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Federal Communications Commission

Washington, D.C. 20554

December 7, 2012

 

DA 12-1975

In Reply Refer to:  

 1800B3-HM
 

Released: December 7, 2012

WBIN Media Co., Inc.
c/o Peter Tannenwald, Esq.
Fletcher Heald & Hildreth, PLC
1300 N 17th Street, Suite 1100
Arlington, VA 22209
Blueberry Broadcasting, LLC
c/o Richard A. Helmick, Esq.
Cohn and Marks LLP
1920 N Street, N.W., Suite 300
Washington, DC 20033-1622
Mr. James McSorely 
Yamster Communications, LLC
6 Mill Street
P.O. Box 333
Harrington, ME 04643-0333
In re:

WBQI(FM), Bar Harbor, Maine

Facility ID No. 40925
File No.  BALH – 20120905AAZ

Application for Assignment of Station
Informal Objection

Dear Counsel and Petitioner:
We have before us the referenced application (the “Application”) seeking Commission approval 
for the proposed assignment of the license for station WBQI(FM), Bar Harbor, Maine, from WBIN Media 
Co., Inc. (“WBIN Media”) to Blueberry Broadcasting, LLC (“Blueberry”).  Also before us is an informal 
objection filed October 16, 2012, by James McSorely (“McSorely”), President of Yamster 
Communications, LLC (“Objection”).1 For the reasons set forth below, we deny the Objection and grant 
the Application. 

Background. 

On September 4, 2012, Blueberry entered into a purchase agreement to acquire 
station WBQI(FM), Bar Harbor, Maine from WBIN Media and executed a local marketing agreement 
with WBIN Media.2 WBIN Media and Blueberry then filed the Application on September 5, 2012.  
 
 
1 Letter from James McSorley to Media Bureau, Federal Communications Commission (October 16, 2012). We treat 
McSorely’s letter as an informal objection pursuant to 47 C.F.R. §73.3587.  
2 Application, Exhibit 5.

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Blueberry is the licensee of the following stations broadcasting in the Bar Harbor, Maine 
geographic area: WKSQ(FM), Ellsworth, Maine; WLKE(FM), Bar Harbor, Maine; WTUX(FM), 
Gouldsboro, Maine; and WVOM(FM), Howland, Maine.3 Blueberry submits with the Application a 
multiple ownership study purporting to demonstrate that the transaction would comply with the 
Commission’s local radio ownership rule.4 Blueberry states that with the addition of WBQI(FM), using 
contour overlap analysis,5 it would hold licenses for  FM radio stations in two markets, each comprised of 
17 stations.6 In Market #1 Blueberry states that it would own station licenses for WKSQ(FM), 
WLKE(FM), WVOM(FM), and WBQI(FM).7 In Market #2, Blueberry states that it would own station 
licenses for WKSQ(FM), WLKE(FM), WTUX(FM), and WBQI(FM).8 Thus, in each market Blueberry 
would operate four FM radio stations, which it claims complies with the local radio ownership rule.  
In his objection, McSorely contends that Blueberry’s acquisition of WBQI(FM) would give 
Blueberry an unfair competitive position and decrease diverse views and programming in the local radio 
market.  Specifically, McSorely contends that the assignment of WBQI(FM) would give Blueberry four 
signals in the Ellsworth/Bar Harbor region, that the assignment of WBQI(FM) would not offer any new 
diverse broadcast options as Blueberry has previously simulcast and “trimulcast” programming from its 
Bangor properties, and that Blueberry owns the tower/transmitter sites for two competing radio stations in 
neighboring regions and could directly influence the operations of local competitors.9  

Discussion. 

Pursuant to Section 309(e) of the Act, informal objections, like petitions to deny 
must provide properly supported allegations of fact that, if true, would establish a substantial and material 
question of fact that grant of the application would be prima facie inconsistent with the public interest.10  
If the Commission determines that the objection satisfies this threshold determination, it proceeds to 
determine whether, on the basis of the application, the pleadings filed, or other matters which the 
Commission may official notice, the objection presents a “substantial and material question of fact” to 
warrant further inquiry.11 If no such question is raised and the Commission otherwise makes the required 
public interest determination, it will deny the informal objection and grant the application.  
With respect to McSorely’s claim that this transaction would give Blueberry an unfair 
competitive position because it would give Blueberry four stations in the Ellsworth/Bar Harbor region, we 
have evaluated the proposed transaction, applying the Commission’s interim contour-overlap 
methodology,12 to determine if it complies with the local radio ownership rule.13 Our analysis confirms 
 
