[continued from previous message]

that supporting documents had to be filed prior to the close of the window.
So it said the FCC should reject Full Potential’s fair distribution claim. (Full Potential did not file an opposition to the Open Sky petition.)

In this week’s ruling, the FCC has agreed with Open Sky. It said that after the close of the filing window, its staff had received an email from Full Potential’s engineer stating that he had experienced problems with the FCC’s LMS filing system, and asked to replace the original fair
distribution exhibit with a revised one. It said its staff misconstrued
this email as suggesting that LMS had not accepted the original fair distribution exhibit.  

“However, LMS had in fact accepted this exhibit, which was missing several population figures, and it is clear that FPM simply uploaded the incorrect attachment.”

The FCC says it has consistently rejected such post-window amendments that claim, for the first time, a fair distribution preference or which attempt
to correct population figures.

So, it now has conducted a new analysis and found that Open Sky Radio Corp.
is the tentative selectee for NCE MX Group 130.

As in all such cases, petitions to deny this decision must be filed within
30 days, after which the commission intends to grant a CP.

The post Open Sky Radio Wins MX Appeal in Mississippi appeared first on
Radio World.


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Two Stations Are Fined for Late Renewals

Posted: 19 May 2022 08:35 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/business-and-law/two-stations-are-fined-for-late-renewals


An AM radio station in Arizona and an LPFM in California are both facing
fines from the FCC for failure to file for license renewal on time.

Sonora Broadcasting, licensee of KAPR(AM) in Douglas, Ariz., has been
issued a $3,000 forfeiture. Its renewal was due by June 1, 2021, but wasn’t received until late September.

The commission says Sonora didn’t provide an explanation. In fact, when the commission issued a notice of apparent liability, the station neither asked
for reduction nor wrote back.

In a separate but similar case, Minds of Business Inc., licensee of
low-power FM station KMOB in Clearlake, Calif., has been fined $1,500. Its renewal application was due Aug. 1 of last year but not filed until late November. 

In this instance as well, the station didn’t explain and didn’t write back in response to an FCC NAL.

[See Our Business and Law Page]

The post Two Stations Are Fined for Late Renewals appeared first on Radio World.


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FCC Denies Appeals From Former Licensee of Canceled Las Vegas Station

Posted: 19 May 2022 08:23 AM PDT https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/business-and-law/fcc-denies-appeals-from-former-licensee-of-canceled-las-vegas-station


The Federal Communications Commission does not look favorably on an attempt
to thwart investigation of station violations, as it did in the case of
Chinese Voice of Golden City (CVGC), the former licensee of a low-power
station in Las Vegas. 

In November 2019, the Media Bureau alerted CVGC that its license for
station KQLS expired on Dec. 13, 2018, after the bureau learned that the station had been operating for more than a year at a spot different than
what was agreed upon. The licensee looks as though it “withheld material information … and made incorrect statements to the commission … when it repeatedly claimed that the station’s actual transmitter site was never changed,” the bureau said at the time. 

The result of that type of unauthorized action includes expiration of the license and deletion of call letters. 

In April 2021, the Enforcement Bureau sent a letter of inquiry to determine whether CVGC was continuing to operate its station. In response, in May
2021 CVGC filed a motion to quash the inquiry as well as a motion for investigative stay of the bureau’s inquiries into whether CVGC violated the Communications Act and FCC Rules by continuing to operate the station. CVGC also filed an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, arguing that its station license had not expired as the
FCC had determined. 

CVGC argued that when it submitted it appeal, neither the commission nor
the bureau had the right to investigate the allegations against CVGC any longer. The licensee also argued that the Enforcement Bureau did not have
the authority to respond to the licensee’s motions — including the motion to quash and the motion for investigative stay. 

But the commission said that the motion to quash and a subsequent
application for review were CVGC’s attempt to challenge the bureau’s authority to issue a letter of inquiry. An appellate court has
jurisdiction, the commission said, but only over the specific matters
before it. And so the court’s determination of whether the station’s license expired or not on Dec. 13, 2018, was a totally separate matter from
the enforcement investigation of CVGC’s conduct that occurred after it was informed that its licensed expired. 

[See Our Business and Law Page]

Even if the appeal to the court had still been pending, CVGC’s assumption
is wrong, the commission said, because the point is moot — at the time, the appeal was no longer pending. As a result, the commission dismissed the portions of the licensee’s application that challenged the bureau’s right to investigate the station as it waited for a ruling by the court. As a
result, the commission also rejected CVGC’s argument that its pending
appeal stripped the commission of its right to investigate the licensee’s post-expiration conduct. 

The commission also confirmed that the bureau properly dismissed CVGC’s motion to quash. 

The bureau denied those motions but CVGC persisted and filed an application
for review and a second motion for investigative stay.

The commission also disagreed with CVGC’s interpretation that its license should have been preserved as the commission reviewed the Media Bureau’s decision and review. But those kinds of protections apply when a licensee
is waiting for the review of a renewal application. And that does not apply here because CVGC never filed a renewal application. 

CVGC also argued that the Communications Act directs the commission to
“give great consideration and review before ordering a station off the air.” The FCC disagreed. That part of the act refers to continuing a
license that’s already in effect while a renewal application is pending. In the case of CVGC, no review was pending.

The commission went on to say that granting CVGC’s would in fact harm the public interest. “Were we to grant the application and suspend the letter
of inquiry, it would set a precedent that would enable an appellant in a licensing matter to avoid any scrutiny of its conduct,” the FCC said. “We will not do so.”

As a result, the commission moved to dismiss CVGC’s application for review and denied the motion for investigative stay. The FCC also ordered the
licensee to submit its response to the bureau’s letter within 14 days.

The post FCC Denies Appeals From Former Licensee of Canceled Las Vegas
Station appeared first on Radio World.

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