An AM-FM combo serving the area to the northeast of Grand Junction CO says that it wasn’t that it didn’t have issues/programs lists for the two stations, it’s just that they were inadvertently transported to a co-owned Grand Junction station. That didn’t move the FCC to leniency.
The stations are KRGS-AM Rifle CO, a Class D on 690 kHz with 900 W-D, 12 W-N, ND, and KRVG-FM Glenwood Springs CO, a Class C2 on 95.5 MHz with 1 kW @ 2,416’. They serve an area of the state to the northeast of Grand Junction.
At the time of an FCC inspection, they should each have had 27 of the issues/programs lists in their files, and each was 20 short.
The licensee, Western Slope Communications, said the lists existed but somehow wound up in Grand Junction and said they were immediately refiled properly at the correct stations.
The FCC was unmoved. In fact, it took the standard file violation fine of $10K and nudged it up to $12.5K for each station, for a grand total of $25K.
RBR-TVBR observation: Perhaps its time for the FCC to review its fine structure. Here we have two stations serving a rural, low-population area getting hung out to dry for what may have been a simple oversight – and an oversight that likely wasn’t noticed by anybody anywhere because nobody wanted to even look at the issues/program lists.
If these lists were in constant demand, that would be one thing, but most of the anecdotal evidence we’ve heard is to the effect that nobody ever inquires about a station’s public file, period, let alone the issues/programs lists specifically.
From what we hear and read, the most common interest in public files comes from watchdogs seeking information on political advertising, generally in large markets.
We believe that as a general rule, the people running small market radio stations are in it more out of a love of the business than out of any realistic hope of getting rich. And they are providing an important public service. On top of that, we would not be surprised if the $25K this combo is getting hit with constitutes a sizable portion of somebody’s annual income — such a fine certainly cannot be viewed as a small expense.
We recommend a study – how often are issues/programs lists accessed by the public? If the number of times is as small as we think it will be, that particular fine should be reduced commensurately, or perhaps the FCC should go further and eliminate the issues/programs requirement completely.
