If you have an FCC issued license for a full power AM or FM radio station, you have a legal obligation to keep it on the air.\u00a0\u00a0 If you don’t, the FCC has the power to revoke your license.<\/p>\n
If something happens – beyond the control of the owner<\/strong><\/span> – the owner can file a request to remain silent while they work diligently to return the station to the air.\u00a0\u00a0 Examples of things the law intended would be<\/p>\n Things that would not<\/strong><\/span> have qualified before 2008, when the FCC noticeably relaxed the enforcement<\/p>\n The FCC has become selective on whether it accepts the “We’re broke” excuse to allow the station to stay off the air.\u00a0 If the FCC approves the request, it is for 180 days.\u00a0\u00a0 The Station can apply for an additional 180 days if they can demonstrate they are making tangible progress in resolving the reason for the station being off the air.<\/p>\n With that background, here is the “reason” WNGA-AM in Helen Georgia gave the FCC a week ago.\u00a0 About a month ago, the station proposed to move its transmitter, which has not yet been approved. \u00a0 The CAPS are the way the FCC database treats all text.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It’s 1978 and the world is running on PDP11s<\/p>\n “APPLICANT REQUESTS SPECIAL TEMPORARY AUTHORITY (STA) TO TEMPORARILY SUSPEND THE BROADCAST OPERATIONS OF WNGA(FM), CLERMONT, GEORGIA, OWING TO THE LICENSEE’S FINANCIAL CONCERNS<\/span>. WNGA WILL TEMPORARILY CEASE OPERATIONS AS OF AUGUST 10, 2011.<\/p>\n AN STA OF 180 DAYS IS REQUESTED, BY WHICH TIME APPLICANT ANTICIPATES BEING ABLE TO RESUME WNGA’S OPERATIONS. APPLICANT SUBMITS THAT A GRANT OF THIS STA REQUEST WILL SERVE THE PUBLIC INTEREST<\/strong> BY ALLOWING THE LICENSEE TO FOCUS ON ITS FINANCIAL CONCERNS IN AN EFFORT TO RETURN THE STATION TO LICENSED OPERATIONS AS EXPEDITIOUSLY AS POSSIBLE<\/span>.” So what they are saying is that It is better serving the public if the Radio Station stays off the air in the hope that some day it might be able to return to the air – rather than say…\u00a0 selling the station to someone who can afford to run it…<\/p>\n This is the same logic as “the fastest way to stimulate the economy is to give more checks to the unemployed” or “the best way to fight poverty is to give people food stamps”.<\/p>\n This owner already has several other stations that are silent for financial reasons.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This would be a prime candidate for Townsquare media to buy up<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you have an FCC issued license for a full power AM or FM radio station, you have a legal obligation to keep it on the air.\u00a0\u00a0 If you don’t, the FCC has the power to revoke your license. If … Continue reading \n
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