KIHU makes a change too. What?

[CAwasinNJ]

In the Classical 89/BYU Radio thread I was going to mention other religious stations that are non-commercial on a commercial frequency. It turns out that Immaculate Heart just got KIHU 1010 switched from non-comm to commercial. I wonder what THAT'S about.

[Terry]

Maybe they want to sell it. (?) Maybe they could buy an FM non-comm signal and pocket the difference.

[David]

I agree with Terry: I think Immaculate Heart Radio wants to sell the station. Having a 50 KW daytime signal and 42 KW during critical hours along with a relatively low AM frequency certainly gives KIHU an advantage over other AM stations in the area, and it's a good selling point to pitch the station to a prospective buyer.

[amanuensis]

So there is an FCC regulation that requires a station to declare whether it is non-commercial or not? I don't consider myself to be a Libertarian, but it seems to me that only stations desiring to broadcast on a frequency specifically reserved for non-commercial broadcasters should have to answer such a question. Otherwise, why should the FCC care?

[Terry]

Non commercial educational (NCE) stations pay no licensing fees to the FCC.

I assume that they also pay no taxes.

[CAwasinNJ]

I thought of the sale thing too, but there were quite a few of their stations around the country that did the same thing at the same time. Also, they've been expanding over the past few years, merging Immaculate Heart with Relevant Radio.

I think I may have an answer. I believe that one of the requirements (or at least a very strong preference) for a waiver of the main studio rule was to be a non-comm. Immaculate Heart/Relevant Radio almost certainly doesn't have any significant local presence so they'd need that waiver. BUT, the main studio rule recently got axed by the FCC so that's no longer a problem. Now they can switch to a commercial license and still have no local presence. A little while ago I checked 1010 and they ran what seemed to me to be a commercial. At least it sounded to me like it contained a "call to action" which is not allowed on non-comms. Seems like a pretty reasonable answer to me.

amanuensis, the FCC requirements for non-comms are different from commercial stations. That's why they care. Not airing commercials is part of it. Having access to 87.9 to 91.9 is another. If the parent company is a non/not-for-profit there's probably an issue with owning a for-profit station, and so on. So yes, they care very much. There isn't a problem in running a commercial station as a non-comm as far as the FCC is concerned (PBS flagship WNET did that for decades) but the other way around will get you in trouble.