ST. JOHNSVILLE -- Even though the FCC had previously made it clear that it's decision stands regarding the cancelled construction permit for a new AM station just east of the border between the Utica-Rome and Albany-Schenectady-Troy radio markets, the would-be owner of the station is asking for another chance from the FCC.
Cranesville Block Company's name appears twice on the "Broadcast Applications" list released by the FCC today, filing two petitions on April 23, for waivers regarding the previous FCC rulings that resulted in the construction permit for 1120 WKAJ being revised to the call sign "DWKAJ," with that "D" prefix indicating that the station has been officially deleted from the Commission's list of stations.
There had been some rumblings of Cranesville possible mounting "one last try" to get the FCC to change its mind, after the Commission ruled in January to cancel WKAJ's construction permit, and again in February to deny an initial appeal attempt.
Although the petitions were listed in the Broadcast Applications list, we were unable to find the actual petitions when looking up DWKAJ's full record on the FCC website. As a result, it's not possible (yet) to see what kind of an argument Cranesville Block Company is using as the basis for asking the FCC to reverse February's decision.
Although the station's proposed city of license, St. Johnsville, is just outside of the CNYRadio.com coverage area, we have been following developments involving the station because it had promised it would be covering the greater Utica area with its 10,000 watt daytime signal. Longtime Utica radio personality Hank Brown had even announced he would be hosting morning drive, apparently unaware of (or unwilling to acknowledge) the fact the station had already missed its construction permit deadline before making his announcement.