******************************************************** NOTICE ******************************************************** This document was converted from WordPerfect to ASCII Text format. Content from the original version of the document such as headers, footers, footnotes, endnotes, graphics, and page numbers will not show up in this text version. All text attributes such as bold, italic, underlining, etc. from the original document will not show up in this text version. Features of the original document layout such as columns, tables, line and letter spacing, pagination, and margins will not be preserved in the text version. If you need the complete document, download the WordPerfect version or Adobe Acrobat version, if available. ***************************************************************** Before the Federal Communications Commission Washington, D.C. 20554 In re Applications of ) ) Pine Bluff Radio, Inc. ) File Nos. BAL-970103EA (Assignor) ) BALH-970103EB ) BALH-970103EC and ) ) Seark Radio, Inc. ) (Assignee) ) ) For Assignment of Licenses of Stations ) KCLA(AM), KPBQ-FM, and KZYP(FM), ) Pine Bluff, Arkansas ) ) ) Eastham, Eastham & Graves ) File No. BAL-980706EF (Assignor) ) ) and ) ) Metro Birch Enterprises, Inc. ) (Assignee) ) ) For Assignment of License of Station KDDA(AM),) Dumas, Arkansas ) ) ) Alan W. Eastham and Craig L. Eastham) File No. BALH-980706EK (Assignor) ) ) and ) ) Metro Birch Enterprises, Inc. ) (Assignee) ) ) For Assignment of License of Station KXFE(FM), ) Dumas, Arkansas ) MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER Adopted: April 1, 1999 Released: April 15, 1999 By the Commission: Chairman Kennard issuing a separate statement; Commissioners Ness and Tristani dissenting and issuing a joint statement. 1. The Commission has before it the Application for Review, filed on September 8, 1997 on behalf of Bayou Broadcasting, Inc. ("Bayou"), licensee of station KTRN-FM, Whitehall, Arkansas, and related responsive pleadings. Bayou seeks re-examination of an August 5, 1997 action by the Mass Media Bureau ("Bureau") which denied Bayou's petition to deny and granted the captioned applications to assign the licenses and sell the assets of stations KCLA(AM), KPBQ-FM, and KZYP(FM), Pine Bluff, Arkansas, from Pine Bluff Radio, Inc. ("PBR") to Seark Radio, Inc. ("Seark"). 2. The Commission also has before it the related applications (the "Dumas applications") to (1) assign the license of station KDDA(AM), Dumas, Arkansas, from Eastham, Eastham & Graves to Metro Birch Enterprises, Inc. ("Metro"); and (2) assign the license of station KXFE(FM), Dumas, Arkansas, from Alan W. Eastham and Craig L. Eastham to Metro. These applications are unopposed. For the reasons specified below, we will grant the Dumas applications and deny Bayou's Application for Review. The Dumas applications 3. We have examined the applications to assign KDDA and KXFE(FM) to Metro, and we find both that they comply with all pertinent Commission rules and policies and that the public interest, convenience, and necessity will be furthered by their approval. Therefore, finding that Bayou's arguments raise no matter against Seark and its principals that calls for further inquiry regarding their qualifications to be broadcast licensees, we will grant the Dumas applications below. 4. Consummation of the KDDA/KXFE(FM) assignments will ameliorate the local ownership concerns raised by Bayou in connection with Seark's acquisition of the three Pine Bluff stations and discussed below. Consummation will not render moot those concerns, however, because the staff approved Seark's acquisition of KCLA, KPBQ-FM, and KZYP(FM) despite its allegedly attributable interests in three other stations in the area and Seark has both owned the stations since the transaction was consummated on November 3, 1997 and programmed the stations before that time. Accordingly, we must examine Bayou's arguments in the context of the Bureau's action below and Seark principals' current operation of six radio stations in or near Pine Bluff, Arkansas. The Pine Bluff Applications 5. Background. PBR and Seark filed the subject applications on January 3, 1997. Bayou filed a timely petition to deny the application, arguing that Seark's acquisition of KCLA(AM), KPBQ-FM, and KZYP(FM) would violate the commission's local radio ownership rules. Specifically, Bayou claimed that the relevant "market" for purposes of the local radio ownership rules -- the composite area encompassed by the principal community contours of the mutually overlapping stations which would be commonly owned -- contained 11 radio stations. Bayou claimed that Seark principals had direct or attributable interests in two additional stations in the market, KOTN(AM), Pine Bluff, and KXFE(FM), Dumas, Arkansas, plus an unacknowledged but attributable interest in another market station, KDDA(AM), Dumas. Therefore, argued Bayou, Seark's acquisition of the three subject stations would leave Seark in control of six of 11 market stations, which would violate 47 C.F.R. 73.3555(a)(1)(iv). Furthermore, Bayou claimed that Seark had entered into a time brokerage agreement ("TBA") pursuant to which Seark currently provided programming to the three PBR stations it sought to acquire; because, according to Bayou, Seark could not own or control six stations in the Pine Bluff radio market, the TBA resulted in an ongoing violation of Section 73.3555(a)(1)(iv). Finally, Bayou argued that the allegedly "illegal" time brokerage agreement, coupled with Seark's failure to report its interest in KDDA(AM), evidenced a misrepresentation and/or lack of candor with the Commission. 