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This week, the FCC designated for hearing the license renewal applications for a number of Alabama radio stations.

Why? Who better than noted Wilkinson Barker Knauer attorney David Oxenford to explain the situation.

Simply put, the stations owner has been convicted of felony ethics violations stemming from misconduct while he served in the Alabama legislature.

The hearing will determine the effect of those felony convictions on the character of the licensee to hold a broadcast license, Oxenford explains.

“The Communications Act requires that a broadcast licensee (and its owners) must have the requisite character to operate the station,” he says in a newly penned blog post at BroadcastLawBlog.com. “Character is reviewed whenever a party seeks to acquire a broadcast license, including when they file for the renewal of that license. In egregious circumstances, the FCC can even move to revoke the licenses held by a licensee outside of the license renewal process. Even the sale of a license by a party without the required character qualifications may be prohibited by the FCC, as the Commission does not want to see a wrongdoer profit from the disposition of what is seen as a government asset – the FCC license.”

Character has been defined by the FCC through numerous policy statements issued periodically over the last 50 years, and has been further refined by precedents established in individual cases. “This week’s case gives us the opportunity to look at what conduct the FCC considers in assessing the character of any broadcast application, and the factors that are reviewed in determining the impact of bad conduct on the ability of the applicant to hold an FCC license,” Oxenford notes.

While not at issue in this week’s case, perhaps the most common type of character issue that comes before the FCC relates to conduct before the agency itself. Oxenford says, “Misrepresentations or ‘lack of candor’ before the agency are serious offenses, as the FCC feels that it must be able to rely on the truthfulness of representations made to it by its licensees. As the FCC cannot verify every factual statement made in every application or other filing made before the agency, it considers it a serious offense if an applicant makes untrue or misleading statements to the Commission in any of its submissions to the agency.”

Similarly, he adds, compliance with the FCC’s own rules can be considered in a character context. “While the FCC generally recognizes that licensees are not perfect and can err in their compliance, a pattern of regulatory noncompliance can indicate that the applicant does not have the requisite character to be a licensee. In most cases, forfeitures will be imposed for simple violations of FCC rules, but more serious, repeated violations can lead to stiffer penalties or even the loss of a license.

Harder character questions are raised, as in this week’s case, by misconduct that occurs outside the FCC’s jurisdiction.

“In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the FCC arrived at a standard that is generally still used today, where the Commission considers not only broadcast and other media-related legal violations, but also felonies of any sort,” Oxenford says. “The Commission’s reasoning, as reiterated in this week’s decision, is that any serious crimes could indicate that an applicant cannot be trusted to follow FCC rules.”

FCC forms require applicants to list FCC character issues found in other cases, as well as all felonies, all media-related antitrust violations, fraudulent statements to another governmental unit, and any finding of discrimination. These legal matters need to be reported not just for the applicants, but for other businesses or activities in which the applicant’s principals have interests, Oxenford notes.

“In most cases, the FCC will not itself make the determination as to whether an individual violated some law or regulation, but instead will consider misconduct when it has been adjudicated by a court or other government agency,” he points out. “However, the FCC has left itself room to look at other egregious misconduct even if that conduct has not already been finally determined by a court or government tribunal.”

But in any case, whether it be a felony or any other misconduct, the fact that the conduct occurred does not in and of itself mean that someone is unfit to be a broadcast licensee.

“Instead, the FCC needs to weigh multiple factors to determine if the conduct is disqualifying,” Oxenford says. “The FCC will weigh factors including the willfulness of the conduct, the frequency of the conduct that led to the misconduct findings, how current the findings are, how serious the wrongdoing was, whether individuals with management authority over the stations were involved in the misconduct, whether there were efforts to rectify any wrongs that were done, the history of FCC compliance of the applicant, and whether there has been a rehabilitation of the applicant. This is a balancing process. An individual who was involved in some minor crime long ago, served his or her time, and has led a productive post-conviction career might not be disqualified from broadcast ownership. But other more recent crimes, or those that are particularly shocking to the conscience, can lead to a stigma for much longer periods.”

All of these factors are weighed through an administrative hearing, which as of November 2020 will largely be a paper-based process, rather than the previous approach of a live hearing before an FCC Administrative Law Judge.

