From WABG’s website The FCC has changed its mind and is taking harsher enforcement steps against an AM station in Mississippi. The case involves WABG in Greenwood, Miss., owned by SPB LLC. The Media Bureau recently had reached a consent decree with SPB to resolve an investigation into potential violations of the online public inspection file rule in connection with the station’s pending license renewal. SPB had agreed to pay a $1,000 “voluntary contribution” to the government and adopt a compliance plan. But now, just a month later, the bureau says that less than ten days after that decree was signed, the station failed to upload a quarterly issues and programs list to its OPIF by the required date. The bureau said it is treating this as a new and serious violation. So it has decided to renew the license for only one year, after which it can revisit the situation. “It is clear to us that the licensee’s conduct has fallen far short of the standard of compliance … that would warrant routine license renewal,” it wrote. It believes “these are willful and repeated violations, and when considered together, they constitute a pattern of abuse over a number of years.” 960 WABG(AM), “The Awesome AM,” in Greenwood runs 1 kW during the day from one tower and 500 watts at night from three towers. Bennie Wells is the station owner, listed officially under SPB LLC. The FCC wrote that that quarterly issues and programs lists “are a significant and representative indication that a licensee is providing substantial service to meet the needs and interests of its community” and that the rule “safeguards the public’s ability to assess the station’s service and to meaningfully participate in the station’s renewal process, and ensures the station’s accessibility to and nexus with its community to serve and respond to community programming needs.” [Read more Radio World coverage of business and law issues.] The post FCC Limits an AM’s License Renewal to One Year appeared first on Radio World. [TheTopNews] Read More.
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