6. In denying the petition, the Bureau first assumed that Seark had an attributable interest in KDDA(AM), as both parties agreed on this point. The Bureau then held that the 11-station market description utilized by the parties was incorrect. Rather, it held that grant of the subject applications would result in Seark having attributable interests in stations in three separate radio markets forming a "chain," each of which was to be analyzed separately for purposes of the local radio ownership rules. 7. Under this analysis, Market 1 consists of four stations which are either owned by Seark principals -- KOTN(AM) -- or which Seark proposes to acquire -- KCLA(AM), KZYP(FM), and KPBQ-FM. The contour of each of the four stations overlaps the contours of the other three stations. Six other stations "contribute" to the market, i.e., their principal community contours intersect with at least one, but not all, of the four stations forming the market. The Bureau found that Seark would have an attributable interest in four stations (two AM and two FM) in this 10-station market, which complies with the local radio ownership rules. 8. The Bureau found that Market 2 is formed by two mutually overlapping same-service stations: KPBQ-FM, which Seark proposes to acquire, and KXFE(FM), in which its principals already have an interest. Nine other stations contribute to this market. The Bureau found that Seark would own/have an attributable interest in two out of the 11 stations in this market, which complies with the local radio ownership limits. 9. Market 3 is formed by two mutually overlapping stations currently attributable to Seark principals, KDDA(AM) and KXFE(FM). Two other stations contribute to this market. The Bureau found that Seark would own/have an attributable interest in two of the four stations, which complies with the local radio ownership rules. Because the Bureau held that Seark principals could own or control the six stations implicated in the subject transaction, it found that the TBA -- the terms of which otherwise comported with existing rules and precedent -- did not violate the local radio ownership rules. 10. With respect to Seark's failure to disclose its admittedly attributable interest in KDDA(AM), the Bureau sent an inquiry letter to Seark requesting, among other things, that Seark clarify the reasons for its omission. Seark and Craig Eastham responded that they "sincerely believed" that they needed to report only broadcast interests in the "same market" as the stations being acquired, and that KDDA(AM) was not in that market, as its principal community contour did not overlap with the like contour of any station being acquired. The Bureau held that, while Seark had misread the question on the assignment application form, absent evidence of an intent to deceive, this error did not rise to the level of an intentional misrepresentation. 11. In its Application for Review, Bayou argues that: (1) the Bureau misapplied the standards regarding computation of the relevant radio "market" for purposes of the local radio ownership rules; and (2) the Bureau failed to discuss several relevant collateral matters which were the subject of its June 9, 1997 inquiry letter and which adversely reflect on Seark's fitness to be a Commission licensee. 12. Bayou initially reiterates its previous claim that the proposed assignment is unlawful because it will result in Seark's controlling six stations in an 11-station market, in violation of Section 73.3555(a)(1)(iv) of the Rules. Under Bayou's analysis, the boundaries of the pertinent radio market here "are established by outlining the principal community contours that are proposed to be commonly owned and that are mutually overlapping," i.e., KCLA(AM), KOTN(AM), KZYP(FM), KPBQ-FM, and KXFE(FM). Having defined the market in this manner, Bayou proceeds to proffer that there are 11 stations whose principal community contours overlap or intersect the radio market boundary. Since Seark will control more than fifty percent of these stations -- six of eleven -- Bayou claims that the proposed transaction violates Section 73.3555(a)(1)(iv). Bayou submits that the Bureau erred in finding that the subject transaction