FCC finds the following:

I talked with FCC.

"A broadcast station’s public inspection file must be maintained in accordance with strict FCC requirements."

That is an excerpt from "Public Inspection File Requirements for Radio and Television Broadcast Stations" by Koteen & Naftalin L.L.P. in Washington D.C. It is the first sentence in the Introduction.

Later on in the next paragraph: " The penalties for failure to maintain the public inspection file properly are the same as for violating any other Commission rule or regulation. The Commission may fine licensees and may impose other sanctions for failure to comply with public file requirements."

Some radio station managers have only two years radio experience, and came from the sales side. They don’t even know what a Public Inspection File is, much less where to find it.

Since I have been writing this column, I have received many emails from radio professionals. Some who are shocked at their "horror stories" about non-compliance issues, and some who are genuinely concerned and have questions.

Many years ago, the FCC deregulated the strict requirements for Public Affairs Programming. Strangely though, many broadcasters neglected to read the fine print to the ruling, and assumed that Public Affairs were done away with altogether.

Out went the idea of the Public File, and so did a great deal of the items that are required by law to be placed in the Public File.

Back in the days of strict regulation, a stations license was up for renewal every three years. Yes, every three years a station had to go through the renewal process. It takes weeks of paper work, including finding specific documents from the Public Files regarding Issues Programming, political advertising, community service, and others. At random, the FCC would request engineering logs from different days throughout the three-year history. Stations were scrutinized in order to renew their license.

Deregulation did NOT however, mean that a station no longer needs to keep a Public File, nor did it mean that stations didn’t have to serve the community of license with public affairs anymore.

When the station comes up for renewal, nobody knows where any of these important documents are, and the Public Files haven’t been maintained for several years.

Its important to point out the FCC has changed their Field Offices to "Enforcement Bureau Offices". It even has its own page on the FCC Government website. The FCC is gearing up for enforcing their laws on broadcast stations. It’s no joke.

Another conversation is the one with the new manager who shows concern about the state of his public file. He’s not sure if all the documentation is there, but his primary focus is to hire his sales staff and get them trained. You see he must focus on generating income for the ownership. He said that he will deal with the Public File issues at his license renewal time. That is in 2005.

Was he going to ask some one to falsify documentation? Certify that all documents pertaining to government regulations were in order? Would he even be working for this station in 2005, when the time for renewal came up?

If you are asked to be the "Chief Operator" of a station or group of stations, you know about the public file and regulations broadcasters must adhere to. Would you be willing to sign your name to a document that states, "these facts are true", when you know, or even question, that the station is in complete FCC Compliance?

If you are being hired on as a manager, and don’t feel confident in your knowledge of the laws and regulations, and you know the owner wants you to mostly concentrate on revenue, ratings and market share; you’d be best served if you inquired about the status of their public file, their political file, the weekly station logs, the appointment of the Chief Operator, and what about the execution of the station’s EAS material.

Lets face it; many in the broadcasting industry do suffer a bit of ignorance. Webster defines ignorance as: "having little knowledge, education or experience". So please do not misinterpret my claim that many broadcasters are ignorant in their knowledge and education of FCC regulations as an insult. There are hundreds of brilliant programmers, managers and owners. But it is impossible to be an expert in every single aspect of the broadcast industry.

This is why I chose to become an FCC Specialist to work specifically with licensee’s to assist them with maintaining their Public Files, Political Files, and engineering standards, so they can take confidence that their license to broadcast is not in jeopardy with a long legal battle with the FCC which will bring financial expenditures to an all time high, jeopardizing their ability to earn a profit!

Ignorance of FCC regulations can open up a "Pandora’s Box" of problems! I am inundated with emails from the readers of this publication with questions regarding Spanish Language Broadcast requirements, to general inquiries about the new policy set in place in June regarding the posting of job openings at your station

I ran across a legal pleading last week while working on a Public File for an unnamed station in the West. This station had been fined by the FCC for violating the EEO standards by not hiring enough minorities in their seven year license renewal period. This may seem like a minor problem to you, but the FCC fined this station $25,000 for failure to comply with the regulation, after investigating a complaint and petition to deny license renewal from the NAACP.

