The licensee of an AM radio station at 1680 kHz serving Grand Rapids, Mich., has been issued a stern warning from the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau for its inability to provide an agent a copy of its Emergency Alert System logs during a February visit to the facility.
It’s the latest incident to involve Goodrich Radio LLC, parent of WPRR-AM in Ada, Michigan, and its FM translator serving Grand Rapids.
On February 25, an Enforcement Bureau agent from Columbia, Md., inspected the station. That visit saw the station’s chief operator unable to provide the agent the EAS logs; he stated that he was not maintaining them.
That’s a problem, as all broadcast stations are required to provide station logs upon request by FCC representatives.
This led Dave Dombrowski, Enforcement Bureau Regional Director for Region One, to write in a Notice of Violation, “As the nation’s emergency warning system, the Emergency Alert System is critical to public safety, and we recognize the vital role that broadcasters play in ensuring its success. The Commission takes seriously any violations of its rules implementing the EAS and expects full compliance from its regulatees. We also must investigate violations of other rules that apply to broadcast licensees.”
Goodrich has 20 days from May 30 to respond to the Notice of Violation.
WPRR was indirectly involved in an October 2024 consent decree that saw an improper change in the board of directors for an FM simulcast partner, WPRR-FM.
