Federal Communications Commission                                   FCC 13-105
  Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
In the Matter of
Amendment of Section 73.202(b),
Table of Allotments,
FM Broadcast Stations.
(Chillicothe, Dublin, Hillsboro, and Marion, 
Ohio)
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MB Docket No. 02-266
RM-10557
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Adopted: July 31, 2013                                                                                 Released: August 1, 2013
By the Commission:
1. The Commission has before it an Application for Review (“Application for Review”) filed on 
July 25, 2006, by the Committee for Competitive Columbus Radio (“Committee”)
1
and various other 
pleadings.
2
  The Committee seeks review of the July 7, 2006, decision of the Media Bureau (“Bureau”) in 
this proceeding.
3
The Chillicothe Reconsideration Decision denied the Committee’s Petition for 
Reconsideration of an earlier Bureau action, granting the reallotment, class downgrade, and change of 
community of license for Station WCGX(FM) from Channel 295B at Marion, Ohio, to Channel 294B1 at 
Dublin, Ohio.
4
  In the Chillicothe Reconsideration Decision, the Bureau found that the Chillicothe R&O 
correctly concluded that the policy of deferring consideration of multiple ownership issues to the 
application stage was settled policy that is intended to promote the “efficient and orderly transaction of 
both the rulemaking and application licensing processes.”
5
  On reconsideration, the Bureau also found 
                                                     
1
The Committee includes the following Columbus area broadcasters: North American Broadcasting Co., Inc., 
licensee of Stations WBZX(FM) and WMNI(AM), Columbus, Ohio, and WEGE(FM), Westerville, Ohio; WCLT 
Radio, Inc., licensee of WCLT-AM-FM, Newark, Ohio; Associated Radio, Inc., licensee of WSMZ-FM, 
Johnstown, Ohio, and WODB-FM, Delaware, Ohio; and Franklin Communications, Inc., licensee of WVKO(AM) 
and WSNY(FM), Columbus, Ohio. 
2
These pleadings include: (1) an Opposition to Application for Review (“Opposition”), filed on August 9, 2006, 
by Citicasters, L.P., licensee of Station WCGX(FM) (formerly WMNR-FM), Dublin, Ohio and CC Licenses, 
LLC, licensee of Station WQLX(FM) (formerly WSRW-FM), Chillicothe, Ohio (jointly “Clear Channel”); (2) a 
Supplement to Opposition to Application for Review filed by Clear Channel on November 29, 2007 (“Supplement 
to Opposition”); and (3) a Motion to Accept Supplement, also filed by Clear Channel on November 29, 2007, 
which we hereby grant.  No further pleadings were filed in this proceeding.
3
Chillicothe, Dublin, Hillsboro, and Marion, Ohio, Memorandum Opinion and Order, 21 FCC Rcd 7263 (MB 
2006) (“Chillicothe Reconsideration Decision”).
4
See Chillicothe, Dublin, Hillsboro, and Marion, Ohio, Report and Order, 20 FCC Rcd 6305 (MB 2005) 
(“Chillicothe R&O”).  To accommodate the relocation of Station WCGX(FM) to Dublin, Chillicothe R&O also 
downgraded the class of channel and changed the community of license for Station WQLX(FM) from Channel 
294B at Hillsboro, Ohio, to Channel 293A at Chillicothe, Ohio. Id. at 6309.   
5
See Chillicothe Reconsideration Decision, 21 FCC Rcd at 7265 quoting Detroit Lakes and Barnesville, 
Minnesota, and Enderlin, North Dakota, Memorandum Opinion and Order, 17 FCC Rcd 25055, 25059-60 (MB
2002) (“Detroit Lakes”).    
Federal Communications Commission FCC 13-105
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that it was appropriate to exclude ownership issues from a community of license change rulemaking 
process which focuses on “technical and demographic” factors.
6
  Finally, the Chillicothe Reconsideration 
Decision concluded that Section 4(j) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended,
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affords the 
Commission broad discretion
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to adopt processing rules “as will best conduce to the proper dispatch of 
business and to the ends of justice”
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and that the challenged processing rule constitutes a reasonable 
exercise of that discretion.
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  On review, the Committee reiterates its argument that compliance with the 
multiple ownership rules should have been considered at the allotment, as opposed to the application,
stage of this proceeding.
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2.  We have carefully reviewed the Chillicothe Reconsideration Decision and the full record of 
this rulemaking proceeding.  We conclude that the Committee has not demonstrated that the Bureau erred, 
and we uphold its decision for the reasons stated therein. The Chillicothe Reconsideration Decision
properly applied our then-existing processing policies.
12
  The modification of the WCGX(FM) license to 
specify Dublin as the station’s community of license
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was explicitly conditioned on the filing of an 
implementing minor modification application within 90 days.
14
  Moreover, no physical relocation of the 
WCGX(FM) transmission system could occur prior to the grant of this application demonstrating that the 
                                                     
