Chair Brendan Carr said last week that the Federal Communications Commission would use the license renewal process to enforce its public interest obligation rules. His comments came amid a discussion about several Disney television stations, but Carr said radio would also be under the microscope. That has quickly led to a move by the FCC, which has escalated its enforcement action against SPB\u2019s \u201cAwesome AM 980\u201d WABG Greenwood, MS. The Media Bureau has cut the station\u2019s license renewal to just one year after finding new rule violations that occurred days after a settlement with the agency.<\/p>\n
The FCC agreed to renew WABG\u2019s license as part of a consent decree that resolved the violations, including an unauthorized transfer of control and false statements to the agency. As Inside Radio<\/strong> reported last month<\/a>, the deal also imposed compliance obligations. It required SPB to implement a compliance plan, including appointing a compliance officer, adopt internal procedures, conduct staff training tied to FCC rules, and pay a $1,000 fine. The FCC also agreed to renew the station\u2019s license as part of the agreement.<\/p>\n But the Media Bureau alleges the station failed to upload a required quarterly issues\/programs list to its online public inspection file by the April 10 deadline included in the consent decree \u2014less than 10 days after the FCC approved the agreement resolving earlier compliance failures stemming from a 2015 ownership change. Because the lapse occurred after the April 1 consent decree, the Bureau treated it as a new violation, outside the scope of the earlier settlement. That allowed regulators to revisit the license renewal decision and modify their prior order.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is clear to us that the licensee\u2019s conduct has fallen far short of the standard of compliance\u2026 that would warrant routine license renewal,\u201d the Bureau said, pointing to what it described as a continuing \u201cpattern of noncompliance\u201d with the public file rule.<\/p>\n The FCC also elevated the significance of the violations, concluding they are \u201cserious\u201d under the Communications Act because missing issues\/programs lists limit both public oversight and the Bureau\u2019s ability to evaluate whether a station is serving its community.<\/p>\n As a result of the new violation \u2014 coming almost immediately after that settlement \u2014 the Bureau now says the station\u2019s compliance failures, taken together, constitute a pattern of abuse over multiple years, including conduct spanning more than a full license term.<\/p>\n \u201cWe conclude that a short-term license renewal is the appropriate sanction,\u201d Audio Division Chief Albert Shuldiner writes in the order<\/a>.<\/p>\n Even so, the FCC stopped short of designating the renewal for hearing or denying the application outright. Instead, it opted for a short-term renewal, limiting WABG\u2019s next license term to just one year.<\/p>\n The abbreviated term gives regulators an opportunity to revisit the station\u2019s performance in the near term and determine whether further action is warranted. \u201cThis limited renewal period will afford the Commission an opportunity to review the station\u2019s compliance,\u201d Shuldiner writes, \u201cand to take whatever corrective actions, if any, that may be warranted at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n