When we were told about the changes being made to the Radio Shopper, including changing the name to Radio Guide, adding color and additional information for its readers, it came as no real surprise to Orchard Media Services. 2001 was a year to look back on as one of many changes. We saw people’s outlook on life and business change in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

We are proud to be part of the growing readership of this magazine and have appreciated the opportunity to assist and inform our readers in the broadcast industry in the areas of FCC Compliance. Your comments and questions have allowed us to explore many new avenues of business, just as the Radio Guide has!

As you know Orchard Media Services visits many Radio and Television stations each month. Whether we are there to work on the station’s FCC Compliance material, perform a "Voluntary Inspection" through our affiliation with California Broadcasters Association, or simply to tell them about our services. We see stations in all stages and situations, and it’s always an educational experience for us. Now, we have engaged in new ways to assist our current and future clients in educating them in FCC Compliance and operations that typical "consulting firms" don’t address. It’s been quite a year, and we too are looking ahead for 2002.

Orchard Media Services answered a need to educate the staff of stations with another approach in conjunction with our Public File and FCC Compliance services. We put together a "Radio 101" book that includes all the information necessary to educate managers and staff’s on what the FCC requires to maintain full compliance. It was astounding how useful this information has become. It’s a collection of many items that we have come across in our travels. Some of these are documents from the FCC, attorneys, State Broadcast Associations and articles written by other experts in the field. We have also included a list of fines and what the FCC looks for when they come to inspect a station. We bundled this material together and presented a half-day "seminar" with the manager, the Public File Custodian at the station, the Public Affairs Director and anyone else the manager wanted to include.

We actually stumbled upon this approach by accident. A cluster manager asked us to educate his "rookie" staff on FCC issues so that once we complete our FCC Compliance work, they could continue to remain working on compliance all year long. The response was magnificent and led to future seminars. Just a few months ago we were the guest speakers for the Society of Broadcast Engineers; Los Angeles Chapter. Our "booklet" has improved and we continually find ourselves with new avenues to pursue.

With this new approach of educating, we believe that as we opened this article, maybe this is another way to reach the Broadcaster of today. Stations are always sending their sales staffs to learn about the newest techniques or trends in advertising, programmers and promotions directors are always learning and searching for the "perfect" fit and engineers are constantly learning about the latest technology in the industry. We have found that it is equally important to educate your staff on how to maintain compliance when it comes to your station’s license.

At our first seminar, we learned that many of the station’s staff had been in radio for many years, but thought that public affairs requirements were done away with. And due to the fact that the FCC no longer mandates program logs, the engineer thought that station logs were deregulated as well. These are two very different things.

FCC Compliance is an ongoing requirement for the term of your license. For example, in California, the 8-year license term runs from 1997 to 2005. All stations should have closed out 2001 and made sure that everything was up to date because we have passed the mid way point of the license period leading to your renewal application. Remember the material in your public file is the only evidence that you will have if somebody files a petition to deny your renewal application.

While working at this AM station, we ran across a letter that was written by the FCC stating that several years ago the FCC did a nationwide compliance survey. The FCC found many AM stations were deficient in the following areas:

The last paragraph of this FCC letter stated:

"The commission will continue to conduct broadcast station inspections through the year and the years to come. The inspections may encompass any or all of the broadcast regulations with special emphasis toward the problem area listed above. Monetary forfeitures may be assessed for any type of violations of the FCC’s Rules and Regulations."

Remember all of the above items and more must be maintained in accordance with strict FCC requirements. A lot of this paper work is to be placed in what is called the Public Inspection File. The purpose of the file is to allow all interested persons to inspect this file to see how you have been serving the community of license for the current license period. The penalties for failure to maintain this public inspection file properly are the same as for violating any other Commission rule or regulation.

So, as you look ahead in 2002, are you and your staff completely educated in FCC Compliance? If you have any doubts, we encourage you to look into it soon.