A Utah FM construction permit holder is being requested to explain to the FCC why it should be allowed to operate as a Class C3 FM from southern Utah and not from its original Class A allocation in neighboring Nevada. The commission issued an order to show cause last week.
By requesting a minor community of license (COL) move, 100.7 KCAY(FM), a Class C3 licensed to Dammeron Valley, Utah, brought to light nearly three years of maneuvering its COL closer to the southern Utah market of St. George. It sought to change its COL to Ivins, Utah. The commission dismissed the station’s modification to its application and is now seeking an explanation from the CP’s owner, SSR Communications, as to why the station shouldn’t be licensed to 107.7 FM as a Class A from its original COL of Caliente, Nev.
Caliente is a little over 60 miles northwest of St. George, while Dammeron Valley is just 15 miles north of the growing market.
Included in this tangled web is Community Service Broadcasting’s CP for NCE 90.9 KKBX(FM), licensed to Caliente. Its technical consultant is Matthew Wesolowski, who happens to be the CEO of SSR Communications. KKBX and KCAY’s most recent applications were filed simultaneously.
SSR Communications won the allocation for 100.7 in 2021’s FM Auction 109. It was originally allocated as a Class A signal. A dizzying chain of modification attempts followed.
In late 2021, SSR wanted to change the application’s COL from Caliente to Dammeron Valley. But the commission rejected the request because Dammeron Valley would constitute triggering its Urbanized Area Service Presumption. That means the station, through a minor modification, could cover more than 50% of the St. George urbanized area (UA). This relates to the policies the FCC set forth in the 2011 “Rural Radio” order. The commission preferred the allocation stay in Nevada.
Complicating matters, the FCC’s Audio Division erroneously granted SSR its desired COL change in June 2022. After SSR successfully had the application’s frequency changed to 107.7, it once again filed for a COL change to Dammeron Valley. The FCC granted the COL change, as well as a frequency change back to 100.7. Later in 2022, SSR was granted a facility upgrade to Class C3.
Now, SSR wanted to move 100.7’s COL to Ivins with the same facility it had listed in Dammeron Valley. Ivins is seven miles from St. George. With its intended Class C3 facility, both communities constitute 100% coverage of the St. George UA and so the FCC considered the change an intra-UA move. Since the facility itself did not change in the modification, the commission determined it did not represent a “preferential arrangement of assignments.”
But SSR’s desire backfired, as it brought to light the moves prior. The commission deemed SSR as having circumvented its reallotment procedures. Even though SSR was already granted the 100.7 CP from Dammeron Valley, the FCC said it has the authority to “modify any station license or construction permit” if in its judgment “such action will promote the public interest, convenience, and necessity.”
Absent SSR showing compelling evidence, the FCC said it prefers a third local service in Caliente “over the retention of the 25th local service at the St. George UA.”
Community Service Broadcasting’s KKBX also desired to move its COL from Caliente to Dammeron Valley, following in KCAY’s footsteps. It would have done so while downgrading from a Class C3 to Class A facility. By filing their applications simultaneously, Community Service Broadcasting asserted in its application that KKBX would fulfill providing Dammeron Valley a first local radio service. It also said KCAY would do the same in Ivins, while Caliente would still be served by Community Service’s separate CP, Class C3 88.3 KCYQ(FM).
But, under the FCC’s allotment priorities, the commission said it prefers the retention of a second local service at the larger community of Caliente over a second local service to the smaller community of Dammeron Valley. In the 2020 census, Caliente had a population of 990, while Dammeron Valley had 871.
“The commission has stated on numerous occasions that reception service from nearby communities is not a substitute for local service,” the FCC said in its statement.
Accordingly, it dismissed both the KCAY and KKBX modification applications. KCAY still retains its existing CP for 90.9 FM from Caliente.
SSR Communications, meanwhile, has 30 days to demonstrate why its existing CP should not be modified to revert to its 107.7 FM Class A allocation from Caliente.
SSR gained commission approval to sell the license for KCAY to Gerdes and Associates in July 2023 for $250,000. It is unknown if the order to show cause will impact the sale.
