MMTC, LULAC Want FCC Action on Multilingual Alerting Before Hurricanes
The FCC should quickly convene radio industry leaders before the June 1 start of the 2020 hurricane season and ask them to pledge that stations will provide multilingual emergency information during the risky period, said the Multicultural Media, Telecom and…
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Internet Council and League of United Latin American Citizens in a joint letter to the FCC Tuesday. The start of storm season will force “coastal residents who must observe a COVID-19 stay-at-home order, and also a pre-hurricane evacuation order, to choose whether to risk death from sickness or whether to risk death from a hurricane,” they said. MMTC and LULAC want the FCC to encourage radio stations to adopt the “designated hitter” system the organizations pushed in the past (see 1906280054), where one outlet agrees to provide multilingual emergency content for an affected region. “Already it is becoming clear that by far the greatest impact of COVID-19 will be felt by multicultural communities,” the groups said. The FCC could provide an incentive by granting stations that volunteer as designated hitters an eight-year break on regulatory fees, the groups said.