Federal Communications Commission DA 17-187
Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
In the Matter of
City of Aurora, Illinois
Request for Waiver of Section 90.242(b)(4)(iv)
of the Commission’s Rules
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File No. 0007195181
ORDER
Adopted:  February 22, 2017 Released: February 22, 2017
By the Acting Chief, Policy and Licensing Division, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau:
I. INTRODUCTION
1. On March 21, 2016, the City of Aurora, Illinois (Aurora, or the City) filed an application 
and waiver request to modify its Travelers Information Station (TIS) WPZZ656 by expanding its service 
area.
1
  Aurora’s TIS operates on frequency 1650 kilohertz in the AM radio band.  Aurora requests a 
waiver of Section 90.242(b)(4)(iv) of the Commission’s rules, which imposes a 2 mV/m field strength 
limit at 1.5 kilometers from TIS transmitters,
2
so that it may expand its 2 mV/m service contour to 3.24
kilometers from the transmitter.
3
The City plans to maintain a power level of ten watts, the maximum 
power level permitted for TIS conventional antennas under the Commission’s rules.
4
For the reasons we 
discuss herein, we grant the request for waiver.
II. BACKGROUND
2. Aurora is located 35 miles west of Chicago, measures 46 square miles, and has a 
population of 200,500.
5
  The City uses its single-transmitter TIS “to broadcast information about traffic 
congestion, road closures and severe weather.”
6
  Aurora states that it has daily heavy traffic during rush 
hours and heavy truck traffic on Interstate 88, which runs along the City’s northern border.
7
  The City
asserts that it is susceptible to hazards such as winter storms, flooding, hazardous materials [spills], severe 
winds and tornados, earthquakes, pandemics, nuclear contamination, and possible terrorism.
8
  Aurora 
                                                     
1
File No. 0007195181 (filed Mar. 21, 2016), attached Waiver Justification. 
2
47 CFR § 90.242(b)(4)(iv).  “The field strength of the emission on the operating frequency shall not exceed 2 
mV/m when measured with a standard field strength meter at a distance of 1.50 km (0.93 miles) from the 
transmitting antenna system.” Id.
3
Waiver Justification at 1.
4
47 CFR § 90.242(b)(4)(iii).
5
File No. 0007195181, attached Letter from Joseph E. Jones, Emergency Management Coordinator, Aurora Fire 
Department Emergency Management Division, to “Whom it may concern” (dated Dec. 10. 2015) (Letter) at 1.
6
Id.
7
Id.
8
Id. at 2.
Federal Communications Commission DA 17-187
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notes its susceptibility to lengthy power and communication outages from severe weather because power, 
telephone and cable lines are above ground in many areas of the city.
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3. Aurora seeks to ensure the TIS has sufficient signal strength to reach the entire city 
population to deliver locally focused emergency information to residents and travelers.
10
Aurora reports
that its TIS only has the signal strength to reach approximately two of the 46 square miles of the city.
11
  
The City states that it “must choose between the coverage that will result from installing multiple, 
synchronized TIS locations to attempt full coverage, or to request a waiver of field intensity so that a 
single TIS station with relaxed signal intensity limitations could cover the city.”
12
  The City states that 
“[e]nforcement of rule 90.242(b)(4)(iv) would also have the unintended effect of increasing the cost of 
providing the expanded service to the public because it is estimated that two or three TIS stations - and 
the addition of synchronization equipment would be required to achieve the coverage - roughly tripling 
the cost to service the same area.”
13
  In support of its request for waiver, the City asserts that its TIS 
station can operate without causing interference to standard broadcast stations even with relaxation of the 
field strength intensity distance limitation.
14
  Aurora states that a “grant of waiver of field intensity would 
enable a single City TIS transmitter to provide travel and emergency information to our public, … and 
provide vital information to motorists no matter where in the city they may be.”
15
  
