When it comes to notice of violations or a Notice of Apparent Liability from the FCC, Arizona-based Cortaro Broadcasting Corp. has become all-too familiar with their not-so-welcomed receipt.
Eleven years ago, it was charged with willfully and repeatedly failing to maintain a complete public inspection file. Now, it has been given a warning that two antenna structures in owns are non-compliant.
Cortaro is the owner of Antenna Structure Nos. 1242681 and 1242682 in Coolidge, Ariz. On March 28 and 29, agents of the Enforcement Bureau’s Los Angeles office inspected the towers.
At the time of the inspections, which was after sunset and before dawn, the agents observed that the required nighttime obstruction lighting was not illuminated.
The FCC requires the owner of an antenna structure to observe at least once in a 24-hour period if the lights are properly functioning.
During an interview with the registrant’s representative, the individual said that he was unaware of the requirement to observe the lights on a daily basis.
The Federal Aviation Administration is also required to get a report on any obstruction light outages. They never got one.
That may not fly with the Commission should a NAL be issued — the next possible step.
With the notice of violation, the FCC seeks additional information concerning the violations and any remedial actions taken. Cortaro must submit a written statement concerning this matter within 20 business days of release of the notice’s May 1 release; it was distributed by the Commission on Wednesday (5/17).
Cortaro is the licensee of Class B KCKY-AM in Coolidge, which uses the two towers for its 5kw daytime/1kw nighttime facility.
In March 2006, Cortaro received a $4,000 NAL for failing to maintain a complete public inspection file.
That’s a bit of an understatement.
On August 9, 2005, an agent of the Enforcement Bureau’s San Diego office conducted an inspection of the public inspection file for KCKY. The agent was informed during the inspection that there was in effect a local marketing agreement between KASA Radio Hogar Inc. and Cortaro. While examining the public inspection file, the agent observed that the KCKY public file had no copies of applications filed by Cortaro since 1983, no ownership report since 1990, no radio issues/programs lists since 1994, and no copies of any time brokerage agreements.
