$17,500 Settlement for LPFM Underwriting Violation
Low-power FM broadcaster Tri-Cities Broadcasting Foundation agreed to pay a $17,500 penalty for violating the FCC’s underwriting rules and airing commercials, said a consent decree and order Tuesday. Tri-Cities’ station WAWL-LP Grand Haven, Michigan, broadcast the ads for over two…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
years, from 2018 to 2020, Tri-Cities admitted to the agency. The allegations came to light due to a petition to deny the station’s renewal application filed by another broadcaster, WGHN. The Media Bureau rejected WGHN’s petition to deny, including arguments that WAWL’s content wasn’t educational. “The Commission has made clear that it defers to a licensee’s editorial judgment as to what constitutes ‘educational’ programming, unless that judgment is arbitrary or unreasonable,” the bureau said. Under the consent decree, WAWL will be granted a short-term license renewal until 2024, and must implement a compliance plan and file a compliance report with the FCC.