The station’s calls bear his initials: L. Stanley Wall, owner of the Classic Hits/Weekend Oldies metro Pittsburgh area FM (Scottdale, PA) has been fined $7,500 in a forfeiture order for public file violations. On 4/16/10, an agent from the Enforcement Bureau’s Philadelphia office reviewed the materials in the Station’s public inspection file and found that the file did not contain any quarterly issues/programs lists for the current license term, i.e., it was missing fifteen quarters of issues/programs lists.
Said the Commission: “In response to a Letter of Inquiry issued by the Philadelphia Office, Wall admitted that the public inspection file did not contain the issues/programs lists on the day of the inspection, but stated that “[w]e could tell that a person or persons had gone through the file and that some items had been removed. . . .” Mr. Wall committed to “replacing the missing files that we had copies of and putting together new files for those items that we do not have copies of.” Mr. Wall further stated that, to avoid any problems in the future, the Station planned to make copies of major parts of the file for storage in another location.
On February 7, 2011, agents conducted a follow-up inspection with the Station’s manager at the Station’s main studio. The agent reviewed the materials in the Station’s public inspection file and found that the file only contained one issues/programs list (for 3rd Quarter 2010), i.e., it was now missing a total of seventeen quarters of issues/programs lists. In response to another Letter of Inquiry issued by the Philadelphia Office, Mr. Wall admitted that the public inspection file was missing quarterly issues/programs lists on the day of the inspection, but claimed that the missing lists had been moved to storage. Mr. Wall further claimed that many of the files in storage were lost or damaged when part of the roof on an adjoining building collapsed from the weight of snow. During the inspection on February 7, 2011, however, station employees did not inform the agent that the missing issues/programs lists had been moved to storage in another building or that those files may have been lost or damaged.”
On 5/17/11, the Philadelphia Office issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture (NAL) 11 in the amount of $15,000 to Wall for his failure to maintain and make available a complete public inspection file for the Station. Wall submitted a response to the NAL requesting a cancellation or reduction of the proposed forfeiture on the ground that the violation was not willful because the issues/programs lists were missing for reasons outside his control — a roof collapse and employee theft. In addition, Wall claims that a cancellation or reduction is warranted based on his history of compliance with the Rules and his inability to pay.
The Commission didn’t buy his story completely, but reduced the fine from $15,000.
