The FCC is enacting a new policy that will give non-commercial student operated FM stations a one-time fine reduction for certain administrative violations of the FCC rules.
The FCC has announced this policy change in a consent decree the Commission recently reached with William Penn University of Oskaloosa, Iowa. William Penn, a small liberal arts college has been operating KIGC-FM for over 30 years and has an annual budget of around $6,650 per year. The station was recently cited for public file and ownership file violations which could have amounted to approximately $20,000 in fines. The station’s public file shortcomings and financial situation was noted in their renewal application.
In the decree, the FCC recognizes student operated stations as “incubators for talent as well as media outlets” and has recognized that many universities have decided to sell their student operated stations citing KUSF, KTRU, WDUQ and others especially in light of declining public sector budgets at these institutions. The FCC is afraid that the forfeitures that could be imposed on these stations could far exceed the station’s annual budget. According to the FCC, out of the nearly 3,800 NCE FM stations that are currently authorized, less than 500 of them are student-run stations. The FCC defines a student-run station as one that is “managed and programmed entirely by student volunteers and not by paid professional staff other than the faculty advisor.”
Under the new policy, if violations of the public file or ownership report regulations are identified during the renewal process, the FCC will notify the student operated station of the ability to enter into a consent decree which would include a “voluntary contribution” to the United States Treasury and other terms such as a commitment to establish a compliance program within the station to assure that violations will not occur in the future. In the case of William Penn, the voluntary contribution was $2,500.
The FCC stresses that this policy only applies to first-time administrative policy violations such as public file, ownership reports and issues lists and does not apply to other violations such as indecency, underwriting, EAS and engineering.
A copy of the FCC’s order can be found at the following URL:
http://transition.fcc.gov/Daily_Releases/Daily_Business/2013/db0513/DA-13-1074A1.pdf
