Re: [IRCA] KXEL deserves a reprimand or license revocation

[Scott Fybush <scott@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Mike McKenna wrote:
> Having a back-up power system is NOT an FCC requirement.  They have a
> radio tower and a studio -- so they deserve a gold star -- not a
> fine. 

A gold star? Hardly.

If you're setting out to serve the public, emergency conditions like 
this are precisely when that service is most needed. Whether or not a 
generator is an FCC requirement, and it's not, there's still a higher 
expectation that a class A signal like KXEL will be prepared for the 
likelihood that at some point, it will lose utility power.

It's also just good business sense; the revenue KXEL is surely losing by 
not being on the air for a week must have far outweighed what a 
generator would have cost by now.

At least KXEL isn't an EAS LP-1 or LP-2 station for its region - though 
one of its sister FMs, KFMW 107.9, is, and I think it lost power as well.

Any radio station that wants to portray itself as a supplier of vital 
information to its community should make room in the budget for a backup 
supply of power to keep it on the air when its services are most needed. 
  You think the people of north central Iowa won't remember that KXEL 
was missing in action this week?

s
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