TheBuzz Erika Engle

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New Hilo television station WDCN? Not so fast

A PLANNED low-power television station in Hilo has been granted east-of-the-Mississippi call letters by the Federal Communications Commission, a document revealed yesterday.

Richard C. and Lisa A. Goetz of Tennessee, who are media consultants and own a few other low-power TV stations, were granted the call letters WDCN by the FCC last month. The assignment was disclosed in a daily FCC newsletter distributed yesterday.

You're probably aware that all other broadcast call letters in Hawaii -- in fact, all those west of the Mississippi River, with few exceptions -- begin with the letter "K."

Richard Goetz said he doesn't know why the FCC originally approved* WDCN.

"That's going to go to a 'K,'" Goetz said. He is trying to hold WDCN for another, more geographically appropriate station, but the FCC should not have approved the "W" designation for a Hawaii facility, he said.

FCC officials did not respond to requests for information yesterday.

Goetz has not decided what he's going to do with the Hilo station, except to say that, "the key to low-power TV is local (programming)."

"You start 24/7 national and then start covering that up with local programming," he said. Low-power TV stations are "becoming more like a broadcast public access channel," he said.

Looking forward to the industrywide conversion from analog to digital television, low-power stations will be able to broadcast multiple streams on each channel, and regulations may open up to grant low-power stations "a companion channel just like the full-power guys," he said.

The Goetzes own so-called LPTV stations in Gatlinburg and Carthage, Tenn., "and a couple in Florida," he said. The couple also owns R&L Media Systems, which serves the broadcast industry with equipment and consulting.

CORRECTION Saturday, April 15, 2006 >> The Federal Communications Commission approves or disapproves broadcast call-letter requests that are made by station owners. A story on Page B1 yesterday incorrectly indicated that the FCC selects call letters for the stations. Please see the applicable Corrections Page for more information.