Tuesday, July 20, 2004 marks the 20th year anniversary of REC Networks.

REC Networks first started as a telephone "commentline" called California Comments based out of Chatsworth, CA. Commentlines were a form of telephone entertainment in the 70's and 80's where callers would call and listen to a weekly recording and then be able to record "comments" that would be played on a later program. Commentlines were later replaced by voice response systems.

REC ran several of these voice response systems in the San Fernando Valley, Antelope Valley and the Phoenix areas throughout the late 80's and 90's.

So much for a sigh of relief for MIHS

The FCC has re-released a Report and Order that shifts several Washington and Oregon stations after originally setting it aside in early June. [See REC News #145 http://www.recnet.com/cgi-bin/recnews.cgi?read=145 ]

At the heart of the contraversy is the proposed move of KMCQ, The Dalles OR to Covington WA, just south of the Seattle metropolitan area.

The move of KMCQ to Covington will result in the displacement of KMIH, a class D secondary school station licensed to Mercer Island High School.

KMIH is a Class-D station. Class D stations are considered "secondary". This means that a full power station can displace them. LPFM and translator stations are also considered secondary.

FCC grant means another "highway station" is coming soon to the Southern California desert

The FCC has granted an FM allotment to the small roadside town of Amboy, CA at the request of KHWY, Inc., the operators of the famous "Highway Stations" along the Interstate 15 and 40 corridors between Southern California, Las Vegas and Arizona.

REC went on record to support the Class-A (Ch. 237A) allotment in Amboy stating that the allotment would provide city-grade service to a portion of Interstate 40 not covered by Highway Stations, The Drive or any other full power station operating in the area.

A counterproposal filed by Cameron Broadcasting was suggesting:
- Channel 231A instead of 237A be alloted to Amboy,
- Channel 237A be alloted to Desert Center, CA,

Supports a C3 allotment over a C allotment for Pahrump

REC has filed comments on an allotment case where the FCC was weighing out two different mutually exclusive proposals:

One proposal moved by Steven M Greeley would have moved a Class B FM station out of Lake Havasu City AZ (transmitter in CA) to be a Class C in Pahrump NV on the same channel.

The second proposal by SSR Communications would have established a Class C3 station without impacting the Lake Havasu station.

REC has gone on record to support the Class C3 allotment over the Class C. If given the choice, REC supports a Class C3 for the following reasons in this case:

Two groups to share 94.1 in Visalia, CA.

The FCC grants what we believe is the first construction permits for a time-shared LPFM operation.

Two licensees will be sharing 94.1 in the Visalia, CA area. According to the FCC authorizations, Friends of Radio Grito/Proyecto Campesino will broadcast on the channel from 5AM-9AM Monday through Saturday while another group, Pacific Friends Outreach Society will have the channel in the evenings from 5PM-9PM Monday through Saturday.

LPFM groups facing competing applications can reach a settlement that is agreed upon by all applicants. If the agreement involves a time share, each applicant must broadcast at least 10 hours per week.