Want a radio station without having to go through the bothersome process of applying and bidding for the license? Critics will doubtless charge that the Federal Communications Commission let that happen last week. The agency rejected challenges to several Idaho outlets in which the objectors warn that the winning bidder won't really run them; instead, a company linked to Clear Channel Communications that loaned the full price of the signal to the "buyer" will enjoy actual control.

The Commission also turned down an appeal suggesting that the agency awarded a major modification grant to an Oklahoma station overseen, for all practical purposes, by Clear Channel. The FCC's dismissals drew ire from Michael Copps, the Commission's senior Democrat. "These cases seem to have an air of unreality about them," Copps declared in a public statement.

In 1999 the FCC ran an auction for new FM licenses that included prospects at Twin Falls and Pocatello, Idaho. Three companies bid for these properties: Idaho Wireless Corporation, Astounding Productions Incorporated, and InterMart Broadcasting. InterMart won both licenses, paying $955,000 for the Pocatello construction permit and $838,000 for the Twin Falls permit.

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