Beasley settles indecency cases

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It was just a few days ago that the FCC tossed out a bunch of allegations from a long-time protagonist who had accused Beasley Broadcast Group of retaliating against him for filing indecency complaints regarding WQAM-AM Miami. But Beasley wasn’t completely off the hook. It’s now settled indecency complaints against two stations.


It was back in November of 2004 that the FCC issued a notice of apparent liability (NAL) against Beasley for alleged indecency on WQAM, despite the lack of any tape or transcript of the broadcast to substantiate the complaint filed by a listener. The FCC has also been investigating one or more complaints about programming on WRXK-FM Ft. Myers-Naples. The NAL has now been dismissed, along with other complaints, and the FCC has granted the long-pending license renewal of WQAM.

Beasley, while not formally fined, has agreed to make a voluntary contribution of $85,000 to the US Treasury. The company will conduct training for all programming employees on the federal regulations against indecency. That’s to occur within 90 days, with annual refresher courses.

Should Beasley receive another NAL for indecency, it is required to suspend the employees involved and have them undergo remedial training. Then, if they’re allowed to return to the air, they must have a tape delay for live programming and a monitor assigned to prevent any indecent programming from making it onto the air.

“Subject to applicable law, including antitrust laws, Beasley will fully participate with representatives of the broadcast, cable, and satellite industries in any efforts that may emerge to develop a voluntary industry-wide response to programming violative of the Indecency Rules,” the consent decree states.