“As with any area of FCC law, this article cannot cover the many nuances of the Commission’s policies in assessing the character of an applicant coming before it,” Oxenford concludes. “Suffice it to say that if an applicant, or any principal in an applicant, has had any issues in dealing with the FCC or any other legal trouble in any business or activity in which they are involved, consult counsel, as particular facts can make big differences in the outcome. Even in the most serious cases, there may be circumstances where a station can be sold or otherwise disposed of in a way to avoid a total loss that would arise from a lost license. It is a complex area that needs to be navigated carefully.”

MORE FROM THE RBR+TVBR ARCHIVES:

With Conviction Appeal Nixed, Former Alabama Politician Spins Stations Adam Jacobson By 2016, Mike Hubbard had built a sports radio and television network and enjoyed a successful political career as the first Republican Speaker of the House in Alabama in 136 years. Today, he’s embarking on a four-year jail sentence for ethics violations tied to his non-broadcast career. As such, he’s spinning his radio assets in a deal that’s bound to get a lot of attention.

As president of Stonecom Radio, President/GM Larry Stone oversees a group of four radio stations serving the Upper Cumberland region of Tennessee. Before that, he spent 17 years as an Executive Producer and game-day host of “Titans Radio,” the NFL’s Tennessee Titans Radio Network.

The broadcaster came to Tennessee in 1997 to build the new radio station group from the ground up. Now, he’s frustrated and has something to say about the state of the industry.

In short, Stone laments, “We are a crisis point in radio.’

And, his ire is fueled by recent flubs and frustration with syndication partners and networks his stations are aligned with.

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Thirty years ago this summer, a Class D AM licensed to Cambridge, Mass., was acquired by an individual who converted what had been a Gospel station to a blend of what is perhaps best-described as “light Adult Contemporary Oldies and instrumentals.”

Over time, the owner added an FM translator, and signals in Maine.

Now, an expansion to Cape Cod is in play, thanks to Langer Broadcasting.

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LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA. — Since the fiscal third quarter of 2020, The Walt Disney Co. has been, in the view of MoffettNathanson Senior Analyst Michael Nathanson, “essentially a tale of three different mice.”

Say what? It’s a metaphor for three profit segments Nathanson has closely examined, following Thursday’s release by Disney of its fiscal Q1 results — a performance that beat EPS and revenue estimates as Disney+ subscriber numbers soared to 94.9 million.

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The author is executive director of the National Federation of Community Broadcasters. NFCB commentaries are featured regularly at www.radioworld.com.

Commercial radio stations over the last week yanked tracks by country music superstar Morgan Wallen after his use of a racist slur went viral. Cumulus has ordered an end to radio hosts circulating election conspiracy theories that fueled the Jan. 6 riot led by extremists. WSMN firing Dianna Ploss over the summer is one of many instances of stations booting hosts for racist behavior. And, the radio industry has watched as more than a dozen noncommercial licensees have grappled the last few years with accusations by former and current staff of abuse by leadership and veteran hosts.

To their credit, many stations today are trying to do the right thing by making it clear they want to be inclusive. But making things better means also being transparent about how radio stations have contributed to the condition the nation finds itself in.

[Read: Community Broadcaster: DJing the Generational Divide]

Commercial radio’s sordid relationship with the racial line is no secret. Take, for example, WFUV this week documenting the history of what was known as Black radio. Let’s be clear though. Black radio then was a term that defined the industry that had to emerge for Black performers who were banned by larger radio stations that played white artists. What’s now the urban format was, not too many decades ago, called Black radio. Even as late as the 1990s, radio doing a pop format marginalized or entirely avoided Black artists and art forms, such as early hip-hop. More pervasively, as Danyel Smith points out, Americans’ perceptions of “crossover” music and performances were shaped by white acceptance of Black performers.

And let’s not even get into commercial talk radio, whose most prominent name, Rush Limbaugh, unleashed the floodgates of bigoted hucksterism that still influences local call-in shows.

For all its notions of mission, noncommercial radio has plenty of its own skeletons. Consider the many stations in the 1970s to 1990s that shelved longtime broadcasts of a traditionally Black art form, jazz, in favor of super-serving affluent white audiences. In this quest, stations wrung out virtually all color from their sound; it was bad enough that Chenjerai Kumanyika called out “public radio voice” in 2015. Considering the generations-long quest to cleanse public radio of its personality and culture, is it really any surprise prestige brands like WNYC became the poster children for terrible bosses and discrimination complaints? Stations to this day still struggle to create more equitable relationships with staff of color and make inroads in Black communities.

Obviously, radio is not at fault for all that ails the country. Yet we can’t have it both ways, demanding attention for positive work, but assigning blame elsewhere when radio contributes or has contributed negatively to public life by reinforcing prejudice. Radio has historically had the greatest reach of any media. At a time when accepting responsibility is becoming more common, we have a rare opportunity to be part of tendency that clears the air at last.

Still, there’s a contingent that says radio’s failures are in the past and people need to get over it. True vision in leadership, however, means acknowledging and apologizing for how business was done before, and striving to be more honest in correcting our errors. It also means openly talking about it, and sharing with audiences the steps you’re taking now to be an organization positioned to foster an equitable future. Scores of industries now understand this is a moment to atone and spark new relationships with our listeners.

 

The post Community Broadcaster: Has Radio Done Enough to Fix its Racist Past? appeared first on Radio World.

Problems with station political files continue to make the list of recent Media Bureau actions at the Federal Communications Commission.

It appears that the staff there is continuing to work its way through a long list of broadcasters that failed to maintain their online political files correctly.

You’ll recall that the FCC had announced consent decrees with six major broadcast companies last July and that it subsequently rattled off a series of additional settlements.

In recent days the commission has announced fresh consent decrees with Times-Citizen Communications Inc., Powell Broadcasting Co., Zimmer Radio Inc., Bott Communications Inc., River City Radio Inc., Maquoketa Broadcasting Co. and Trending Media Inc.

All are essentially the same: The broadcast owner files for a station license renewal but the Audio Division suspends the process because the online public files aren’t kept up. The licensee acknowledges this and promises to institute steps including appointing a compliance officer, creating a compliance plan and reporting back to the commission by a later date. The commission meanwhile acknowledges that the pandemic caused a dramatic reduction in ad revenues, causing the industry significant financial stress, and drops its investigation.

Money fines aren’t involved.

 

The post Public File Consent Decrees Multiply appeared first on Radio World.

Educational Media Foundation‘s quest to have a presence in nearly every U.S. radio market has been one of Radio’s big headlines of the last five years.

Now, EMF is ensuring its presence in two key Midwest locales.

BE SURE TO FOLLOW RBR+TVBR ON FACEBOOK!

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John Beck is iHeart’s new top guy in St. Louis. The company named the award-winning radio veteran as its market president in the gateway city.

Beck is the former senior VP at Emmis Communications, where he had oversight of several St. Louis stations.

Katy Pavelonis has been the acting market president and remains as SVP of sales.

A recipient of numerous broadcasting awards, Beck is a former president of the Missouri Broadcasters Association and now chairs its Legislative Affairs Committee; he’s also active in the National Association of Broadcasters, where he has been a board member and served on the NAB Executive Committee.

Beck launched his career at WFFM in Pittsburgh. He’ll report to Tony Coles, division president for iHeartMedia Markets Group. Coles praised Beck’s local ties and “deep roots in both the media and advertising communities.”

Send news about radio management and engineering job changes to radioworld@futurenet.com.

 

The post iHeart Tabs John Beck for Top Job in St. Louis appeared first on Radio World.

Spanish Broadcasting System has priced its offering of senior secured notes due 2026.

The media company focused on Hispanic consumers who prefer Spanish-language media says the notes will bear interest semi-annually at a rate of 9.75% per annum and were offered at par value.

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In the words of iHeartMedia Markets Group Division President Tony Coles, he’s “one of the most respected leaders in St. Louis,” with a track record of success and a “reputation for building a winning culture.”

Now, he’s a colleague, as a former longtime Emmis Communications leader in the Gateway City has been selected as Market President for iHeartMedia/St. Louis.

Taking the role, effective immediately: John Beck.

As Market President, Beck will work closely with the programming, business, and sales teams and oversee all of the station’s on-air and digital programming as well as create new revenue opportunities.

Beck was most recently SVP of Emmis Communications in St. Louis.

In January 2018, Emmis revealed that it was exiting St. Louis, one of its most profitable markets, for $60 million. Among the stations under Beck’s purview: Legendary Rocker KSHE-FM.

By the end of 2018, Beck had transitioned to radio station co-owner. As RBR+TVBR reported, Beck had teamed with Joe Schwartz and Dana Withers in the purchase of a group of stations serving Northern Arizona under the name Stone Canyon Radio and Marketing.

Beck remains best-known for his nearly 35 years at Emmis, which saw him not only lead KSHE-FM but also KIHT-FM (now KNOU-FM), KPNT-FM & KFTK-FM. He also had oversight of WRDA-FM 104.1 under Emmis ownership. Beck joined Emmis in March 1984 to oversee KSHE after some two years at Golden West Broadcasters’ KKCI-AM & FM in Kansas City. He began his career at WFFM in Pittsburgh

“I am thrilled to be working at iHeartMedia in the town I love,” Beck said. “I look forward to working with the local staff and leadership, several of whom I already know. iHeartMedia is an amazing company and I can’t wait to tell the story and find ways to use our stations to build and promote this awesome city and region that we call home.”

Throughout his esteemed decades-long career, Beck has also been honored with an array of awards, including being named one of America’s Top 10 Radio Managers by Radio Ink and receiving a Distinguished Broadcaster Award presented by the Missouri Broadcasters Association in 2002, as well as being named The Radio Wayne Market Manager of the Year by the Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB).

In addition, Beck is also heavily involved in his community, working closely with many non-profit businesses. Locally, until its reorganization in January 2021, he served on the board of the St. Louis Regional Chamber, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, The American Red Cross, Heat-Up & Cool Down St. Louis, The Foundation Board of St. Louis Children’s Hospital, the Magic House, Grace Hill, Character-Plus, the Downtown St. Louis Community Improvement District and the March of Dimes.

MIAMI — He joined Univision in 2006 as the Local Sales Manager for its Los Angeles media properties, following roles at Clear Channel Communications and its Katz Media Group.

Now, he being promoted to SVP/Audio Sales and Client Solutions as part of a retooling of what Univision Communications calls its “Uforia” audio content arm.

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A Mississippi station that wanted to raise power — and be a kind of test case for a proposed new FM class — won’t get that chance.

The Federal Communications Commission has turned down an application by Commander Communications Corp. for a rule waiver to upgrade its Class A station in Sharon, Miss.

Commander wanted to operate WRTM using parameters that another company, SSR Communications, has been urging the FCC to allow by creating Class C4, an intermediate FM class between existing Classes A and C3. The FCC has an open notice of inquiry on that question.

[Related: “C4 FM Proposal Stalls at FCC”]

WRTM asked to increase its effective radiated power from 4.6 kW to 9.2 kW to reach a larger audience. In addition to providing several technical arguments, Commander said approval of its application would provide the FCC with useful information about potential Class C4 facilities.

SSR Communications supported the idea as a kind of proof of concept of its idea.

But Commander needed a rule waiver because WRTM’s application didn’t satisfy minimum distance separation requirements from WNSL in Laurel, Miss. That station is owned by iHeartMedia, which opposed the request.

WRTM is a short-spaced station under rule section 73.215, which deals with contour protections for short-spaced assignments. WNSL is a fully spaced station under 73.207, which is about minimum distance separations between stations.

These rules mean that when WRTM calculates protected and interfering contour overlap, it must protect WNSL as though the latter were operating at the hypothetical maximum ERP and height above average terrain for its class rather than its actual predicted contours.

iHeart argued that such the fundamental questions at issue here should be handled through rulemaking, not through a waiver or as an interim measure.

It said that an “involuntary section 73.215 designation” is a “highly controversial aspect” of the Class C4 proposal that would preclude WNSL from later increasing power to its class maximum and that could limit its options to relocate that station. And further, if a waiver was in fact granted, iHeart said, the reduction in interference protection would essentially constitute an unsought license modification to its station.

