Noncommercial radio station WVGV(FM) West Union, W.Va., will lose “a measurable number of listeners and supporters” if the FCC limits translator interference complaints outside a full-power station’s 54 dBu contour as is proposed in the FM translator NPRM, said WVGV’s licensee Araiza Revival Ministries in docket 18-119. Araiza has “numerous sponsors” in communities outside that contour, the filing said. Allowing translators to interfere with the station at the contour limit would be “a tremendous disservice” to WVGV’s listeners. “The FCC’s efforts to revitalize the AM service should not concomitantly degrade the FM radio service.”

Scripps will sell two Milwaukee radio stations to Wisconsin sports marketer and broadcaster Good Karma Brands for $16 million, the seller said Friday. The deal for WTMJ(AM) and WKTI(FM) is expected to close in Q4. The deal is part of a larger effort by Scripps to sell off its 34 radio stations (see 1801260032); in June, Scripps announced the sale of five radio stations in Tulsa (see 1806250041). “We are on track for the sale of our entire radio station group as a component of our enterprise-wide strategy,” the broadcaster said.

The draft incubator order doesn’t meet the court order that the FCC analyze the effects of ownership changes on minorities, and it relies on “inadequate data,” said Free Press, the Communications Workers of America, Common Cause and United Church of Christ, Office of Communication in a letter and phone conversation with an aide to Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel Thursday, according to filings in docket 14-50. The incubator order won’t address the “harms to ownership diversity” from the media ownership reconsideration order because that order’s rule changes mainly affected TV ownership and the incubator draft order is limited to radio, the letter said. That means the draft order doesn’t satisfy requirements from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the FCC consider the effects of ownership rules on women and people of color, the letter said. “The Commission has ignored our insistence that it adopt measures which have been scientifically validated for their effectiveness through data and study.” Though Free Press said the FCC shouldn't issue an incubator order during the NPRM phase of the rulemaking process (see 1807060021), they changed their stance in the letter. ”Our organizations are emphatic that we would fully endorse a Commission proposal that would in fact improve ownership rates by women and people of color,” the letter said. “The current incubator proposal will do nothing to improve ownership diversity.”

Petitions to deny Gray Television’s proposed $3.6 billion buy of Raycom are due Aug. 27, said a public notice in Friday’s Daily Digest (see 1806250057). Opposition filings are due Sept. 11 and replies Sept. 21, the PN said. Though Gray and Raycom said they will divest stations to comply with FCC rules in the nine markets where the two groups overlap, the deal also includes existing top-four duopolies currently owned by Raycom in Amarillo, Texas, and Honolulu that will have to go through the FCC’s case-by-case top-four process, the PN said. Gray is also seeking satellite waivers in three markets, for stations also owned by Raycom. The deal includes radio stations in Amarillo and Lamesa, Texas, as well, the PN said.

CBS’ board is “committed to investigating claims [of activities] that violate the Company’s clear policies" on sexual abuse, said a statement after reports The New Yorker is soon to publish a story on allegations of such abuse against CEO Les Moonves. "Upon the conclusion of that investigation, which involves recently reported allegations that go back several decades, the Board will promptly review the findings and take appropriate action,” the broadcaster said. It noted the allegations are surfacing during CBS’ “very public legal dispute” with Viacom. ”While that litigation process continues, the CBS management team has the full support of the independent board members,” it said. “All allegations of personal misconduct are to be taken seriously.” The broadcaster's stock closed down 6.1 percent at $54.01.

The FCC Media Bureau Audio Division fined Roy Henderson, licensee of WBNZ(FM) Frankfort, Michigan, $18,000 for operating at reduced power levels for 17 months without authorization, said a forfeiture order in Thursday’s Daily Digest. Henderson didn’t disclose the reduced power in a subsequent request to go silent, and didn’t respond to a notice of apparent liability, the order said. Also admonished was KTBS Shreveport, Louisiana, for violating equal employment opportunity rules, the bureau said. KTBS self-reported it “inadvertently failed to provide notification” of four full-time vacancies out of 26 in 2017 and four out of 14 in 2018 to its local NAACP unit, which had requested such notification, the letter said. The licensee reported it notified the group "of the majority of full-time vacancies during the audit reporting period and that the NAACP had not referred any applicants in the 13 years since its initial request,” the admonishment letter said.

If the FCC adopts all the proposals in the FM translator interference NPRM, “the demise of the FM radio service will occur,” radio licensee Monroe Public Access Cable Television commented early in docket 18-119. Limiting the distance at which full-power FMs could object to interference from translators could cause the erosion of their audiences, Monroe said. “Terrestrial radio is already beleaguered by online music services, YouTube and podcasts that have caused many people to migrate away from the FM radio band.” Such limits should be based on field strength rather than contour, Monroe said. “FM translator stations should not be provided equal or near-equal status to full power FM radio stations as the regulatory obligations for an FM translator station license will remain much less burdensome.” The FCC should adopt a standardized listener complaint form for translator interference disputes that would prevent “gamesmanship,” Monroe said. It supports the agency proposal to let displaced translators relocate anywhere on the dial.

An upcoming FCC report on the audio market could inform changes to radio rules under the upcoming quadrennial ownership review, Wilkinson Barker broadcast attorney David Oxenford blogged Tuesday. The report and the questions to which the FCC seeking answers were announced Monday (see 1807230041). “This study would seem to be looking at exactly the same issues that the FCC will be considering in the Quadrennial Review,” said Oxenford. If the audio market is considered to be broad, ownership rule changes could be seen as justified, whereas if the FCC determines that radio stations only compete with each other, rules may remain, he said.

Cox Enterprises “is exploring strategic options for its ownership or other interest” in its 14 TV stations, which could include “partnering or merging these stations into a larger TV company,” it said Tuesday. "We didn't take this decision lightly. It is clear that scale is critical for TV affiliates to be positioned well for the future,” said Cox CEO Alex Taylor. The 14 stations in nine states include WSB-TV Atlanta, KIRO-TV Seattle and WFXT Boston, it said. “Cox Enterprises has no immediate plans for the other parts of the portfolio.”

The FCC’s draft reimbursement proposal to give FM stations graduated reimbursements based on how the repacking has affected their service caused NAB “surprise and concern,” it told Incentive Auction Task Force Chair Jean Kiddoo and Media Bureau staff Thursday, said a filing posted Monday in docket 18-214. “It is unclear to NAB on what basis this tentative conclusion was developed.” The proposal would restrict funding to FM stations before it’s clear that such restrictions are needed and could create “perverse incentives” for stations to reduce service, said the association. The draft NPRM “adopts an incorrect (and unnecessarily restrictive) view of the Commission’s authority to distribute the additional funds Congress made available,” the group said. “The NPRM asserts that the Commission has authority only to reimburse FM stations up to $50 million from funds appropriated for Fiscal Year 2018, ignoring the fact that funds appropriated for Fiscal Year 2019 have no such restriction.” NAB wants the FCC to instead seek comment “on the necessity of adopting a prioritization scheme in this or a future proceeding.”