April 24, 1998

Federal Communications Commission
1919 M Street, N.W., Room 222
Washington, D.C. 20554

Re: RM-9208 and RM-9242

Dear Sirs:

I am writing in firm opposition to the proposals referenced above.

Currently, the commercial radio dial is an orderly spectrum generally free from interference. However, I can cite a couple of instances in our region which have played havoc with area stations, including my FM.

A pirate radio station in the Sacramento area was blocking the signals of several stations over a long period of time in 1997 and played havoc with our fringe coverage. A station co-located on our tower, KSXX-FM, was hit hardest. It took some time to shut that pirate down.

On another occasion, just this winter, a pirate station was interfering with FAA transmissions at Sacramento Executive Airport. It was quickly shut down.

In this day and age, commercial stations are for the most part highly responsible and closely regulated with regard to their power and frequency. Even so, the FCC is stretched beyond its limits to be able to deal with interferences from ham radios, pirate stations and other transmissions which disrupt the orderliness of the spectrum.

I can see that "neighborhood" type stations, unregulated, could cause major headaches for commercial broadcasters and other "neighborhood" low power broadcasters.

In our market, there is extensive community radio coverage, especially KUBA-AM and KXCL-FM. We are local and for the most part always live. We deal with local issues, local news and support dozens of events from all aspects of the community. We have 30 dedicated employees who place their community first.

We are not alone, as up and down the state we have community-oriented radio station operators in virtually every market.

Please, don't complicate your job and ours. Please vote against RM-9208 and RM-9242.

Sincerely

Robert R. Harlan
General Manager

RRH:lh

cc: Congressman Vic Fazio