must be broken into three separate radio markets, stating that "it is clear that all eleven of the stations . . . form one radio market." Application for Review, at 12 (emphasis in original). Nonetheless, notes Bayou, the Bureau's three-radio-market approach would yield the same results if analyzed correctly because: (1) in Market 3, comprised of KDDA and KXFE(FM), the fifty-percent rule of Section 73.3555(a)(1)(iv) attaches; (2) one of the stations "contributing" to that market is KPBQ-FM, which Seark proposes to acquire; and (3) thus, in Market 3, Seark will control three of the four stations, violating the fifty percent limitation. Bayou states that KPBQ-FM must be included in counting the number of stations that Seark will own in Market 3 because its principal community contour overlaps that of KXFE(FM); to exclude KPBQ-FM would contradict Congressional intent, undermine the Commission's policy goals underlying the multiple ownership rules, and defy logic. 13. Discussion. For purposes of the local radio ownership rules, the Commission defines the relevant radio market as "that area encompassed by the principal community contours . . . of the mutually overlapping stations proposing to have common ownership." First Reconsideration Order, supra, 7 FCC Rcd at 6395; WZAD, Inc., 12 FCC Rcd 10,051, 10,054 (1997). The number of stations in the market is determined based on the principal community contours of all commercial stations whose principal community contours overlap or intersect the principal community contours of any of the commonly owned and mutually overlapping stations. See 47 C.F.R.73.3555(a)(4)(ii); see also First Reconsideration Order, 7 FCC Rcd at 6395 n. 51; Broadcast Radio Ownership, 11 FCC Rcd 12,368, 12,370 (1996); Frank Elwood and Wanda Jean Elwood, 10 FCC Rcd 3269 (1995). In calculating the number of stations which may be owned in that market, we have attributed to the prospective buyer only those commonly owned stations which contribute to the mutual overlap in the relevant radio market. That is, a station contour which overlaps the contour of a station outside the mutual overlap area, but does not have mutual overlap with all stations that create the market, does not count toward the local ownership "cap." 14. The local radio ownership rules specifically recognize that there will not necessarily be mutual overlap between all same-service stations in a group of commonly owned stations. In this regard, we note that although the rules address principal community contour overlap between same service stations, if there is a case in which there is mutual overlap between two (or more) same-service stations, only one of which overlaps a third station, the rules require a separate evaluation of the overlap area created with the third station. See First Reconsideration Order, 7 FCC Rcd at 6396 n. 54. The Commission has previously provided guidance for analyzing such chains. See, e.g., Sam Jones, Jr., 10 FCC Rcd 5330, 5332 (1995). The Bureau's conclusion that Seark's proposed radio ownership constitutes three separate local radio markets, each of which is composed of stations with mutually overlapping principal community contours, see  7-9, supra, is consistent with the rules and our precedent. Bayou's assertion that Seark will control six stations in one local radio market is incorrect because not all of the proposed commonly-owned stations have mutually overlapping principal community contours. Specifically, the principal community contours of KCLA(AM), KOTN(AM), KZYP(FM), and KPBQ-FM all mutually overlap. The principal community contour of KXFE(FM) overlaps the principal community contour of KPBQ-FM, but not the principal community contours of KCLA(AM), KOTN(AM), or KZYP(FM). The principal community contour of KDDA(AM) is totally encompassed by the principal community contour of KXFE(FM), but there is mutual overlap only between KDDA(AM) and KXFE(FM). KDDA(AM)'s principal community contour does not overlap the principal community contour of any of the other stations that Seark proposes to control. Nevertheless, stations which may not mutually overlap in one market are considered where they mutually overlap in another market, and the buyer's proposed ownership must comply with the local radio ownership rules in every market created by the proposed acquisition. 