In turn, the groups attorney’s filed a "Consolidated Petition For Reconsideration", stating that this fine was extreme compared to other fines issued by the FCC to stations for the same violation. They didn’t deny that they had violated the EEO standard, but blamed it on "poor record-keeping" during this license period. They demanded that the fine be reduced to a more reasonable amount, and sited that the rules were unfair.

My question as I was reading this document was: "How much money in legal fees did this group pay to avoid the FCC’s penalty, and could it have been avoided altogether with "proper record-keeping". Again, the word "ignorance" came to mind. (Remember, it is not as insulting a word as assumed, it only means, "uneducated").

Is it prudent business to place the responsibility of your public file and record keeping in the hands of your receptionist or overnight disc jockey? How well will they complete this task, and how loyal will they be to the license of the station?

It is important not to consider the FCC as an enemy. Their job is to make sure all broadcast licensees follow the same standards of compliance to keep the industry manageable and fair. When an inspector visits your station, they would rather find you in full compliance than issue multiple fines. FCC Inspectors don’t work on commission.

Let me tell you about another interesting case. The legal proceedings were interesting, and the case should be used as an example of opening a Pandora’s Box of problems.

First of all, lets re-visit the myth of Pandora. In Greek Mythology, Pandora is said to have been the first woman on Earth, given many gifts by the gods. One of the gifts given to her was a box in which the gods told her never to open. Unfortunately, Pandora couldn’t resist her curiosity and opened the box, releasing instantly all the world’s vices, sins, diseases and troubles. Pandora quickly shut the lid, but only Hope, people’s last comfort, was left.

Here is a classic case of allowing a "Pandora’s Box" situation to occur with your radio station’s license.

This particular group had some financial difficulties, and had a dispute with one of their creditors. The creditor did their homework, and filed a "Petition to Deny" their license renewal, stating that their Public File was not appropriately available and was missing very crucial elements.

The FCC was brought in to conduct an investigation, and found that although the Public File was at the local library for inspection by the public, the library was only open for 21.5 hours a week. This is inconsistent with requirements by the FCC which specifically provides that the file shall be kept at a location that affords public access "at any time during regular business hours". The investigator also found that the file was deficient because a number of required documents were missing.

These items that missing were copies of their last license renewal application, the annual ownership reports and annual EEO reports for the entire license term; quarterly issues/programs lists; written certifications of its required public notice announcements of the filing of its license renewal application.

To add insult to injury, the station finally came to an arrangement with this creditor, and they dropped their complaint. However, due to the nature of violations uncovered, the FCC was obligated to proceed with the mandated fines issued.

So, not only did the station have to come up with the money they owed this creditor, update and complete their public files, they were continuously scrutinized by the FCC and additional fines were issued to the tune of more than $70,000.

Certainly, one disgruntled creditor can open up a "Pandora’s Box" for a licensee. Do you have any disgruntled creditors, employees, or public agencies in your city of license who would be bold enough to file a petition to deny at time of renewal?

I recently purchased an RV for two purposes. A great deal of my Public File work gives me reason to travel around the country, so the RV serves as our recreational vehicle and mobile office, which make my onsite work manageable while allowing me the space I need to work without intruding on the staff of the radio station.

I secured a Public File consulting job with a radio station in Florida, so I packed up the family (yes, my daughter and several grandchildren) and set out on a 6,000 mile trip across the country!

As always, my time spent consulting radio stations on FCC Compliance brings up a lot of legitimate questions and concerns. Some of those comments I get are:

"Why doesn’t the FCC have a list of what is required to be in the Public File?"

" Why don’t they have a book on what they want us to keep?"

