Originally posted Wednesday, April 24, 2019 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
So much for smoothing things over.
Jasper-based country classic station 101.1/WLJA-FM has filed another complaint with the Federal Communications Commission regarding new interference with Atlanta’s Smooth Jazz 101.1, which is on a weaker “translator” signal.
Smooth Jazz (on a signal called W266BW) was off the air for several weeks in February and on reduced power for a few weeks after that trying to correct the problem, said Greg Davis of David Broadcasting, which owns the station, earlier this week. He said he believed they had corrected the interference problem and began running its full 250-watt power over the weekend.
But Tri-State Communications, which owns WLJA, sent me the following statement:
Despite claims to the contrary, Davis Broadcasting's FM translator W266BW is continuing to cause interference to the ability of listeners located in Woodstock and Canton, and other communities to the north of Atlanta, to enjoy WLJA-FM. On Tuesday, April 23, Tri-State filed an Informal Objection with the FCC, informing the agency that W266BW is operating at a power level beyond that which is authorized. Furthermore, Tri-State is in the process of collecting and reviewing a new round of interference complaints from its listeners and will submit them to the FCC shortly. The FCC's rules make clear that an FM translator cannot interfere with the ability of a listener to hear a full-power station and that, when such interference is present, the FM translator must cease operating.
Tri-State does not oppose the ability of W266BW to serve Atlanta proper. But when W266BW's transmissions encroach on the ability of listeners to hear WLJA-FM, then Tri-State will vigorously defend its position.
The FCC has the power to take Smooth Jazz off the signal again if it agrees with WLJA’s position.
Davis of Davis Broadcasting declined to comment.
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