15. We recognize that in a circumstance such as the one presented here, where there are few stations, this methodology may seem to create anomalous results. Specifically, counting KPBQ-FM for purposes of determining the number of stations Seark can own in Market 3 but not counting KPBQ-FM as an attributable interest of Seark's in this market may at first blush seem to permit Seark to own more stations than the rules permit. However, we emphasize that the local radio ownership rules are based first on contour overlap. KPBQ-FM and KDDA do not overlap; therefore, we have taken into account contour overlap only between KXFE and KDDA in evaluating Seark's ownership in Market 3. The mutual overlap between KPBQ-FM and KXFE is considered in Market 2. Thus, Seark complies with the numerical restrictions of our rules in both Market 2 and Market 3. Bayou has failed to submit extrinsic evidence that Seark's ownership of KCLA(AM), KZYP(FM), and KPBQ-FM would adversely affect competition or diversity in any of the three radio markets, and our own review reveals no such evidence. In addition, Seark principals now propose to sell KDDA and KXFE(FM) to a new entity and, as discussed above, approval of the sale of these stations complies with the Commission's rules and is consistent with the public interest. KDDA and KXFE(FM) are stations that Seark had attributable interests in prior to its proposal to acquire the Pine Bluff stations, although the multiple ownership rules are implicated because Seark's acquisition of KPBQ-FM created a new area of mutual contour overlap with KXFE(FM). With our concurrent approval of the sale of KDDA and KXFE(FM), Market 3 is eliminated. Thus, with respect to Seark's ownership of the Pine Bluff stations, issues raised by our method of analyzing radio transactions based on mutual contour overlap are obviated for the future. We note that we have sought comment on this methodology in the recent Notice of Inquiry In the Matter of 1998 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, FCC 98-37, 13 FCC Rcd 11,276 (1998), at  23, and thus can address this methodology in the context of the rule making. 16. Collateral issues. Bayou indicates that, prompted by its petition to deny, the Bureau issued its June 9 inquiry letter, requesting that Seark explain in detail several matters concerning Seark's representations to the Commission, its ownership interest in KDDA(AM), and the extent of relationships among its various holdings in the Pine Bluff area. While it was afforded an opportunity to comment on Seark's response, Bayou notes that the Bureau "all but ignored Seark's answers to the questions posed in the letter, and it completely ignored the concerns raised in Petitioner's Reply." Application for Review, at 15. Bayou states that the failure to consider significant issues bearing on Seark's qualifications to be a Commission licensee is neither reasoned decisionmaking required by the Administrative Procedure Act nor consistent with the Commission's obligation to grant the subject applications only if so doing would further the public interest, convenience, and necessity. 17. Specifically, Bayou points to four matters raised in the Bureau's June 9 inquiry letter which it asserts were either not adequately addressed by Seark despite a specific inquiry from the Commission or were not discussed in the August 5, 1997 Bureau ruling. First, Bayou claims that Seark has failed to clarify exactly who is the licensee of station KDDA. Second, Bayou claims that Seark's response did not address the Bureau's specific question regarding whether all six stations implicated here are currently marketed together; Bayou references evidence previously supplied which, it states, clearly demonstrates that the stations were indeed being marketed together prior to Seark's obtaining Commission approval to own KCLA, KPBQ-FM, and KZYP(FM). Third, Bayou indicates that Seark failed to answer the direct question regarding the existence of "any arrangements among the [six] stations to share personnel, equipment, or marketing resources, whether formalized or not." Bayou posits that "the existence of at least informal agreements in these areas . . . is implicit in the way the stations are being operated." Application for Review, at 19. None of these matters are discussed in the Bureau ruling, states Bayou, and it was improper for the Bureau to ignore these issues. 18. Finally, Bayou takes issue with Seark's explanation for failing to disclose Craig Eastham's attributable interest in KDDA. Bayou states that it is disingenuous for Seark to claim that KDDA is one of the stations in the market for purposes of reaching the total of 11 stations (under the parties' original, albeit erroneous, analysis) but claim that KDDA did not have to be disclosed as a Seark station because it was not in the market defined by the overlapping KCLA, KPBQ-FM and KZYP(FM) principal community contours. 19. Discussion. Bayou's first argument -- that Seark did not clarify who precisely was the KDDA licensee, even when directly asked to do so by the Bureau -- is both incorrect and, we believe, irrelevant to our resolution of the multiple ownership issue in the current proceeding. Bayou is incorrect because, as stated explicitly by Seark on page 2 of its June 25, 1997 response, "[T]he January 29, 1996 ownership report for KDDA(AM) is correct." Additionally, in a subsequent letter filed in connection with a recent application to assign KDDA(AM) to Metro Birch Enterprises (File No. BAL-980706EF), Ruth Eastham and Thomas O. Graves explain that the stations Washington counsel once incorrectly filed a document with the Commission that continued to create confusion. They indicate clearly that KDDA has always operated under a 1965 partnership agreement and that the partnership trades as "Eastham, Eastham & Graves d/b/a KDDA(AM)." In reliance upon those clear representations, and notwithstanding the inconsistencies noted by Bayou in its petition to deny, we understand that the licensee of KDDA(AM) is a general partnership known as "Eastham, Eastham & Graves d/b/a KDDA." While Bayou spends considerable effort in its original petition to deny attempting to demonstrate that KDDA should be considered an attributable interest of Seark principal Craig Eastham -- the noted inconsistencies in listing the KDDA(AM) licensee were part of that argument -- Seark concedes that point without argument and in its ruling the Bureau assumed that Craig Eastham had an attributable, non-equity interest in the station. No further inquiry or discussion is warranted on this point. 20. Bayou's second argument is that Seark never responded to the Bureau inquiry regarding whether or not the stations Seark proposes to acquire are "marketed together" with the three other Pine Bluff area stations which Seark principals either own, operate, or control. Bayou is correct. Furthermore, it is clear from evidence submitted by Bayou that the stations are in fact marketed together at least part of the time. We do not condone Seark's failure to respond fully to a specific Commission inquiry. However, Seark's omission is not of decisional significance in this proceeding. Initially, the Bureau has determined, and we affirm, that Seark's ownership of the six Pine Bluff area stations implicated here is consistent with the Commission's local radio ownership rules. Therefore, there can be no prohibition on Seark's programming those stations (including the sale of advertising time) pursuant to a properly limited TBA such as the one here. See, e.g., Radio Rules Revisions, 7 FCC Rcd at 2788-89. Indeed, the Commission has expressly recognized with approval that TBA's allow "separately owned stations to function cooperatively via joint advertising, shared technical facilities, and joint programming arrangements." Review of the Commission's Regulations Governing Television Broadcasting, MM Docket No. 91-221, 10 FCC Rcd 3524, 3581-82 (1995). Seark cannot be sanctioned for doing what it is authorized and even expected to do under the TBA here. 21. Bayou's third argument is that Seark did not respond to the Bureau inquiry regarding whether or not there are any "arrangements among the stations to share personnel, equipment, or marketing resources, whether formalized or not?" Bayou claims that "the existence of at least informal agreements in these areas . . . is implicit in the way the stations are operated," Application for Review, at 19, and that Seark's failure to respond is "an attempt to gloss over the extent of intermingling of funds, personnel, concurrent marketing, and joint control and ownership." Id. 22. Bayou is incorrect. While Seark did not couch its response in a discussion of any agreement among the stations to share personnel, or equipment, it did provide sufficient information for the staff to draw a conclusion regarding those matters. For example, Seark specifies the following facts regarding the stations' operation:  PBR maintains control of management personnel of its three stations (KCLA, KPBQ-FM, and KZYP(FM)), while Seark employs programming and sales personnel for those stations pursuant to the TBA. The broadcasting equipment for these stations is located at 3601 South Apple Street in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.  Delta Radio, Inc., employs management, programming, and sales personnel for KOTN(AM). The broadcasting equipment for that station is located at 920 Commerce Road in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.  Craig Eastham manages KDDA(AM) and KXFE(FM). The broadcasting equipment for these two stations is located on Highway 54 West in Dumas, Arkansas. Thus, it is apparent that the three PBR stations are run separately from KOTN(AM) and KDDA/KXFE(FM) and do not share facilities, space, or personnel with those stations. It also appears that KOTN(AM) is run separately from KDDA/KXFE(FM). In light of Seark's responses, and in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, we conclude that no substantial question of premature control by Seark has been raised and that Bayou's third argument warrants no further inquiry or discussion. 