"I thought everything was de-regulated and we don’t have to do anything for our city of license any more".

There is a great deal of valuable information and material from FCC law firms. You can also search the Internet under FCC.gov and find the FCC Enforcement Bureau site as I mentioned in previous articles.

However, I understand that surfing the net and reading manuals on the subject of FCC Compliance is difficult when your payroll is coming due, your jocks don’t show up to work and the sales staff isn’t meeting its budget. I know that the Public File will come last on your list of priorities. You are not alone.

Now that’s talk briefly about the person that comes in just to look at the file. He could be anybody. It could be a competitor’s employee, a disgruntled former employee of the station, a political candidate, or even a local community advocate. They could just be there to make trouble for the station. Don’t snicker, its been known to happen.

He now could write the FCC a letter with just one small complaint about anything missing in the Public File and the FCC inspection flag goes up.

Now lets continue this in another manner. Suppose a year ago you had your state broadcasting association is visit your station to perform one of those state inspections. You paid the fee and the association notified the FCC. Now, according to agreement, your station will not be inspected for another guaranteed two to three years.

However, now you have moved your studio and office. If you did not notify the FCC, do you think that your "Get out of Jail Card" will help you on this one?

"We have an FCC License! Without it, we have no business." Exclaims Barry Skildelsky, an attorney and consultant from New York.

Skildelsky was one of three panelists in San Francisco during the Convention of National Association of Broadcaster’s Session titled "FCC Rule Enforcement".

The description for this session was "The FCC’s new Enforcement Bureau is active. This session lets you know which areas of radio compliance are being hit with thousands of dollars worth of fines and forfeitures. Find out the rules you must follow to keep your stations from being fined."

If you were to put your license in jeopardy for any reason at all, what difference would it make if your station was top in ratings that quarter, or had garnered the largest revenue share in your market? Who cares if you have a number one morning team if you haven’t complied with FCC regulations and have a difficult time renewing your license, or even worse, have someone file a petition to deny your renewal for just about any reason at all?

"Even the slightest complaint to the FCC will be addressed and answered." explained David Solomon, Director of the Federal Communications Commission Enforcement Bureau.

The most critical mission of the Enforcement Bureau right now is technical. Tower maintenance and Public Safety are huge issues. Proper tower maintenance, including painting, lighting and fencing are the most common non-compliance issues at the top of the FCC’s list.

"Anything that has to do with Public Safety is our first concern", says Solomon. FAA has regulations that broadcasters must follow for aircraft safety. These aren’t the 747 passenger planes that fly thousands of feet in the sky. Broadcast towers affect medivac units, police helicopters, news choppers, etc.

Another technical issue at the top of the FCC’s list is Interference with other signals. Interference Resolution will be dealt with seriously, and the FCC is poised to issue fines and forfeitures for stations in non-compliance.

The Enforcement Bureau has about 130 to 140 inspectors in the field now, (up from 100) in 25 or more locations throughout the country. There have been a tremendous amount of "notice of violation and forfeitures" served this year, and Solomon stated that he was surprised how many violations there were in this area.

Additionally, the Emergency Alert System, and EEO Compliance made the list of critical elements to your stations overall compliance. This area is especially being taken seriously with the Enforcement Bureau.

The June general election of new EEO Compliance, which now includes the responsibility of licensee’s to post and advertise all job openings (along with proof placed in your Public File), hasn’t been taken seriously enough by broadcasters yet.

"I talk to my clients and ask if they have the notice placed in their Public File, and they haven’t done it yet". Says Barry Umansky, an attorney from Washington DC and member of this panel.

According to Umansky, "EEO now has returned as perhaps the most vigorously enforced area at the Commission." He also comments, "The Mass Media Bureau recently announced it will be conducting random audits of stations to check on their EEO compliance".

One of the questions brought before the panel was, "What are the most significant violations made by broadcasters?"

All three panelists agreed that "misrepresentation or lack of candor" were the significant violations.

