The FCC did not rule in favor of any of the applications until May 1982, when it selected Peoples. However, the winning applicant had developed a flaw in the intervening years, as Peoples head Joseph Cantor died in September 1981. FCC rules which froze the qualifications of competing applicants at a certain point in time meant that the two ruling administrative law judges had to consider Peoples as if Cantor was still alive. The losing bidders appealed, but the FCC review board and the full commission upheld the decision.