6
See Detroit Lakes, 17 FCC Rcd at 25059 (cited in Chillicothe R&O, 20 FCC Rcd at 6311).
7
47 U.S.C. § 4(j).
8
See, e.g., FCC v. Pottsville Broadcasting Co., 309 U.S. 134, 138 (1940) (cited in Chillicothe Reconsideration 
Decision, 21 FCC Rcd at 7265 n.16).
9
47 U.S.C. § 4(j).
10
See Chillicothe Reconsideration Decision, 21 FCC Rcd at 7265.
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See Application for Review at 2-3.   
12
See Chillicothe and Asheville, Ohio, Memorandum Opinion and Order, 24 FCC Rcd 7876, 7878 (2009) 
(agreeing with the continued application of the established policy of not considering multiple ownership issues in 
conjunction with an allotment rule making proceeding).  Approximately four months after the Chillicothe 
Reconsideration Decision was released, the Commission replaced the two-step processes in the Rules with a 
streamlined procedure allowing a licensee or permittee to change its community of license by filing a minor 
modification application, instead of a petition for rulemaking.   See Revision of Procedures Governing 
Amendments to FM Table of Allotments and Changes of Community of License in the Radio Broadcast Services, 
Report and Order, 21 FCC Rcd 14212 (2006), recon. pending. Thus, both allotment and multiple ownership issues 
are now considered in the same application proceeding.  
13
  See n.16, infra.
14
   See Chillicothe R&O, 20 FCC Rcd at 6311. The implementing application for Channel 294B1 at Dublin, File 
No. BPH-20050726ALM, was granted on October 5, 2007, and was conditioned on the outcome of this rule 
making proceeding .  See Citicasters Licenses, L.P., Letter, 22 FCC Rcd 17788 (MB 2007 (“Citicasters Letter”).  
On November 2, 2007, Sandyworld, Inc. (“Sandyworld”), licensee of FM Translator Station W294AH, Columbus, 
Ohio, filed a Petition for Stay of the construction permit pending resolution of the rule making proceeding due to 
interference with its translator.  Sandyworld’s stay request is moot in light of our action herein and will be 
dismissed.     
Federal Communications Commission FCC 13-105
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proposed facilities would comply with the multiple ownership rules.
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Under these circumstances, we 
conclude that no error occurred.
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3. ACCORDINGLY, IT IS ORDERED, that the Application for Review filed by the Committee 
for Competitive Columbus Radio IS DENIED, pursuant to Section 5(c)(5) Communications Act of 1934, 
as amended,
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and Section 1.115(g) of the Commission’s Rules.
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4.  IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, that the Petition for Stay filed by Sandyworld, Inc., in File No. 
BPH-20050726ALM IS DISMISSED as moot.
  FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
                                                                               
                                                                               Marlene H. Dortch
                                                                               Secretary 
                                                     
15
See, e.g., Galaxy Communications, L.P., Letter, 21 FCC Rcd 2994, 2996 ((MB 2006), app. for review pending
(dismissing a minor modification application to implement a change of community of license adopted through a 
rule making and denying waiver of local radio ownership rule).  The Committee devotes much of its Application 
for Review to the argument that the relocation of Station WCGX(FM) to Dublin would violate the ownership 
rules. As noted by Citicasters in its Supplement to Opposition, to which the Committee did not reply, in granting 
Citicasters’ modification application to effectuate the relocation and the other changes to the stations authorized in 
this proceeding, the Bureau concluded that such relocation of WCGX(FM) would be consistent with those rules. 
See Citicasters Letter,22 FCC Rcd at 17789-90.  Because no petition for reconsideration or application for review 
was filed, that action has become final. 
16
The Committee also argues that the Bureau erred in the Chillicothe Reconsideration Decision when it referred to 
Station WCGX(FM) as “formerly” licensed to Marion because this modification could not properly occur prior to 
Clear Channel demonstrating compliance with the local radio ownership rule.  See Application for Review at 3.  
We disagree.  The Chillicothe R&O explicitly modified the WCGX(FM) license to specify Dublin.  See
Chillicothe R&O, 20 FCC Rcd at 6311.  This argument is, at most, a semantic quibble.  As explained above, this 
license modification had no immediate impact on competition in the Columbus radio market and did not prejudge 
the issue whether the station relocation would comply with the multiple ownership rules.   
17
47 U.S.C. § 155(c)(5).
18
47 C.F.R. § 1.115(g).