Federal Communications Commission FCC 07-40 STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER MICHAEL J. COPPS Re: Comparative Consideration of 76 Groups of Mutually Exclusive Applications for Permits to Construct New or Modified Noncommercial Educational (“NCE”) FM Stations Noncommercial educational stations—traditional public broadcasting, as well as other stations licensed to universities, churches, and municipalities—have been fulfilling their educational mission to their communities for decades. In this era of increasingly non-local, hyper-commercialized, homogenized radio, it becomes especially important that the FCC preserve and advance programs—like our NCE FM licensing rules—that give great weight to diversity of ownership and localism. I am therefore pleased to support today’s item granting 76 applications to construct FM radio stations. I also hope that the Commission acts swiftly on any petitions to deny the permits we tentatively award today. The important thing is that the stations we establish today get on the air as soon as is practicable. I am also pleased that our decision directs the Bureau to issue a Public Notice that will give applicants at least six months notice of our next filing window, which will be the first such window in a very long time. This substantial lead time will give potential applicants—including non-traditional stakeholders, such as Native American groups—sufficient time to develop their applications, while at the same time ensuring that the new filing window opens in a timely fashion.