Federal Communications Commission FCC 08-137
STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER JONATHAN S. ADELSTEIN 
Re: Applications of Jeffrey B. Bate for a New AM Broadcast Station at Mesquite, Nevada and 
Jeffrey Eustis for a New AM Broadcast Station at Johnstown, Colorado, File Nos. BNP-
20000128ACL and BNP-20000127ACD; Applications of Jeffrey B. Bate for a New AM 
Broadcast Station at St George, Utah and Andrew Johnson For a New AM Broadcast 
Station at Winchester, Nevada. File Nos. BNP-20000128ACK and BNP20000201ADP.
As the Commission strives to live up to the mandate of Section 307(b) of the 
Communications Act “to provide a fair, efficient, and equitable distribution of radio licenses” 
throughout the country, we should acknowledge that our current licensing and allotment regime 
needs improvement.  The practice of awarding dispositive preferences in Section 307 (b) 
determinations can sometimes be reduced to a mere population count, which invariably benefits 
the more urbanized areas.  Thus, in case after case, the applicant that proposes to serve the bigger 
population wins.  So in the two instant cases, Johnstown-Fort Collins-Denver, Colorado wins 
over Mesquite, Nevada; and Winchester-Las Vegas, Nevada wins over St. George, Utah.
Nevertheless, I approve these items, because, on balance, other factors argue in favor of 
today’s decisions.  For example, Johnstown has only one local transmission service – an AM 
station, while Mesquite has three – three FM stations.  In the other case, the population 
differential between the daytime service areas is at least thirteen-fold.
 However, I still have significant concerns with the Commission practice of according 
substantial weight to population over other factors.  This practice not only disadvantages 
broadcasters attempting to provide local service in rural or less populated areas, but it also 
undermines our localism goals and the clear congressional objective to award broadcast 
construction permits through auctions and competitive bidding.
In the future, perhaps we should consider whether second local service should be given 
more weight in our analysis, or whether our analysis should de-emphasize new reception service 
to already abundantly served populations and give greater consideration to disparities in 
transmission service between competing communities.  Considering these and other 
modifications to our radio licensing process and allotment criteria should enable us to get closer 
toward achieving the goals of Section 307(b).