For those of us who do not practice law, Skidelsky and Umansky pointed out specific definitions of what that means.

"Misrepresentation" – To lie, intent to deceive.

This ranges anywhere from lying in the process of filing your application for license renewal, (even by checking the box that states you have kept your Public File in order for the license period), to fraudulent applications, unauthorized transfer of control, etc.

"Lack of Candor" – is defined as "concealment or evasion". What you know but don’t tell can get you into trouble. Your efforts to cover up are more severe than making a simple mistake.

"Preventative maintenance of your stations daily compliance efforts and record keeping are crucial to that momentous day when you file your application for renewal". Umansky said with a smile. There is a slight chance that you never will be inspected. Just like a tornado, or a bolt of lightening, you might be missed. But, do you really want to gamble your license, or even deal with the headache of fixing a problem after it has been uncovered?

The FCC Enforcement Bureau is looking for groups of stations that are not paying attention to the rules. This was brought up on more than one occasion during this rule enforcement session. With consolidation and clustering in full swing, commonly owned stations with similar fines are being watched carefully. If it is uncovered that a specific cluster of stations in one specific market is violating similar rules, this will send a warning to FCC inspectors to look at the entire group ownership, as it would be quite possible that the ownership as a whole is not complying with FCC Rules and Regulations. Group owners beware. Give your cluster managers enough leverage and ability to keep their cluster of stations in compliance, or the entire group could be in jeopardy of FCC scrutiny.

Lets recap: Tower Maintenance, Public Safety, Technical, EEO Compliance, Emergency Alert System, Misrepresentation and Lack of Candor, and proper record keeping (which is your Public Inspection File, and if your station is running political commercials your Political File), and your weekly station log are at the top of the FCC’s list. Are they at the top of yours?

As you go about the business of operating your radio station(s), don’t forget the most important element. Your license. Without it, it won’t matter that you made your projected budget for third quarter!

Broadcasters have to be aware of current trends in order to compete in a very competitive industry. And this doesn’t just mean the latest hit song. There are so many formats reaching out to so many different audiences. We’re also speaking about trends in advertising, marketing your stations, sales techniques, technology, and FCC Rules and Regulations.

There has been so much confusion in FCC policies and regulations since consolidation began, and the Communications Act of 1996. Some managers still believe the FCC deregulated everything, and they can operate as they please.

Yes, certain rules from years past have been relaxed, however recently the FCC has been adopting new rules of enforcement, including the most recent EEO Compliance Standards. Engineering and Public Safety issues have always been important to the FCC.

Part of the problem has been apathy on the part of the current broadcasters. Yes, consolidation changed the make up of the broadcasting industry. No longer do we operate just one or two stations, but five to seven in a single market, or dozens in multiple markets. In order to keep expenditures low and profits high, many are forced to cut back on employees. Turn over is tremendous, and many of the long time broadcasters have left the industry altogether. Radio is not what it used to be. That is true. But, it doesn’t mean that the industry is antiquated, on the contrary. We have been reinventing radio, which let me remind you is historically the very first electronic mass media industry. Everything else has been modeled after radio. Radio has survived a lot of growth and competition since its inception.

We are taught at such young, tender ages the benefits and honor in loyalty to our "team", and pride in a job well done. These attributes are taught well before High School, but really come to a boiling point by then. Well, when we enter the professional world, are we so jaded by corporate politics, or bad experiences in the workplace that pride and loyalty no longer matter?

I know, I’m on a "soap box" with this, but please bear with me. I often get emails from broadcasters commenting on my column found here. Recently, they have been encouraging me to continue to preach the value of FCC Compliance and maintaining your Public File for purposes of continuity when it comes time to renew your license. It’s just good business. A necessary evil when you hold a license and the right to broadcast to the general public. You wouldn’t feel very good about someone who was driving a vehicle and not upholding the law of the road, would you? How would you feel about a business not following the regulations of fair trade?