Federal Communications Commission FCC 08-215
DISSENTING STATEMENT OF
COMMISSIONER MICHAEL J. COPPS
Re:  Amendment of Section 73.202(b), Table of Allotments, FM Broadcast Stations (Chillicothe and 
Asheville, Ohio), MM Docket No. 99-322.
I dissent for the reasons set forth at length in my earlier statements. See, e.g., Table of Allotments 
for FM Stations in Evergreen, Alabama and Shalimar, Florida, released October 31, 2008.  The 
majority’s application of the Tuck factors is so lax that it scarcely amounts to a test at all.  
Here, for instance, the majority again affirms an astonishing staff finding that the fact that 
Asheville has less than 1% of the population of Columbus is not a sufficient disparity to justify an 
unfavorable finding under the “relative population” factor.  Similarly, the majority affirms a staff finding 
that the work patterns of Asheville residents justifies a finding that it is an independent community, 
notwithstanding the fact that:  (1) only 39 percent of Asheville residents work in the county in which 
Asheville is located; and (2) the average commute time of Asheville residents is 26 minutes and the 
village of Asheville is only about two miles long.
There are other infirmities in the analysis, but those alone would have sufficed to change the 
result and grant the Application for Review.  I respectfully dissent. Given the deficiencies of the Tuck 
standard and its application in particular cases, I am very pleased that my colleagues have agreed to 
examine our radio allotment and assignment criteria, including the Tuck standard, as part of the recently 
released Rural Radio Service Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.1
  
1 Policies to Promote Rural Radio Service and Streamline Allotment and Assignment Procedures, Notice of 
Proposed Rule Making, FCC 09-30, (rel. Apr. 20, 2009).