Station back from the brink after missing license renewal

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St. Bonaventure University’s WSBU-FM is a student-run station, and that was the reason the station gave to explain its failure to gets its license renewal application in on time. But in this case, the deadline miss was spectacular – four years after expiration, the application was still AWOL and the FCC terminated the station.
The license expired 6/1/06, which means the application for renewal is due at the FCC four months prior, on 2/1/06.


Not only did the station not renew, it wasn’t even aware there was a problem until the FCC informed it on 9/28/10 that it was operating without authorization, and that the allocation was being deleted.

At that point, the station snapped into action – it applied for and received an STA to remain operating and finally applied for its new license.

It said that the station is student run, with massive turnover every year. The regime in control at the time failed to renew the license, and the FCC never followed up to let it know anything was amiss.

The FCC noted that there is no excuse of any kind for failing to renew the license. It hit WSBU with a $3K fine for failure to file the necessary form. The FCC also said that if it wished, it could hit the station with an additional $10K fine for prolonged unauthorized operation – but taking into account all the circumstances, it reduced that portion of the fine to $4K for a $7K total.

RBR-TVBR observation: That’s great that the kids are getting the full radio management experience at WSBU. However, you’d think there would be at least one faculty adviser or professional engineer who would make absolutely sure that all FCC matters are handled in a timely manner. It’s one thing to let the kids handle the mechanics of the station’s FCC obligations – but somebody who will be around the station for more than a couple of semesters has to take ultimate responsibility.

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