Radio stations in limbo

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Yes / No / MaybeThe FCC recently released a list of radio stations that had not applied for license renewals and were running up on their license expiration date – in fact, this is being written 10/1/13 and that is the date in question. What is really in question is the next move for a station with an FCC problem and no functioning FCC to address it.


Included on the list were four FM stations, two AM stations and eight FM translators. One licensee was responsible for five of the violations.

And yes, these stations were already in violation of FCC rules, because the application for a license renewal is due no later than four full months prior to the expiration date. In the case of these stations, the application should have been in the FCC’s hands by 6/1/13.

A station that misses the filing deadline but beats the license expiration is guilty of failure to file a required form, and is generally liable for a fine of $3K.

A station that misses that date and the license expiration date more often than not continues to operate, and that would be considered unauthorized operation. If this act is perpetrated by an individual who was never licensed to operate on the given frequency it is considered spectrum piracy and carries a base fine of $10K. In cases involving this type of unauthorized operation, the FCC generally recognizes that the perpetrator did not set out to commandeer the airwaves and levies a $7K fine, which added to the $3K fine for failure to timely file a required form, works out to $10K.

If any of these licenses managed to get their applications in by 9/30/13, they will have saved themselves the $7K.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the event they did not get the renewal in prior to the government shutdown. While they should never have put themselves in this position in the first place, it is a fact that they have no way on earth to cure their malfeasance.

Here are the stations listed by the FCC as lacking a renewal application as of 9/30/13:
Call, Community of License, Licensee
K228CL Beatty, NV Donald W. Kaminski, Jr.
K288CU Hawthorne, NV Donald W. Kaminski, Jr.
K232BM Lida, NV Donald W. Kaminski, Jr.
K285BU Round Mountain, NV Donald W. Kaminski, Jr.
KHWK(FM) Tonopah, NV Donald W. Kaminski, Jr.
K280AA Myton, UT Duchesne County
KEQS(FM) Quartzsite, AZ E. Q. Scholars, Inc.
KFBR(FM) Gerlach, NV Friends Of Black Rock High Rock Inc.
K231BL Laramie, WY Laramie Plains Antenna TV Association, Inc.
K296BO Laramie, WY Laramie Plains Antenna TV Association, Inc.
KLYX(FM) Pioche, NV Lincoln County School District
KDEF(AM) Albuquerque, NM RAMH Corporation
KCRX(AM) Roswell, NM Rosendo Casarez, Jr.
K257AA Vernal, UT Uintah County