Back in May, Lakes Media President Tom Birch was told by the Commission that Arohi Media had to shut down the translator Arohi Media was broadcasting on 98.3 in Durham. Birch had been arguing for nearly a year that the translator was interfering with WLUS-FM, causing it to lose thousands of listeners. This week Birch received a letter from the FCC letting him know that the translator has been OK’d to go back on the air after Arohi requested an Emergency Stay and Petition for Reconsideration, which was granted.
Lakes Media will file Oppositions to both the Stay and the Petition and will request that the FCC grant the Arohi CP accepted for filing on May 17 for W234AR to move to 92.1, the frequency it shares with the station it is simulcasting 100%: WRSV/Elm City NC.
Birch said, “Unlike the 6 month lapse in response to our Complaint, we are shocked that the Commission acted within 24 hours to address the Stay without seeking input from Lakes Media. While our Complaint remains under consideration, W234AR has been authorized to return to the air. The FCC ignored the Lakes Complaint and subsequent filings and took no action until its issuance of warning letter to Arohi on February 24. We clearly feel that Lakes has been treated unfairly and our listeners in 4 North Carolina Counties have suffered as a result.”
Birch added that this entire experience has been a twisted episode of the Twilight Zone for WLUS. “Lakes Media spent millions of dollars to acquire and build audience in the affected counties for WLUS, a Primary Class C-3 FM, facility between 2005 and 2016, when W234AR was authorized to annihilate WLUS audience in 4 important counties in its Class C-3 coverage area. We are stunned by the FCC’s failure to enforce regulations designed to protect Primary FM facilities.”