Albert Shuldiner, chief of the Audio Division of the FCC Media Bureau, now has ruled against Commander, saying the request didn’t provide compelling reasons to justify a waiver.

Simply wanting to reach more potential listeners isn’t a sufficient reason for a waiver, he wrote.

Also, the FCC won’t consider a waiver based on the theory that a station cannot construct, or is unlikely to construct, maximum class facilities. Maximum class protection, he wrote, is not a waste of spectrum. “Rather, it serves the public interest by preserving interference-free service while providing flexibility for future site relocations and service improvements.”

Shuldiner’s ruling emphasized that designation under section 73.215 is voluntary. “We will not force WNSL to accept diminished protection based on Commander’s assessment of whether WNSL (or the tower owner) could or should have capitalized on previous opportunities to upgrade.”

He didn’t accept other arguments made by Commander. “Many stations seeking a similar upgrade also could claim they would not cause harm by avoiding displacing secondary service stations, changing their communities of license, causing predicted contour overlap or affecting television spectrum repacking,” he wrote.

Finally, he agreed with iHeart that creating a new class of FM station or reducing protections for stations operating below class maximums “should be the result of careful consideration of a complete rulemaking record, not implemented piecemeal through the waiver process or to allow for a ‘proof of concept’ of the Class C4 proposal.”

The post FCC Rejects a Class C4 “Test Case” appeared first on Radio World.

NEW YORK — Latina-owned digital media company Canela Media has launched “Canela News,” billed as “the first free live-streaming newscast for U.S. Latino cord cutters.”

It’s a Spanish-language daily newscast offering the latest headlines, sports reports, features on immigration, and other subjects of particular interest to Hispanics who prefer to consume content en español.

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In this Report and Order (Order), the Federal Communications Commission declines to adopt rules proposed in the Commission's 2015 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 30 FCC Rcd 6711 (2015) (2015 NPRM) in this proceeding and, therefore, terminates the proceeding. While the Commission continues to support unlicensed white space devices and wireless microphone user operations and continues to believe they serve important interests, based on the record of this proceeding and in light of other actions it has taken during the years since the rules were proposed, coupled with the increased burden that its 2015 proposal would place on the use by broadcasters of spectrum in the more consolidated TV band that now exists following the Incentive Auction, the Commission finds that the rules proposed in the 2015 NPRM would not serve the public interest. In reaching this conclusion, the Commission finds other actions it has taken since the 2015 NPRM to support white space devices and wireless microphones are the preferred avenues for the continued support of these services. Accordingly, the Commission terminates this docket.

Three public media companies are working together to train broadcasters to develop programming for podcasts.

PRX, PBS Kids and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced a new project called the Ready to Learn Podcast Accelerator, a podcast training and development program for producers looking to create educational content for children. The program will take place virtually over 16 weeks starting in May and run through September. As part of the program, five production teams will be chosen to develop and create family-friendly audio content through a processing- and skills-development podcast program that will touch on everything from preplanning through the production process.

Creators in the program will receive 16 weeks of virtual podcast training led by PRX, a nonprofit media company, in tandem with children’s programming experts from PBS Kids. That training will include workshops, webinars and intensive sessions focusing on concept development, audience, community engagement and production values. The selected groups will also receive $10,000 in funding to assist with production and operational expenses. The deadline to apply is March 19.

The three companies are encouraging production teams with a demonstrated level of interest in children’s storytelling and education media to apply. In addition, independent production teams, public media station teams or teams from U.S.-based media organizations are encouraged to submit new podcast ideas for the children’s media landscape, especially content that centers on diverse voices and communities.

Content may be submitted in any genre, but should center on introducing children ages 4–8 to the world of work. This includes exposure to a variety of career and job options as well as development of social and emotional and executive functions.

The application submission window is open through Friday, March 19. More information can be found at the program website here.

 

The post Public Media Companies Rally Together on Podcast Training appeared first on Radio World.

Bott Communications, Inc. enters into Consent Decree to Resolve Political File Investigation

License Revocation Proceeding for Radio Stations in the Auburn, AL Market

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