III. DISCUSSION
4. Section 1.925(b)(3) of the Commission’s rules provides that: “the Commission may grant 
a request for waiver if it is shown that: (i) The underlying purpose of the rule(s) would not be served or 
would be frustrated by application to the instant case, and that a grant of the requested waiver would be in 
the public interest; or (ii) In view of unique or unusual factual circumstances of the instant case, 
application of the rule(s) would be inequitable, unduly burdensome or contrary to the public interest, or 
the applicant has no reasonable alternative.”
16
  An applicant seeking a waiver faces a high hurdle and 
must plead with particularity the facts and circumstances that warrant a waiver.
17
  Based on the 
information before us, we are persuaded that Aurora has demonstrated that a waiver of Section 
90.242(b)(4)(iv) is warranted.
5. When the Commission adopted the TIS rules, it stated that TIS “is intended to serve a 3 
km zone with generally repetitive information pertinent to travelers.”
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  In limiting the TIS coverage zone, 
the Commission primarily was motivated to minimize the potential for TIS to cause interference to 
                                                     
9
Id.
10
Id. at 1.
11
Id.
12
Id. at 2.
13
Waiver Justification at 1.
14
File No. 0007195181, attached “WPZZ-656 Waiver Request” at 1.
15
Letter at 2.
16
47 CFR § 1.925(b)(3).
17
WAIT Radio v. FCC, 413 F.2d 1153, 1157 (D.C. Cir. 1969) (WAIT Radio), aff’d, 459 F.2d 1203 (1973), cert. 
denied, 409 U.S. 1027 (1972) (citing Rio Grande Family Radio Fellowship, Inc. v. FCC, 406 F.2d 664 (D.C. Cir. 
1968)); Birach Broad. Corp., Memorandum Opinion and Order, 18 FCC Rcd 1414, 1415 (2003).
18
Amendment of Parts 2 and 89 of the Rules to Provide for the Use of Frequencies 530, 1606, and 1612 kHz by 
Stations in the Local Government Radio Services for the Transmission of Certain Kinds of Information to the 
Traveling Public, Docket No. 20509, Report and Order, 67 F.C.C.2d 917, 925 para. 27 (1977) (TIS Report and 
Order).
Federal Communications Commission DA 17-187
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broadcast stations.
19
  The Commission therefore adopted rules to limit the measured field strength at 1.5 
kilometers from the transmitting site, limit the maximum antenna height, and limit the transmitter output 
power to ten watts.
20
  The Commission stated that “considering the likelihood of interference to broadcast 
stations, these steps should prevent interference situations from developing without unduly burdening TIS 
applicants.”
21
6. In accordance with our TIS spacing rules,
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Aurora’s TIS transmitter is not located within 
130 kilometers of the predicted daytime 0.5 mV/m contour of any co-channel AM station or within 15 
kilometers of the predicted daytime 0.5 mV/m of any first adjacent channel AM station.  The spacing 
between the Aurora TIS transmitter and the closest co-channel broadcast station, KCNZ, Cedar Falls, 
Iowa, is 349.4 kilometers; the spacing to the closest first adjacent channel broadcast station, WSJP, 
Sussex, Wisconsin on 1640 kHz, is 146.0 kilometers, giving us confidence that the extension of the 2 
mV/m contour of the TIS station will not result in harmful interference to these broadcast stations, 
consistent with the underlying purpose of Section 90.242(b)(4)(iv).  Therefore, we find that the 
underlying purpose of the rule would not be served or would be frustrated by application to the present 
case.
7. We find that the proposed expansion of Aurora’s TIS service area while keeping output 
power at ten watts would enable the City to better inform travelers of road and travel conditions 
throughout city and to alert the traveling public more effectively in the event of emergencies stemming 
from hazards to which Aurora is susceptible.  Based on the record before us, we find that a grant of 
Aurora’s request for waiver would serve the public interest.  Therefore, we conclude that Aurora satisfies 
the Commission’s waiver criteria.
IV. ORDERING CLAUSES
8. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, pursuant to Sections 4(i) and 303(r) of the 
Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. §§ 154(i), 303(r), and Section 1.925 of the 
Commission’s rules, 47 CFR § 1.925, that the Request for Waiver of the City of Aurora, Illinois, filed on 
March 21, 2016, IS GRANTED.
9. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, that application File No. 0007195181, filed by the City of 
Aurora, Illinois, SHALL BE PROCESSED in accordance with this Order and the Commission’s rules. 
10. This action is taken under delegated authority pursuant to Sections 0.191 and 0.392 of the 
Commission’s rules, 47 CFR §§ 0.191, 0.392.
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Michael J. Wilhelm
Acting Chief, Policy and Licensing Division
Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau
                                                     
19
Id. at 924 para. 25.
20
Id. at 926 para. 31.
21
Id. at 924 para. 25.
22
47 CFR § 90.242(a)(2).