission granted it a CP for an LPFM application on 107.1 FM. The CP is for eight watts ERP broadcasting from a tower just north of the school’s campus, or about eight miles northwest of downtown Jackson.
The private university, affiliated with the Mississippi Baptist Convention, was founded in 1826 and is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state. It desires to use the signal to provide broadcasting experience to its students enrolled in digital media production or journalism. It said it also wishes to use the signal to partner with local secondary schools to provide training.
