Fine for LMA Radio Deal, Penalties for Tower Light Violations Draw Notice
The FCC is intensifying its crackdown on radio station violations, drawing the notice of broadcast lawyers, according to interviews Tuesday. Recent enforcement actions include penalties for local marketing agreement (LMA) and time brokerage agreement violations and tower lighting issues. The Media Bureau issued a consent decree Friday requiring Hoosier Broadcasting and Inter Mirifica, a nonprofit organization and Catholic media network, collectively to pay a $50,000 penalty since WSPM(FM) Cloverdale, Indiana, licensee Hoosier received LMA payments in excess of the station's expenses.
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The bureau said Hoosier and Inter Mirifica violated Section 1.17 in Title 47 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Hoosier violated Section 73.503(c) and both violated Section 310 of the Communications Act. Hoosier accepted LMA fees May 29, 2003-Jan. 1, 2014 that exceeded operating expenses by $5,000 to $15,000 per month, said the consent decree, which was adopted on New Year's Eve. Hoosier failed to keep one management-level and one staff-level employee at the station during the LMA, as required by the rules. The code says the FCC allows programming from third parties, but station licensees that enter into an LMA must remain involved in the station's day-to-day operations. Inter Mirifica has operated WSPM since 2004 under a time brokerage agreement with Hoosier. Hoosier and Inter Mirifica were in the process of transferring WSPM to Inter Mirifica through a $2.5 million purchase. Hoosier and Inter Mirifica didn't comment.
The penalty surprised Fletcher Heald's Matthew McCormick. “That seemed like quite a lot,” he said. “But it also was a relatively long period of time and a relatively large amount of money that was being paid each month. The concept that noncommercial licensees can’t make money off an LMA is sort of seeping into the consciousness.” Wilkinson Barker's David Oxenford said on his blog that there has only been one other similar case, which involved the University of San Francisco in 2012. The penalty in that case was also $50,000. The FCC had no immediate comment.
Other FCC orders on Friday, three totaling $8,000 and one totaling $6,000, fined tower owners for failing to keep tower lights operational and lit during the required operating hours. The FCC wants tower lights to be maintained. “The commission has always told us that air safety is a high priority,” McCormick said. “They’re trying to emphasize what an important priority it is.” Oxenford agreed that four orders released on the same day made a point. “When they’re clustered like this you’ve got the FCC trying to send a message on a particular issue,” he told us. “Sometimes it may just be coincidence. I think it’s orchestrated to highlight a particular issue.”
McCormick said such penalties come in waves, with a previous wave of violations involving fencing around AM towers. “Now we’re seeing liability for tower light problems,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s a targeted enforcement effort, but they’re certainly getting broadcasters and tower owners to recognize that they have to take care of their lighting.”