A licensee in the Golden State sought the license renewals for six stations in operates in rural communities largely underserved by Spanish-language media. During review and processing of the applications, Media Bureau staff uncovered an “OPIF” flub.
To resolve the failure to maintain program lists and issues in the stations’ online public inspection files during the relevant terms, a Consent Decree has been reached between the FCC and the licensee.
With a compliance plan put into effect, Hispanic Target Media will be able to move forward with the license renewals for the following California stations:
- KHMU-FM in Buttonwillow, west of Bakersfield
- KPQW-FM in Willows, serving Williams and communities north of Sacramento
- KUTM-FM in Kerman, serving communities west of Fresno
- KOHM-FM in Ridgecrest
- KHMJ-FM in Trona, northeast of Ridgecrest
- KEGT-FM in San Miguel, serving northern San Luis Obispo County
The Consent Decree includes the implementation of a compliance plan. Importantly, it negates any financial obligation payable to the U.S. Treasury, something relatively new under Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer’s administration. Until now, such OPIF violations have yielded small fines of $3,000, resulting in a boost to the FCC’s annual operating budget. COVID-19 pandemic revenue reduction at Radio is cited as one reason Consent Decrees with no financial penalty are now in vogue at the Commission.
Hispanic Target Media is headquartered in Yuma, Ariz., and is led by Francisco San Milian. Its legal counsel is Dan J. Alpert.
In a related matter, the license renewal of HTM’s KPQS-FM in Waterford, Calif., yielded an informal objection filed by Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church of Modesto, filed in January 2022.
The church objected to the application on the grounds that KPQS had been “basically off the year” for the 18-month period prior to January. Could the owner of the KPQS broadcast tower be the culprit? Nope.
On May 5, American Tower Corporation told the FCC that it terminated HTM’s lease on the tower it owns that was used by KPQS for non-payment in June 2021. American Tower later clarified that KPQS continued broadcasting from the ATC Tower during the lease dispute.
In written communication to the FCC, HTM said that the transmission problems in January 2022 resulted in a lack of broadcasting but, otherwise, KPQS had not been off the air.
While that matter was resolved and the Grace objection was denied, it, like its siblings, was also found to have failed to maintain issues and program lists in the KPQS OPIF.
