The FCC Media Bureau proposed a $6,500 forfeiture for an Alabama low-power TV station that continued to operate after its post-incentive auction displacement construction permit expired, said an order and notice of apparent liability for forfeiture Monday. WSFG-LD Berry, Alabama, and it’s licensee, the estate of Ettie Clarke, also didn’t file a timely license to cover the application, the order said. The displacement CP was issued in June 2018 and expired in June 2021 when no license to cover the application was filed, the order said. The license application was eventually filed in December. Construction was completed on schedule in fall 2018, but the station overlooked the need to submit the application, the order said. “It is well settled that administrative oversight is not an excuse for failure to comply with the Commission’s rules,” the order said.

The updates to technical radio rules approved by the FCC in February take effect April 18, said a public notice Friday in docket 21-263. The changes include eliminating a restriction on AM transmitter power levels, harmonizing rules for radio stations on U.S. borders with treaty obligations, and deleting outdated interference rules that applied only to stations in Alaska (see 2202170046).

The FCC Media Bureau identified tentative selectees in 19 groups of mutually exclusive (MX) applications for noncommercial educational FM construction permits from the November NCE window, said a public notice Friday. The selectees include Good News Broadcasting Group’s application for Pinon, Arizona; San Tan Educational Media’s application for Alma, Colorado; and Krh Educational Foundation’s application for Liberal, Kansas. The bureau made the choices using an analysis based on which applicant would provide a first or second NCE radio station to at least 10% of the population in the proposed service area if the service area has at least 2,000 people, and favors the applicant serving the most people, the PN said. Petitions to deny the applications of the selectees are due 30 days after the order is published in the Federal Register.

NAB’s filings before the FCC seeking relaxed ownership restrictions contradict the group’s arguments to Congress opposing the American Music Fairness Act’s proposed performance royalty, said the musicFIRST Coalition in an ex parte filing posted Thursday in docket 18-349. “If radio broadcasters have lost so much audience share that they need government intervention, the promotional value they claim to provide recording artists cannot be adequate compensation” for performers, said the coalition. NAB also argued broadcasters should be compensated for their content in support of the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, the coalition noted. “The musicFIRST Coalition agrees with the NAB that distributors should adequately compensate content providers. But what is good for the goose must be good for the gander.” The FCC “should not rely on a party’s arguments when that party contemporaneously makes contrary arguments to other federal policy makers,” the coalition said. NAB didn't comment.

The full FCC denied an appeal of the Media Bureau’s rejection of an informal objection to the sale of three Florida radio stations by a company that argued it was the victim of racial discrimination, said an order in Thursday’s Daily Digest. UOBN Broadcasting filed an application for review against a Jan. 26, 2021, Media Bureau decision approving the transfer of WGGG(AM) Gainesville, WMOP(AM) Ocala and a translator station from SportsTalk to Hitmaker Music Group. UOBN said it had an agreement with SportsTalk that included an option to buy the stations and that it was passed over because of racial discrimination, the order said. SportsTalk told the FCC it didn't have a contractual obligation to UOBN. The FCC dismissed UOBN’s appeal procedurally for raising new arguments that hadn’t been presented to the bureau, and also on the merits for not sufficiently showing that the matter was “tainted” by discrimination and for relying on laws against employment discrimination that don’t apply to the sale of a broadcast station. “We conclude that UOBN has failed to demonstrate that the Bureau erred,” the order said.

An “entirely voluntary” system of “designated hitter” multilingual emergency alerts (see 2203100067) “is not sufficient” to ensure that communities receive multilingual alerts, the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council told FCC Public Safety Bureau and Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau staff in a virtual meeting Thursday, according to an ex parte filing posted Tuesday in docket 21-346. A hybrid approach that combines a voluntary system with a “regulatory backstop” that assigns a station to be responsible for multilingual alerts in markets without volunteers would be more effective, MMTC said. The FCC would need to require notice in markets with a volunteer, and the FCC could hold lotteries for the assignment in markets without one, MMTC said. The FCC could also issue advisory letters approving designated hitter plans, the filing said.

News directors and “broadcasters on the sidelines” need to get involved now in ATSC 3.0-enhanced emergency alerts to prevent a government mandate, John Lawson, executive director of the Advanced Warning and Response Network Alliance, said on a webinar Tuesday hosted by Sinclair's One Media. That way, “even if someday the federal government steps in, at least it’ll be our idea,” Lawson said, comparing the possible future of advanced emergency information (AEI) to what happened with wireless emergency alerts. WEA rules have been “a long struggle” between industry and the government, and broadcasters need “a voluntary system,” Lawson said. He advocated for agreements between broadcasters and their local emergency managers to discuss the production and use of the more fulsome emergency information and media that could be utilized with 3.0. Recent FCC rulemakings and the Reliable Emergency Alert Distribution Improvement Act “revitalized” state emergency communications committees but not too much of the discussion is focused on older emergency information systems rather than the newer tech, Lawson said. The FCC has open proceedings on making the legacy emergency alert system more accessible and improving it (see 2112140062). Pete Sockett, Capitol Broadcasting director-engineering and operations, said there’s a great deal of misunderstanding about the difference between the EAS and the supplemental, more detailed emergency information that's the focus of discussions about AEI.

Comments on some channel substitution requests are due April 2, replies May 6, said Tuesday’s Federal Register. They include Gray Television’s request to shift WDTV Weston, West Virginia, from Channel 5 to 33 in docket 22-112, plus petitions from Scripps for stations in Montana: KBZK Bozeman from 27 to 13 in docket 22-114, KXLF-TV Butte from 5 to 15 in docket 22-115, KPAX–TV Missoula from 7 to 25 in docket 22-116, KTVH–DT Helena from 12 to 31 in docket 22-118, and KRTV Great Falls from 7 to 22 in docket 22-117.

The FCC Enforcement Bureau on Monday sent the first batch of equal employment opportunity audit letters for 2022, said a public notice that day. Each year, about 5% of all radio and TV stations are selected for EEO audits.

NAB launched an on-air and digital ad campaign against legislation that would create a performance royalty for radio stations, said an NAB blog post and news release Monday. The campaign against the American Music Fairness Act (see 2202020070) will begin running “immediately” and calls for listeners to “urge Congress to stand up for local radio.” “We want to educate our audiences about the damage performance fee legislation would have on radio and our ability to serve tens of millions of Americans every day,” said NAB Radio Board Chair and Salem Media CEO David Santrella in the blog post. Proponents of the performance fee argued it would be negligible for all but the largest radio groups, and radio stations pay performance fees in most of the rest of the world. “We anticipate the House Judiciary Committee, chaired by longtime performance tax proponent Jerry Nadler (NY-10), will consider and most likely pass this bill out of committee in the coming weeks,” said the blog post. “We want to make sure the listeners who rely on local radio understand how this legislation would impact their communities.”