23. Bayou's final argument centers on Seark's failure to list KDDA(AM) among its other broadcast interests in response to Section II, Item 5 of the assignee's portion of the subject FCC Form 314. Bayou notes that Seark has repeatedly claimed that KDDA was not in the radio market defined by the KCLA(AM), KPBQ- FM, and KZYP(FM) principal community contours and therefore did not need to be disclosed. On the other hand, Bayou notes, Seark had previously stated that KDDA is one of the stations in the "Relevant Radio Market." Bayou also writes that "Seark has previously stated . . . that KDDA is 'one of the eleven radio stations in the subject market,'" citing the Joint Opposition to Petition to Deny, at 3. Bayou states that "[Seark's] claim that on the one hand, KDDA is in the market, but on the other hand it is not, strains interpretation of the Commission's Rules." 24. Bayou is correct that Seark includes KDDA in its radio market analysis, which "lists the number of stations providing city grade service to the KZYP, KPBQ-FM, KXFE, KCLA or KOTN city grade contours or who have sites falling within the city grade contours of the five subject stations," Application No. BAL- 970103EA, Radio Market Analysis, at 2, yet it did not include the station in its listing of broadcast interests in response to Section II, Item 5 of FCC Form 314. Seark maintains that it was not required to disclose what it concedes was the attributable interest of Craig Eastham in KDDA(AM) because: (1) that question only asked for a listing of broadcast stations in "the same market as the station(s) being acquired"; and (2) for purposes of the local radio ownership rules, because the KDDA(AM) principal community contour did not overlap with the principal community contour of any station being acquired, KDDA(AM) "was not in that radio market." June 25, 1997 Response to Commission inquiry letter, at 5. Seark's position, proffered consistently throughout this proceeding, is that, "for attribution purposes, KDDA(AM) is in a separate market from KCLA-KPBQ- KZYP within the eleven-station market since its city-grade signal does not overlap the city-grade contour of either KCLA, KPBQ, or KZYP." Joint Opposition to Petition to Deny, At 3. 25. We agree with the Bureau's finding that Seark's failure to disclose Craig Eastham's interest in KDDA(AM) was error and was not disingenuous or lacking in candor. As noted by the Bureau, Item 5 of Section II of the assignee's portion of FCC Form 314 asks whether the applicant or any party to the application owns or has "an attributable interest in: (a) any AM, FM, of TV station; or (b) a daily newspaper in the same market(s) as the station (s) being acquired?" It appears that Seark incorrectly read the dependent clause "in the same market" to modify the broadcast station inquiry as well as the daily newspaper inquiry in Item 5. We also note that, as discussed above, for purposes of the local radio ownership rules, station KDDA(AM) is analyzed in a separate radio market from KCLA, KPBQ-FM, and KZYP(FM). While the broadcast station inquiry in Item 5 contains no "same market" limitation, and while Seark (as well as Bayou) failed to include markets 2 and 3 in their analysis -- which would have disclosed and analyzed Craig Eastham's interest in KDDA(AM) -- it would be unwarranted to find that Seark's responses evidence intentional concealment of material matters. Moreover, Bayou has advanced no rational motive for Seark to misrepresent its interest in KDDA, and we perceive none. Seark has argued correctly throughout this proceeding that its interest in KDDA did not affect the grantability of the subject applications or its compliance with the local radio ownership rules. We conclude that Seark's mistakes, absent evidence of an intent to deceive, do not rise to the level of an intentional misrepresentation or lack of candor. See Greater Muskegon Broadcasters, Inc., 11 FCC Rcd 15,464 (1996); Garrett, Andrews and Letizia, Inc., 86 FCC 2d 1172, 1180 (Rev. Bd. 1981), modified on other grounds, 88 FCC 2d 620 (1981); Kaye-Smith Enterprises, 71 FCC 2d 1402, 1415 (1979). See also MCI Telecommunications Corp., 3 FCC Rcd 509, 512 (1988) (The existence of a mistake in an application, without any evidence that the licensee meant to deceive the Commission, does not amount to misrepresentation). Here, Bayou has presented no evidence that Seark intentionally made misrepresentations to or lacked candor with the Commission. Accordingly, we affirm the Bureau's finding that the failure to disclose Craig Eastham's interest in KDDA(AM) in the subject assignment applications was an error and does not warrant further inquiry. 26. Conclusion/Order. In light of the above discussion, we find that no substantial and material question of fact has been raised which would preclude the Bureau's approval of the subject applications. Accordingly, the Application for Review filed on September 8, 1997 on behalf of Bayou Broadcasting, Inc. IS DENIED, and the applications (File Nos. BAL-980706EF and BALH-980706EK, respectively) to assign stations KDDA(AM) and KXFE(FM) to Metro Birch Enterprises, Inc. ARE GRANTED. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Magalie Rom n Salas Secretary