College Radio and the FCC Print E-mail


All college radio stations come under the jurisdiction of the Federal Communications Commission, and while they do allow these stations a little leeway, they also expect that universities will keep their station in line and keeping up with all the things usually required of any station.

It doesnt pay to run afoul of the FCC because they do pay attention and they can yank a license or impose some heft fines for infractions. This is something that Gaston College learned the hard way. The FCC requires that stations keep current public inspection files which contains any pending applications, ownership reports, programming lists, donor lists and more. Theres alot of paper work. Well, at Gaston they failed to make those available and public to someone who appeared and wanted to see them. Now the reason the man wanted to look at them was a little nefarious but it is
Something he was entitled to see. As it turned out, Gaston was keeping proper records, but their failure to show their files to someone who asked was a big no no. A mistake that cost them $8000 in fines from the FCC, who would have shut them down had they not paid the fine. One of the important aspects of learning about the broadcast industry isnt just what you hear on air. Its also about the business side too, and while Gaston was basically doing everything else right, what they failed to do was instruct the people who worked at the station about some basic procedures. Learning to comply with FCC rules is a very big part of any station.

Gaston got lucky. An anonymous benefactor stepped up to the plate and paid their fine for them. In this economy an $8000 mistake is one of those things that makes a university shut down a station.


 
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