 
3 Application, Exhibit 17 at ¶2.
4 47 C.F.R. § 73.3555(a)(1).
5 Application, Exhibit 17 at ¶1. Blueberry indicated that a contour analysis is required here because only one of the 
stations, WKSQ(FM), Ellsworth, Maine, is in an Arbitron market.
6 Id. at ¶4-5.  
7 Id. at ¶2.
8 Id.
9 Objection at 1.
10 47 U.S.C. § 309(e); Area Christian Television, Inc., Memorandum Opinion and Order, 60 RR 2d 862, 864 (1986) 
(informal objections must contain adequate and specific factual allegations sufficient to warrant the relief 
requested); Gencom, Inc. v. FCC, 832 F.2d 171, 181 (D.C. Cir. 1987) (“Gencom”).
11 Gencom, 832 F.2d at 181.
12 Under the contour-overlap methodology, the relevant radio market is defined by the area encompassed by the 
mutually overlapping principal community contours of the stations proposed to be commonly owned.  See 2002 
Biennial Regulatory Review – Review of the Commission’s Broadcast Ownership Rules and Other Rules Adopted 
Pursuant to Section 202 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, 18 FCC Rcd 13620,  13729-13730 (2003).
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that the proposed transaction forms two separate radio markets and complies with the local radio 
ownership limits in both.  In a local radio market with 15-29 stations, a single owner may own up to six 
stations, no more than four of which are in the same service (AM or FM).14 In both Market #1 and 
Market #2, Blueberry would own four FM stations in a 17-station market.15 Accordingly, the proposed 
assignment complies with the local radio ownership rule.
Additionally, McSorely has provided no support for his other allegations that this transaction 
would limit diversity and inhibit competition in the local radio market.  Even were he to have documented 
these claims, however, they fail to raise a substantial and material fact calling for further inquiry here.  
That Blueberry has allegedly simulcast and “trimulcast” programming from Bangor, Maine does not show 
that Blueberry, or competing local stations, will not provide diverse views and programming in the 
Ellsworth/Bar Harbor region.  Furthermore, that Blueberry merely owns tower/transmitter sites for two 
radio stations, stations owned by other entities that broadcast outside the Ellsworth/Bar Harbor region, 
implicates no Commission rule.16 In our character analysis of alleged anticompetitive practices, we only 
recognize an adjudicated violation of law and there has been no such adjudication here.17

Conclusions/Actions.  

Based on the evidence presented in the record, we find that McSorely has 
not raised a substantial and material question of fact warranting further inquiry.  Additionally, we have 
examined the Application and find that, in addition to the local radio ownership rule, it otherwise 
complies with all applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, and we find that grant of the 
Application would further the public interest, convenience, and necessity.
Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED, That the Objection to the application to assign the license for 
station WBQI(FM), Bar Harbor, Maine from WBIN Media Co., Inc. to Blueberry Broadcasting, LLC IS 
DENIED.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, That the application to assign the license of station WBQI(FM), 
Bar Harbor, Maine from WBIN Media Co., Inc. to Blueberry Broadcasting, LLC IS GRANTED.
Sincerely,
Peter H. Doyle
Chief, Audio Division
Media Bureau
 
 
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13 47 C.F.R. § 73.3555(a)(1).
14 47 C.F.R. § 73.3555(a)(1)(iii).
15   Market #1: WKSQ(FM), WLKE(FM), WVOM(FM), and WBQI(FM).
Market #2: WKSQ(FM), WLKE(FM), WTUX(FM), and WBQI(FM).
16 McSorely does not allege that Section 73.239 of the Commission’s rules is at issue here.  See 47 C.F.R § 73.239 
(licensee prohibited from refusing to make available to other FM licensees a site it controls that is “peculiarly 
suitable” for FM broadcasting and so doing would unduly restrict competition among FM broadcast stations).
17 Policy Regarding Character Qualifications In Broadcast Licensing, 102 FCC2d 1179, 1200-1203 (1986), 
modified, 1 FCC Rcd 421 (1986), 5 FCC Rcd 3252 (1991), 6 FCC Rcd 3448 (1991), 7 FCC Rcd 6564 (1992).
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