The Federal Communications Commission’s new online public filing system launched June 24 for certain large market stations.
All stations must use it within two years. Cable television systems and operators of satellite radio and TV companies will also need to comply, with specific rules of their own.
What does this mean for your operation with respect to future deadlines and what needs to be done today?
Gregg Skall, an attorney at Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, has plenty of advice for broadcasters.
Speaking last week at the 2016 Radio Show in Nashville, Skall provided management strategies for their Local Public Inspection Files by focusing on content, retention windows and duplicated document storage requirements.
Skall opened his presentation by reminding commercial radio stations in the top 50 Nielsen markets and stations with five or more full-time employees that the time is now for online public files to be uploaded.
There’s a six-month grace period, so don’t panic. The balance of the files must be uploaded by Christmas Eve 2016. The process requires uses to indicate if they have transitioned to the online file.
Also needed as of today: new political files, new EEO annual public file reports, and getting ready for the Oct. 10 Issues Programs List.
For radio stations that don’t have five or more full-timers outside of the Nielsen top 50, in addition to all non-commercial radio stations, the deadline for uploading documents to the online public file is March 1, 2018.
Skall notes that the FCC will automatically transfer materials in FCC electronic databases and FCC-generated documents, while letters and e-mails from the public need not be uploaded but should be kept locally for 24 months.
Existing political file materials may be in a local physical or electronic file, and a voluntary upload to the public file is available.
Meanwhile, there are new requirements for what must appear in the public inspection file.
Every radio station’s file must include a station main studio address and phone number, an email for the designated individual to contact about the online file, and the location of the local public file.
