ILLINOIS - The University of Illinois Board of Trustees

19791 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 245
village of Cicero, near Chicago. This wad the first such AM channel to be vacated
in a major metropolitan area in many years, and the first AM or FM channel for
which the University could apply that would permit service to an appreciable part
of the Chicago metropolitan area.,
While questions of specific funding of construction and of the ultimate broad-
cast operation did not require immediate answers, the board and the administrative
officers have been sensitive to them while the University’s application went forward,
and such matters have been the subject of continuing discussions among the
officers of the Chicago Circle and Medical Center campuses and the general
university.
Although the University’s application is believed to be a strong one, un-
certainties and delays in the application process have affected the University’s
ability to maintain a high-priority commitment to this public service activity.
Further, as numerous issues affecting the award of the license have been resolved,
one has grown to major significance: stations broadcasting on this and nearby chan-
nels are exclusively commercial, and a direct contention between a public broad-
caster, the University, and commercial applicants (at least two strong ones in the
present instance) over a nominally commercial channel is without precedent.
The counsel retained by the board has received an offer from certain of the
commercial applicants which is the basis for the resolution that follows: In return
for seeking dismissal of its application for this license, the University would be
reimbursed for its expenses to date (as determined in accordance with the pnr
cedures of the Federal Communications Commission) ; further, the board would be
given a right of first refusal to purchase the interests of the presumably successful
applirants for the license should they elect to dispose of it in the future. Settlement
would allow early inauguration of commercial service attentive to the special needs
of Cicero and nearby communities. In the meantime, the University will continue
to explore the feasibility of improving its service to the Chicago region through
expanded FM capability and other means.
Therefore, the president of the University, with the concurrence of the a p
propriat? administrative officers, recommends the adoption of the following resolu-
tion approving the withdrawal of the University’s application and settlement of the
matter on the terms indicated.
Resolution
Whereas, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois previously
authorized the preparation, filing, and prosecution of an application for a con-
struction permit for a new standard broadcast noncommercial educational station
at Cicero, Illinois;
Whereas. in authorizing that application the Board recognized a great need
for public radio service in the Chicago area;
Whereas. the application made by the Board has been forestalled by similar
applications by parties proposing commercial operations and lengthy litigation has
ensued,
Whereas, the parties to that litigation have proposed a resolution of the
pending litigation which will reimburse the Board for its expenses in that litigation,
Whereas, the proposed resolution also provides an opportunity for earlier
inauguration of commercial service attentive to the special needs of Cicero and
nearby neighborhoods, and
Wherem, the proposed resolution allows the Trustees to acquire the station if
its operation is discontinued,
Now, Therefore, the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois hereby
authorizes its Officers and Counsel to: