Re: [IRCA] IRCA Digest, Vol 51, Issue 51

[Scott Fybush <scott@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Dennis Gibson wrote:

> So what is the staff there for? I guess if you do what they say you're 
> on your own and they can walk you right into a big fine. Oops; I forgot. 
> They call it a monetary forfeiture This is absolutely ridiculous.

It's not quite as simple as that. What the FCC is trying to avoid is 
having individual low-level staffers create policy precedents, 
intentionally or accidentally, through verbal interpretations of the rules.

By making sure everything that's legally binding is set down on paper, 
in public, the broadcasters who do play by the rules (you know, filing 
their renewal applications when they're due, for instance!) can have a 
clear understanding of just what those rules are, and what the 
consequences of breaking them will be.

That's not to say that the rules are always easy for a layman to 
understand, or that they're not sometimes still unclear or contradictory.

But it's my experience, over years of following FCC actions, that the 
Commission will bend over backwards to assist broadcasters who actually 
ask for help. Look at this case - WOLY was complaining that it couldn't 
file its renewal application electronically because it couldn't afford a 
computer, and even on the basis of that feeble excuse, the Commission 
said it would still have been willing to consider a waiver of the 
electronic filing requirement.

It's also been my experience that a good communications attorney is 
worth his/her weight in gold when dealing with the FCC. For a fairly 
modest retainer fee, even the cheapest communications lawyer would have 
made sure WOLY had filed its renewal application on time. Instead, the 
station faces a $10,000 fine...and the very real prospect that its 
license, an asset that's probably worth several hundred thousand 
dollars, will be gone for good.

If it seems like I have no sympathy for WOLY (especially because it's 
remained on the air, openly selling its airtime and presumably making a 
profit), well...yeah.

s

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