NPR supports an FCC proposal to eliminate requirements that noncommercial educational (NCE) FM stations protect channel 6 television stations from interference, it said in a call with FCC Audio Division Chief Albert Shuldiner Wednesday, according to an ex parte filing posted Friday in docket 03-185. NPR and Shuldiner also discussed “the parameters” of the FCC’s draft FM6 NPRM (see 2205180065) and “how NPR’s concerns about the continuing operation of FM6 may be relevant.” NPR historically opposed the continued operations of FM6 stations (see 2006100036).

FCC Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin should reject the American Militia Association’s motion to intervene in a hearing proceeding for a Pennsylvania radio station owned by Roger Wahl, said the Enforcement Bureau in an opposition filing posted Friday in docket 21-401. AMA CEO Robert Kluver sought to intervene because he owns radio stations that compete with WQZS(FM) Meyersdale and disputed filings in the case saying Wahl’s is the only station in the market (see 2205170080). The EB called that information “thought-provoking” but said AMA should be denied because the request is late-filed, and Kluver appears to have no personal knowledge of the issues in the case. “It appears that Mr. Kluver’s knowledge related to this proceeding emanates from documents submitted to the Media Bureau, Mr. Wahl’s responses to the Enforcement Bureau’s discovery requests, and information reported in the media.” The bureau “intends to investigate the allegations Mr. Kluver makes in his motion” and could enlarge the case based on them, the filing said.

The FCC Media Bureau extended filing deadlines for the Standard/Tegna deal by about a month in response to a request from several groups opposed to media consolidation (see 2205180041), said a public notice Friday. Petitions to deny had been due May 23, but are now due June 22. Oppositions are due July 7, replies July 18. Public Knowledge, Common Cause and the Communications Workers of America's NewsGuild sector also asked the FCC to require additional information from the broadcasters, but the bureau hasn’t ruled on that yet, the PN said. “While the Motion remains pending and in light of the questions raised therein, we will grant a limited extension of the petition to deny deadline for the underlying transactions.”

NAB and NPR’s request for an extension of deadlines to file comments on geotargeted radio tests uses “fuzzy” math, said GeoBroadcast Solutions in an opposition filing posted Friday in docket 20-401. A report on the test of the technology at KSJO(FM) San Jose will have been in the docket for 262 days when comments are due June 6, and the report for WRBJ-FM Brandon, Mississippi, will have been in for 68 days, said GBS. “There is thus no reason why Movants cannot produce responses during the generous timeframe the Commission granted,” GBS said. “This proceeding does not propose any requirements; it involves an entirely voluntary technology.” NPR and NAB “failed to demonstrate that the Commission should deviate from its standard procedure of not permitting extensions of time.”

The FCC Enforcement Bureau wants Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin to compel broadcaster Arm & Rage, owned by former Tennessee state legislator Joseph Armstrong, to respond to questions about Armstrong’s criminal convictions (see 2203210047), said a motion posted in docket 22-122 Thursday. Armstrong was convicted in 2017 on charges he didn’t include a $330,000 profit on his 2008 tax filings, money that he generated by buying cigarette tax stamps and selling them after the state increased the tax rate in a bill he voted for. “The requested information is irrelevant and outside the scope of the Hearing Designation Order,” said Arm & Rage in a response to the bureau. The broadcaster “is not entitled to unilaterally restrict the scope of this proceeding,” the bureau said. “To develop the record on this critical question, the Bureau must be allowed to delve into the circumstances that led to Mr. Armstrong’s conviction.”

Broadcaster Snake River Radio was “premature” in requesting that Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin set aside allegations that Snake River’s license for KPCQ(AM) Chubbuck, Idaho, expired after it was silent for over a year, said an FCC order posted in docket 22-53 Thursday. Snake River maintained the station wasn’t silent for that long and the Enforcement Bureau’s perception that it was is due to “a misstatement by counsel.” Snake River gathered evidence to demonstrate the station was operating at the time, but Halprin ruled in Thursday’s order that such arguments should be made as part of the larger case. “Inherent in the notion of a full hearing is providing the Enforcement Bureau an opportunity to examine documentation, interview witnesses, and generally investigate Snake River’s claims,” Halprin said.

Channel substitutions for two Gray TV stations took effect Thursday, said that day’s Federal Register. Gray’s WDTV Weston, West Virginia, switched from Channel 5 to 33, and KSCW–DT, Wichita, Kansas, shifted from 12 to 28.

The FCC should reject requests by public interest groups for an extension and additional information (see 2205130072) on the Standard/Tegna deal, said Tegna and Standard General in a joint opposition filing posted in docket 22-162 Wednesday. With “absolutely no supporting precedent or facts, Movants now second-guess the Media Bureau’s expert review and assessment of the completeness of the applications,” said the filing. Public Knowledge and Common Cause have made similar requests for retransmission consent contract data during prior transactions and were rejected by the FCC, Standard and Tegna said. “The vehicle for them to raise their concerns is a petition to deny or comments,” said the broadcasters. Tegna and Standard didn’t respond to suggestions by the groups that the deal is structured to trigger after-acquired clauses in purchased stations or that it could lead to Apollo having an attributable level of control over the final entity. “Applicants are reserving their responses to Movants’ unsupported allegations regarding the proposed transactions unless and until such time as they are raised in a properly supported petition,” the broadcasters said.

NPR and NAB want the FCC to grant a two-week extension to the comments deadline on the geotargeted radio test data from GeoBroadcast Solutions because of misfiled documents, said a joint request filed Wednesday in docket 20-401. Comments are currently due June 6 and replies June 21; the extension would push them to June 20 and July 5. Both NPR and NAB have been critical of the GBS proposal to change the FCC rules for FM boosters to allow use of the geotargeting tech. The broadcasters said they need more time for comments in part because “certain critical information was either missing or misplaced in the Commission’s records for both applications for experimental authority to conduct the tests.” “We have found that GBS made numerous requests for technical facilities using inconsistent labeling and technical parameters that have complicated our engineers’ review,” NAB and NPR said. Both stations involved in the testing received multiple extensions of agency deadlines, the filing said. “Fairness dictates allowing stakeholders the requested additional time,” NPR and NAB said. The test reports that are the focus of the proceeding have been publicly available in ECFS since they were filed, an FCC spokesperson emailed us in response to a request for comment on the NAB and NPR filing. Requests for experimental authorization are difficult to find while the agency is transitioning from the consolidated database system to the license management system, and Media Bureau staff helped NAB staff locate those, the spokesperson said. GBS didn’t comment.

Comments are due July 11, replies July 26, on Spottswood Partners’ request for the allotment of FM Channel 265C3 at Big Coppitt Key, Florida, said a public notice Wednesday. The channel would be the community’s first local FM station, the PN said.