Dates to Remember
March 9, 2025
Daylight savings time begins; AM daytime-only ra... Read More
March 9, 2025 Daylight savings time begins; AM daytime-only radio stations or those operating with pre-sunrise and post-sunset authority should check their licenses or PSRA-PSSA authorizations to be sure they are operating during authorized hours April 1, 2025 Radio and TV Stations located in Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Texas, Delaware, and Pennsylvania: if five (5) full […]
Read More →New FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has continued to venture into new territory on several fronts, and all broadcasters should be paying close attention. After ending the FCC’s DEI practices on his first full day as FCC Chairman, Carr recently sent a letter and announced on social media that the DEI practices of NBC Universal and […]
Read More →One week after Senator Marsha Blackburn raised a payola concern in a letter to the FCC, the Enforcement Bureau issued a February 6 advisory to all broadcasters warning about compliance with its payola rules and a related criminal federal statute. The Advisory suggested that stations might be engaging in “covert manipulation of airplay” based on […]
Read More →A recent hearing on the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on the legitimacy of the FCC decision reinstating EEO Form 395-B to collect employee ethnicity, race and gender shed very little light on whether the form itself will survive judicial scrutiny. The FCC conceded during the hearing that the addition of a “non-binary” gender […]
Read More →Yesterday, the FCC voted to open a new proceeding to re-look at its current rules on preventing the airing of commercials on TV stations, cable, and satellite that are excessively loud compared to normal programming. The FCC first adopted loud commercial prevention rules in 2012 after Congress adopted the CALM Act. While complaints about loud […]
Read More →Less than thirty days into the new administration, a common phrase keeps surfacing – the public interest. FCC licenses come with a built-in legal requirement to conduct broadcast operations in the “public interest, convenience, and necessity.” But Congress, the FCC and the courts have never adopted a precise definition of the public interest standard. Basically, […]
Read More →February 1, 2025 Radio and TV Stations located in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, New Jersey and New York: if five (5) full time employee threshold is met, prepare EEO public file report covering the period from February 1, 2024 to January 31, 2025, upload it to the station online public inspection file and […]
Read More →New FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has had a very busy first eleven days in office, issuing a flurry of notices, announcements, letters and other statements. In response to President Trump’s Executive Order eliminating government diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and policies, Chairman Carr issued a public notice eliminating all FCC DEI initiatives undertaken by […]
Read More →President Trump has nominated Olivia Trusty to fill the vacant FCC Commissioner position created by the resignation of Jessica Rosenworcel. Trusty’s nomination has been praised by all four current Commissioners and numerous other government officials and individuals familiar with her experience. Trusty’s prior experience as Senate Commerce Committee Policy Director provides her with unique insight […]
Read More →At numerous points during the month of January, the FCC’s online license management system (LMS) used in the filing and granting of applications and reports by broadcasters was either unavailable or operated with large latencies. As of this writing, the FCC had not extended any filing deadlines. The FCC’s online public file (OPIF) system was […]
Read More →
