F.C.C. May Let WHRB Change FM Frequency

Proposed action by the FCC may clear the way for a change in WHRB's FM frequency, William R. Malone '58, former technical director of WHRB, said yesterday. The station hopes for prompt consideration of its petition so that it may be on the air at 105.5 megacycles, channel 288, by registration in September.

The FCC expects to abolish the 1947 Table of Allocations, which assigned frequencies by location throughout the country. This means that channel assignments will be made on first-come, first-serve basis.

WHRB's petition for a channel change came as a result of conflict with the signal of WBZ-FM, which went into operation last fall. Shortly after the petition was submitted in January, it was learned that WKOX-AM in Framingham had asked that the Table of Allocations be amended to permit them to operate on channel 288, within two-tenths of a megacycle of the proposed new WHRB frequency.

May Win Appeal

If the Table of Allocations is abolished, the award of channels will be made after hearing before an FCC Examiner. According to John B. Niles '59, president of WHRB, the station "would have a good chance of winning the grant in a comparative hearing."

Malone has said that granting both petitions would result in "intolerable conflict between Cambridge and Framingham."