Broadcast licenses expire – it’s a fact of life. On that day, it is important that broadcast stations have been approved for renewal. The two events cannot happen at the same time.
As a matter of fact, they do not happen particularly close to one another as a matter of timing.
The FCC requires four months to process a renewal application.
United Security Financial Inc. was late getting the process started for its KLLB-AM West Jordan UT.
Its license was set to expire 10/1/13, which made the application due date 6/1/13. The FCC did not receive it until 6/10/13.
B & H Broadcasting System’s KZRB-FM New Boston TX did pretty much the same thing. The expiration date was 8/1/13, which set the application due date at 4/1/13. The FCC didn’t get the application until 5/6/13.
The fine in each case is $1,500.
RBR+TVBR observation: At least the stations got the application in before the license expired. Had that not happened, the stations would have been operated without authorization, and the fine would have immediately jumped to $7K, most likely.
For pirates, the fine for that infraction is $10K, but the FCC recognizes that in this situation there has been some sort of oversight by a legitimate broadcaster and acknowledges that with the lower assessment.
