In the late 2000s, he was an active buyer of radio stations. Among the stations acquired by Sima Birach and his Birach Broadcasting Corp. in that era is a Class B AM serving Little Rock with 5kw during daylight hours from 1 tower and 240 watts after dark from 2 towers.
Birach acquired the station in October 2007 along with a Tulsa AM in a $1.5 million deal brokered by John Pierce & Co. Now, that AM, which today has a FM translator bringing its Spanish-language programming some FM revitalization, is in the news. Why? An unauthorized period of silence and a OPIF filing deadline miss are set to cost Birach tens of thousands of dollars in FCC fines.
The matter involves KTUV-AM 1440 and FM translator K260DT at 99.9 MHz in Little Rock. Birach submitted license renewal applications to the Commissions. Informal objections to the renewals were filed by Oscar Reyes and Edward Vega.
It was in the objections that it became known to Audio Division Chief Albert Shuldiner for the first time that on March 6, 2020, KTUV and the translator went off the air due to “catastrophic failure of its transmitter.” The problem arose after the January 29, 2020 filing of its renewal application, and the Audio Division didn’t know about it until Reyes and Vega notified them — on May 20, 2020. Two days later, Birach responded by filing STA requests allowing KTUV and K260DT to remain silent.
This created a STA gap, as several days of non-broadcast activity were seen without a STA, in violation of FCC rules.
Meanwhile, Birach challenged the legitimacy of the objection, which the Audio Division tossed. Shuldiner and his team then focused on the facts: How many days were KTVU and K260DT dark outside of any STA period?
KTUV-AM resumed operations on July 29, 2020, while K260DT went back on the air on Sept. 25, 2020.
“Birach should have notified the FCC of the stations’ discontinued operations no later than March 17, 2020, but did not,” Shuldiner said. “Additionally, Birach should have filed requests for special temporary authority for each of the stations to remain silent on April 5,
2020. Birach did not seek such authority until May 22, 2020, after the stations’ discontinued operations were brought to our attention by Reyes.”
That resulted in a proposed forfeiture.
Meanwhile, the Audio Division’s team while reviewing the Online Public Inspection File (OPIF) for KTUV, found that Birach did not timely upload its issues/programs
lists for 2018 and the first and fourth quarters of 2019. In addition, the KTUV OPIF is missing an issues/programs list for the third quarter of 2019, and issues/programs lists for 2020 and the first, second and third quarters of 2021.
What does that mean for Birach?
The Commission’s Forfeiture Policy Statement and section 1.80(b)(10) of the Rules
establish a base forfeiture of $5,000 for unauthorized discontinuance of service, a base forfeiture amount of $3,000 for failure to file required forms or information, and a base forfeiture of $10,000 for violation of the public file rules.
Taking into consideration all of the factors it must consider in issuing a NALF, the total forfeiture proposed for Birach is $17,500.
What about the license renewal application? The Audio Division will grant it, so long as Birach submits a report to the Media Bureau regarding KTUV’s compliance with the FCC’s OPIF requirements.
Birach’s company is based in the Detroit area. Its properties include stations serving St. Louis and Toronto, via a daytime-only operation that uses a broadcast facility near Niagara Falls, N.Y.
