Washington Beat

The Media Bureau is reminding all low power television and TV translator stations that the digital transition date — when stations must terminate all analog television operations — is fast approaching.

It's official. The association representing the interests of broadcast media translator stations will be holding a live, in-person convention next month in Salt Lake City.

Digital Alert Systems, the New York-based emergency communications product developer for broadcast media, has released its guidance ahead of the next National Periodic Test of the Emergency Alert System (EAS). That's scheduled for August 11 at 2:20pm Eastern, and all broadcast and cable operators must participate in the test.

A licensee of an FM translator serving Marion, Ind., has received a proposed fine from the FCC much like several other NALs issued within the last month. It shows that the FCC means business when it comes to filing deadlines -- and that it hopes to add to its coffers from tardy radio licensees.

One of the two leading Democratic voices on the influential House Energy & Commerce Committee -- the individual who oversees the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology -- has announced he will not seek re-election. As such, he will be saying goodbye to Capitol Hill in January 2023.

Not much has changed in its mission as Jack Mills has been elected to replace the retiring John Terrill as NTA President. As such, Mills will assume the leadership of an organization devoted to serving its members in the same way it always had. Only, it has a new name.

While the "AMFA" support is dwarfed by that of the "Local Radio Freedom Act," with NABOB and the former FEMA Administrator now supporting the LRFA, one advocate pushing for the bill's passage is calling for the board of directors of two of the nation's biggest radio broadcasting companies to discuss "how music creators should be paid when their songs are played on AM/FM radio."

As previously reported, the House Energy and Commerce Committee will be holding an FCC oversight hearing on Thursday, March 31. New information about the upcoming affair has been released.

The FCC's Administrative Law Judge is giving Marion Education Exchange exactly 20 days to respond to requests tied to a license revocation hearing that it's seemingly not heeded. The inaction even led the licensee's attorney — George M. Wolfe (pictured) — to withdraw as counsel.

Does the FCC have the power to adopt “new regulatory fee categories” on non-licensees that nonetheless “benefit” from the FCC’s regulatory efforts? Non-partisan Washington think tank TechFreedom says no, and it voiced its opinion in Reply Comments filed earlier this week with the Commission in opposition to its FY2022 regulatory fee proposal, which the NAB is vociferously against for their substantial rate hike.

On July 14, 2022, the Media Bureau issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NAL) in the amount of $6,500 to the licensee of a low-power television station offering religious programming to viewers in a small city to the north of Yakima, Wash., along Interstate 90. The facility is still paying a financial penalty for its transgressions, but it will be a smaller one.

Fletcher Heald & Hildreth partner Frank Montero sat alongside Gray Television SVP/Government Relations & Distribution Robert J. Folliard III, NAB Chief Legal Officer Rick Kaplan, and Beasley Media Group EVP/General Counsel Chris Ornelas at Wednesday's Forecast conference to share how what's happening Inside the Beltway is impacting broadcast media across the U.S.

Two new members of the FCC's Media Bureau leadership staff are being welcomed by the Commission. One is presently in the Office of Legislative Affairs. The other is a legal advisor to the Chief of the Media Bureau and has held the role since 2019.

A licensee of a group of low-power digital television stations all licensed to a rural Utah town popular with outdoor enthusiasts faces a sizable fine for its failure to file its license renewal applications in a timely manner.

In 1989, he purchased this AM, changing the format from Country to Blues, Gospel, and Soul Music. In his bio, Roosevelt Gremillion admits, “I didn’t know much about owning or operating a radio station, but I was willing to learn…I had no choice!” Now, Gremillion is learning another lesson.