Sec. 73.30  Petition for authorization of an allotment in the 1605-1705 
          kHz band.

    (a) Any party interested in operating an AM broadcast station on one 
of the ten channels in the 1605-1705 kHz band must file a petition for 
the establishment of an allotment to its community of license. Each 
petition must include the following information:
    (1) Name of community for which allotment is sought;
    (2) Frequency and call letters of the petitioner's existing AM 
operation; and

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    (3) Statement as to whether or not AM stereo operation is proposed 
for the operation in the 1605-1705 kHz band.
    (b) Petitions are to be filed during a filing period to be 
determined by the Commission. For each filing period, eligible stations 
will be allotted channels based on the following steps:
    (1) Stations are ranked in descending order according to the 
calculated improvement factor.
    (2) The station with the highest improvement factor is initially 
allotted the lowest available channel.
    (3) Successively, each station with the next lowest improvement 
factor, is allotted an available channel taking into account the 
possible frequency and location combinations and relationship to 
previously selected allotments. If a channel is not available for the 
subject station, previous allotments are examined with respect to an 
alternate channel, the use of which would make a channel available for 
the subject station.
    (4) When it has been determined that, in accordance with the above 
steps, no channel is available for the subject station, that station is 
no longer considered and the process continues to the station with the 
next lowest improvement factor.
    (c) If awarded an allotment, a petitioner will have sixty (60) days 
from the date of public notice of selection to file an application for 
construction permit on FCC Form 301. (See Secs. 73.24 and 73.37(e) for 
filing requirements). Unless instructed by the Commission to do 
otherwise, the application shall specify Model I facilities. (See 
Sec. 73.14). Upon grant of the application and subsequent construction 
of the authorized facility, the applicant must file a license 
application on FCC Form 302.

    Note 1: Until further notice by the Commission, the filing of these 
petitions is limited to licensees of existing AM stations (excluding 
Class C stations) operating in the 535-1605 kHz band. First priority 
will be assigned to Class D stations located within the primary service 
contours of U.S. Class A stations that are licensed to serve communities 
of 100,000 or more for which there exists no local fulltime aural 
service.

    Note 2: Selection among competing petitions will be based on 
interference reduction. Notwithstanding the exception contained in Note 
5 of this section, within each operational category, the station 
demonstrating the highest value of improvement factor will be afforded 
the highest priority for an allotment, with the next priority assigned 
to the station with next lowest value, and so on, until available 
allotments are filled.

    Note 3: The Commission will periodically evaluate the progress of 
the movement of stations from the 535-1605 kHz band to the 1605-1705 kHz 
band to determine whether the 1605-1705 kHz band should continue to be 
administered on an allotment basis or modified to an assignment method. 
If appropriate, the Commission will later develop further procedures for 
use of the 1605-1705 kHz band by existing station licensees and others.

    Note 4: Other than the exception specified in note 1 of this 
section, existing fulltime stations are considered first for selection 
as described in note 2 of this section. In the event that an allotment 
availability exists for which no fulltime station has filed a relevant 
petition, such allotment may be awarded to a licensed Class D station. 
If more than one Class D station applies for this migration opportunity, 
the following priorities will be used in the selection process: First 
priority--a Class D station located within the 0.5 mV/m-50% contour of a 
U.S. Class A station and licensed to serve a community of 100,000 or 
more, for which there exists no local fulltime aural service; Second 
priority--Class D stations ranked in order of improvement factor, from 
highest to lowest, considering only those stations with improvement 
factors greater than zero.

    Note 5: The preference for AM stereo in the expanded band will be 
administered as follows: when an allotment under consideration 
(candidate allotment) conflicts with one or more previously selected 
allotments (established allotments) and cannot be accommodated in the 
expanded band, the candidate allotment will be substituted for the 
previously established allotment provided that: the petitioner for the 
candidate allotment has made a written commitment to the use of AM 
stereo and the petitioner for the established allotment has not; the 
difference between the ranking factors associated with the candidate and 
established allotments does not exceed 10% of the ranking factor of the 
candidate allotment; the substitution will not require the displacement 
of more than one established allotment; and both the candidate allotment 
and the established allotment are within the same priority group.


[ 58 FR 27949 , May 12, 1993]