The FCC expects to see your license renewal application a full four months before the license expires. You know that, right? If your license is set to expire in three months and 29 days, and it isn’t February in a non-leap year, you just earned yourself a fine. It’ll go up dramatically if you don’t apply until after the license expires – then you’ll in essence be a spectrum pirate, operating without a license. Three licensees needed a reminder they didn’t get.
The Pribilof School District Board of Education, licensee of KUHB-FM in St. Paul AK, was hit for a $1.5K fine. It should have filed 10/5/05 in anticipation of its 2/5/06 expiration date, but didn’t get around to it until 12/6/05, without explanation for the lateness.
College Wesleyan Church, licensee of LPFM WIWU-LP, needed to get the application to the FCC no later than 4/1/04 to meet its 8/1/04 expiration, but it only beat the expiration date by a few days, getting it in 7/28/04. It claimed it was undergoing personnel changes at the time, but the FCC would not accept that as an excuse. How ever, in regard to an overall record of compliance and a precedent of leniency with LPFMs, the FCC knocked the fine down to $250.
Calvary Chapel (Church) of Menomonie is licensee of LPFM WRJF-LP Menomonie WI. It was supposed to file 8/1/04 for a 12/1/04 expiration date, but even missed 12/1/04, not getting in the application until 12/23/04. That resulted in a $7K late filing and unlicensed operation fine. But the LPFM leniency policy resulted in a reduction to $500.
RBR/TVBR observation: This is one of the simplest of all FCC rules to comply with, and it’s amazing how often we see stations getting nailed on it. And the LPFMs caught in this dragnet were very lucky indeed to get off as lightly as they did.
