It is difficult to believe that we are approaching the year 2002! Another year come and gone, and what a year it has been. From the Presidential Election results to the September 11 terrorist attacks and the combat in Afghanistan, it certainly has given broadcasters a great amount of news and issues to talk about.

In the next few weeks, people all over the country will be giving some thought to their annual New Years Resolutions. It used to be that the number one resolution would be to lose some weight. Perhaps some will resolve to stay in closer contact with friends and family, or develop new relationships, get a new job, move to a new town, or simply quit smoking. We’re assuming that organizing your Public File for your radio station will not be on that list!

But let us attempt to convince you that FCC Compliance is an ongoing project. It is understandable that many broadcasters procrastinate when it comes to dealing with the issues of FCC Compliance and your Public File. After all, the Public File is not exactly screaming at you about the billing, collections and market share. Whether it is organized or not, its easy to keep putting it off, until that fateful day that either the FCC shows up, or a member of the "public" requests to see it. Until then, it’s pretty easy to ignore.

The clientele for Orchard Media Services is primarily in California. The license renewal period for stations in this state is from 1997 through 2005. When a licensee signed their renewal application, and told the FCC that they had complied with all FCC compliance, they would have received an FCC "Brown Card". This card is about the size of a 5x7 index card, and indicates that the station’s license was renewed until December 1, 2005. That means in the summer of 2005 the station will once again be filling out another renewal application.

There is a great deal of documentation that the FCC requires when applying for the renewal of a station license. No, you do not have to send it as an attachment to the application, but the applicant (licensee) is signing a declaration that the station has met its obligatory requirements of their license period. This includes the Issues and Program Material for the eight-year license period.

Lets do the math to show how FCC Compliance is an ongoing project. If

the station’s license period is for eight years, and the Issues and Programs need to be posted each quarter, then one should multiply the four quarterly reports times the eight years of the license period. That’s a lot of material that should be placed into your Public File for the purpose of renewing the license of the station. Thirty-two reports total, posted quarterly. And the licensee will sign the application stating that they are all there, regardless if they are or not.

Question: Can I rely on the news service that my air personality "rips and reads" to satisfy my obligation to address local community issues?

The answer is: NO. No. NO. NO. Get the point?

We sort and organize many Public Files every month, and constantly stumble upon correspondence from station’s attorneys, who explain to licensees and managers about their role in keeping the station compliant with FCC rules and regulations. One attorney wrote his client stating, "I believe you are putting yourself at substantial risk. You must carry some other Public Affairs type programming besides news to meet the FCC requirement."

Lets briefly review a document titled "The Public and Broadcasting Manual" which was released by the FCC in June 1999 and is to be placed in your Public File, and given out free to those who ask. The purpose of this manual is to educate the general public on the rules set forth to broadcasters. The following language is an excerpt from The Public and Broadcast Manual:

The station owner is required to run a series of announcements in the closest local newspaper and on the air when it files these types of applications. Later, the FCC will also run a "Public Notice" and open a thirty-day period during which you may file petitions to deny these applications. You can search out on the FCC web site by going to www.fcc.gov.

Yes, Mr. Broadcaster, FCC compliance is an on going project. Its not something to put on your "to do later" list, or something you can ignore altogether. Eventually, you’ll have to address it.

Here’s another question we have heard often:

"I have 5 stations in my cluster and one of them is a Talk-News Format. Can I rely on my AM station to carry all the programs dealing with local issues and allow the sister FM stations to focus on 100% Music?"

No. You are going to put your FM station’s license at some potential risk. The FCC takes the position that different stations seek to serve different demographic audiences. Each station must address the local information needs for each audience, separately. Check your license and see what the community of license is for each station in the cluster. Certainly, they are not all licensed to the same city. Even if they were, each station has a different audience it reaches and needs to address the issues of that audience.

Another comment we ran across, made by an attorney was: "Even if the stations were carrying very similar programming, it is unlikely that the FCC would find it a proper use of the FM frequency to disregard the information needs of that station’s audience."

If you have five stations in your cluster, you will need five separate Public Files serving five different sets of listeners.

Now, suppose you have two stations simulcasting a format, and those stations are licensed to different communities, are you serving those communities with separate issues? You could be in violation when it comes to your issue list every quarter.

Although the FCC hasn’t come up with a specific form that stations can use to post their quarterly issues, a broadcaster can log on to the FCC website and get direction on what the requirements are.

Look at the FCC under rules 73.3526 that certain items need to be on that form. We will only point out two of the items that are required. They are "Duration of the issues discussed"; the other is a "Program Title" such as; ‘Meet your elected Official’ or ‘Any-ville Today.’ Don’t allow your programmers to convince you that these specifics are no longer necessary since the FCC deregulated broadcasting. Educate yourself on the rules yourself.

Now, lets ask the Big Question:

They Quarterly Issues and Programs Reports are a crucial part of the renewal process. We wrote about this a few months ago. The renewal application asks you if you complied with rule 35.26.

Lets suppose you checked the "yes" box that you complied with and have posted the thirty-two issue reports required during your license period. If you only have a few, you could have problems. An individual or group can petition to deny your license renewal arguing that your coverage of local community issues over the entire span of the last eight years was insufficient.

The issue list, which is part of your Program report, is the evidence of what you did each quarter and your only defense in a renewal attack on your license. One of the large groups has sent a letter to all stations that the individual managers are responsible for all the material that is to be placed in the Public File.

Perhaps this is an attempt to protect themselves in case of renewal problems or transfer of stock or selling the station so they have somebody to blame it on. Remember it is the licensee whose name is on the license not the manager.

FCC Compliance is an ongoing project. One that should be taken seriously. If you are a veteran broadcaster I know you are aware of the scrutiny the FCC or other organizations will put a station through at license renewal time. Each state has a different timetable. Learn yours.

If you think you might have a problem with your Public File, station logs and other FCC rules or regulations don’t wait any longer, Call or Email me for help…