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Brown Student and Community Radio has lost, for now, in its long bid to find a new home on the airwaves.
In one of the longest cases in the history of the Federal Communications Commission, the agency has awarded the low-power FM frequency 96.5 to a coalition of two churches and a Bible college.
Since its 1997 creation, BSR has been broadcasting on 88.1 FM, renting time from a frequency owned by the Wheeler School, the nursery-to-12th-grade school on Hope Street. But the station has been seeking a different broadcast outlet "almost since it began broadcasting," according to its Web site.
In 2000, BSR applied for 96.5 FM, Providence's only low-power FM frequency, in hopes of having its own home. Twelve other groups vied for the spot. The station's hope was that broadcasting from Providence - as opposed to Seekonk, Mass., where the antenna is currently located - would strengthen BSR's ties to the city.
BSR's community relationship has been very important to the organization, General Manager Jenny Weissbourd '08 said.
"Remaining local to Providence is really important to us," said Station Manager Mike Dupuis '08.
Toni Pennacchia belongs to the "community" part of BSR, where she volunteers as the world-music director. She said the organization works both as a training ground in radio for students and a place for community members to work together. But she said the FCC decision makes that harder.
"It's hard for us because we want to have an identity," she said, and it's hard to form a presence when the station broadcasts for only half the day. Currently, BSR broadcasts only from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m..
Low-power FM, or LPFM, frequencies are a new class of frequency created in 2000 by the FCC to allow more community voices on the radio.
Of the initial 13 applicants for the Providence LPFM frequency, five were considered by the FCC: in addition to BSR, the contenders were Providence Community Radio, Ephese Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Casa de Oracion church and Zion Bible College. The FCC decides contested cases with a point system based on "established community presence" and other criteria, the FCC decision said.
The coalition of the churches and Zion won the frequency because they combined their points. But BSR filed objections, claiming that Casa and Ephese did not meet the requirements for community presence and that, because they were churches, they did not meet the requirement for an educational organization.
FCC officials did not return requests for comment. However, the FCC decision released March 14 rejected the many objections filed by BSR against Zion, Ephese and Casa de Oracion. It stated that noncommercial organizations, even if they are religiously oriented, are still eligible for LPFM licenses as long as they are educational.
It also found that BSR had insufficient evidence to prove that Ephese and Casa de Oracion had no "established community presence" at the time of their application, or that Zion Bible College was planning to move its campus, which BSR also alleged.
Casa de Oracion and Zion Bible College representatives did not return calls for comment.
But BSR has appealed the decision with the help of attorney Peter Tannenwald '64, who specializes in FCC law. Tannenwald is an alum of WBRU, but his time at the station predates the birth of BSR by decades. He's done pro bono work for WBRU in the past, and has been aiding BSR in their current case.
The case was very unusual in that the five FCC commissioners made the decision themselves, Tannenwald said. He said the eight-year-long considerations have been either the longest or the second-longest in FCC history. He said he found the commission's argument that the churches qualified as educational organizations hard to buy, but added that a BSR victory is unlikely.
"The FCC doesn't like to change its mind," Tannenwald said.
Even without the new frequency, Weissbourd said BSR has experienced a period of expansion recently, with more listenership and more involvement.
"We're remaining optimistic" about the appeal, she said, "but not counting on it for our long-term sustainability."
