[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 47, Volume 4]
[Revised as of October 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 47CFR73.872]

[Page 280-281]
 
                       TITLE 47--TELECOMMUNICATION
 
                         COMMISSION (CONTINUED)
 
PART 73_RADIO BROADCAST SERVICES--Table of Contents
 
            Subpart G_Low Power FM Broadcast Stations (LPFM)
 
Sec.  73.872  Selection procedure for mutually exclusive LPFM applications.

    (a) Following the close of each window for new LPFM stations and for 
modifications in the facilities of authorized LPFM stations, the 
Commission will issue a public notice identifying all groups of mutually 
exclusive applications. Such applications will be awarded points to 
determine the tentative selectee. Unless resolved by settlement pursuant 
to paragraph (e) of this section, the tentative selectee will be the 
applicant within each group with the highest point total under the 
procedure set forth in this section, except as provided in paragraphs 
(c) and (d) of this section .
    (b) Each mutually exclusive application will be awarded one point 
for each of the following criteria, based on application certification 
that the qualifying conditions are met:
    (1) Established community presence. An applicant must, for a period 
of at least two years prior to application, have been physically 
headquartered, have had a campus, or have had seventy-five percent of 
its board members residing within 10 miles of the coordinates of the 
proposed transmitting antenna. Applicants claiming a point for this 
criterion must submit the documentation set forth in the application 
form at the time of filing their applications.
    (2) Proposed operating hours. The applicant must pledge to operate 
at least 12 hours per day.
    (3) Local program origination. The applicant must pledge to 
originate locally at least eight hours of programming per day. For 
purposes of this criterion, local origination is the production of 
programming, by the licensee, within ten miles of the coordinates of the 
proposed transmitting antenna.
    (c) Voluntary time-sharing. If mutually exclusive applications have 
the same point total, any two or more of the tied applicants may propose 
to share use of the frequency by submitting, within 30 days of the 
release of a public notice announcing the tie, a time-share proposal. 
Such proposals shall be treated as amendments to the time-share 
proponents' applications, and shall become part of the terms of the 
station license. Where such proposals include all of the tied 
applications, all of the tied applications will be treated as tentative 
selectees; otherwise, time-share proponents' points will be aggregated 
to determine the tentative selectees.
    (1) Time-share proposals shall be in writing and signed by each 
time-share proponent, and shall satisfy the following requirements:
    (i) The proposal must specify the proposed hours of operation of 
each time-share proponent;
    (ii) The proposal must not include simultaneous operation of the 
time-share proponents; and (iii) Each time-share proponent must propose 
to operate for at least 10 hours per week.
    (2) Where a station is licensed pursuant to a time-sharing proposal, 
a change of the regular schedule set forth therein will be permitted 
only where a written agreement signed by each time-sharing licensee and 
complying with requirements in paragraphs (c)(1)(i) through (iii) of 
this section is filed with the Commission, Attention: Audio Division, 
Media Bureau, prior to the date of the change.
    (d) Successive license terms. (1) If a tie among mutually exclusive 
applications is not resolved through time-sharing in accordance with 
paragraph (c) of this section, the tied applications will be reviewed 
for acceptability and applicants with tied, grantable applications will 
be eligible for equal, successive, non-renewable license terms of no 
less than one year each for a total combined term of eight years, in 
accordance with Sec.  73.873. Eligible applications will be granted 
simultaneously, and the sequence of the applicants' license terms will 
be determined by the sequence in which they file applications for 
licenses to cover their construction permits based on the day of filing, 
except that eligible applicants proposing same-site facilities will be 
required, within 30 days of written notification by the Commission 
staff, to submit a written settlement agreement as to

[[Page 281]]

construction and license term sequence. Failure to submit such an 
agreement will result in the dismissal of the applications proposing 
same-site facilities and the grant of the remaining, eligible 
applications.
    (2) Groups of more than eight tied, grantable applications will not 
be eligible for successive license terms under this section. Where such 
groups exist, the staff will dismiss all but the applications of the 
eight entities with the longest established community presences, as 
provided in paragraph (b)(1) of this section. If more than eight tied, 
grantable applications remain, the applicants must submit, within 30 
days of written notification by the Commission staff, a written 
settlement agreement limiting the group to eight. Failure to do so will 
result in dismissal of the entire application group.
    (e) Mutually exclusive applicants may propose a settlement at any 
time during the selection process after the release of a public notice 
announcing the mutually exclusive groups. Settlement proposals must 
include all of the applicants in a group and must comply with the 
Commission's rules and policies regarding settlements, including the 
requirements of Sec. Sec.  73.3525, 73.3588, and 73.3589. Settlement 
proposals may include time-share agreements that comply with the 
requirements of paragraph (c) of this section, provided that such 
agreements may not be filed for the purpose of point aggregation outside 
of the thirty-day period set forth in paragraph (c) of this section.

[65 FR 7640, Feb.15, 2000, as amended at 65 FR 67304, Nov. 9, 2000; 67 
FR 13232, Mar. 21, 2002]