Station hops EEO violation charge

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License renewal challenges continue to roll in to the FCC. This time the subject is noncommercial KUYI-FM Hotevilla AZ, licensed to The Hopi Foundation, which found itself subject to an informal objection from Rosanda Suetopka Thayer. She charged that the station engaged in discriminatory hiring and management practices, and failed to issue issue-responsive programming. She claimed the station hired a station manager without consulting the Hopi community and treated volunteer DJs abusively, among other things. The Hopi Foundation pointed out that as an entity with less than five employees, it is not subject to EEO regulations. Since the other charges were submitted without substantiation, the objection was denied.


RBR/TVBR observation: We’ve seen a steady trickle of these cases of late, and most are being shot down easily due to utterly inadequate challenges. The mystery in some cases, though, is why it seems to take so long to filter through the bureaucracy. This case dates back to 9/29/05. Is there any way to build in a mechanism in which an appropriate FCC staffer opens the challenge, sees its obvious deficiencies and sends it on its merry way to the rejected pile without letting months and years slip by?