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Licensing of Radio
Stations: The FCC licenses low power (100W) FM radio noncommercial educational (NCE). NCE stations generally meet their operating expenses with contributions received from listeners and viewers. NCE stations may receive contributions from for-profit entities and are permitted to acknowledge these contributions or underwriting donations with announcements naming and generally describing the contributing party or donor. NCE stations cannot broadcast commercials or other promotional announcements on behalf of for-profit entities. New Stations: Before a party can build a new TV or radio station, it first must apply to the FCC for a construction permit. A construction permit authorizes it to build the station within a specified period of time. After the “permittee”) builds the station, it must file a license application in which it certifies that it has constructed the station consistent with the technical and other terms specified in its construction permit. Once the FCC grants the application, the permittee becomes a “licensee,” which authorizes the new licensee to operate for a stated period of time, up to eight years. Stations must renew their licenses before they expire. Broadcast Programming: Basic Law and Policy: The Constitution’s protection of free speech includes programming that may be objectionable to many viewers or listeners. The FCC cannot prevent the broadcast of any particular point of view. There are some restrictions on the material that a licensee can broadcast. These restrictions are discussed below. Licensee Discretion: The radio licensee generally has discretion to select what its station broadcasts and to otherwise determine how it can best serve its community of license. Broadcast licensees must periodically make available detailed information about the programming they air to meet the needs and problems of their communities, which can be found in each station’s public file. Criticism, Ridicule, and Humor Concerning Individuals, Groups, and Institutions: Freedom of speech protects programming that stereotypes or may otherwise offend people with regard to their religion, race, national background, gender, or other characteristics It also protects broadcasts that criticize or ridicule established customs and institutions, including the government and its officials. People must be free to say things that the majority may abhor, not only what most people may find tolerable or congenial. If you are offended by a station’s programming, make your concerns known in writing to the station licensee. Station licensees are not required to broadcast everything that is offered or otherwise suggested to them. Licensees have no obligation to allow any particular person or group to participate in a broadcast or to present that person or group’s remarks. Broadcast Programming: Law and Policy on Specific Kinds of Programming: Hoaxes and news distortion are subject to Commission regulation. Hoaxes. A “crime” is an act or omission that makes the offender subject to criminal punishment by law,. A “catastrophe” is a disaster or an imminent disaster involving violent or sudden events affecting the public. The broadcast by a station of false information concerning a crime or catastrophe if:
If a station airs a disclaimer before the broadcast that clearly characterizes the program as fiction and the disclaimer is presented in a reasonable manner under the circumstances, the program is presumed not to pose foreseeable public harm. News Distortion: Broadcast licensees may not intentionally distort the news. “Rigging or slanting the news is a most heinous act against the public interest.” Objectionable Programming: Inciting “Imminent Lawless Action "Inciting “Imminent Lawless Action” is:
Indecent Programming: Indecent Programming is defined as “language or material that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory organs or activities.” Obscene Material. Obscene material is not protected by the First Amendment and cannot be broadcast at any time. Obscene material must have all of the following three characteristics:
Indecent Material. Indecent material is protected by the First Amendment, so its broadcast cannot constitutionally be prohibited at all times. Profane Material is defined as program matter that includes language that is both “so grossly offensive to members of the public who actually hear it as to amount to a nuisance” and is sexual or excretory in nature or derived from such terms. The broadcast of indecent material or profane material is prohibited during times of the day when there is a reasonable risk that children may be in the audience, which the Commission has determined to be between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. How to File an Obscenity, Indecency, or Profanity Complaint. Complainants must provide certain information, including:
The fastest and easiest way to file a complaint on this or any other broadcast issue is to go to the FCC’s complaint page at https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us. Station Identification. Stations must air identification announcements when they sign on and off for the day. They must broadcast these announcements every hour, as close to the start of the hour as possible. Between the call letters and its community, the station may insert the name of the licensee, the station’s channel number, and/or its frequency. It may also include any additional community or communities, as long as it first names the community to which it is licensed by the FCC. Station-Conducted Contests. A station that broadcasts or advertises information about a contest that it conducts must fully and accurately disclose the material terms of the contest and must conduct the contest substantially as announced or advertised over-the-air or on the Internet. Contest descriptions may not be false, misleading, or deceptive with respect to any material term. The station conducting the contest must disclose material terms either through periodic disclosures broadcast on the station, or written disclosures on the station’s Internet website. Soliciting Funds. No federal law prohibits the broadcast by stations of requests for funds for legal purposes (including appeals by stations for contributions to meet their operating expenses), if the money or other contributions are used for the announced purposes. Broadcast of Telephone Conversations. Before broadcasting a telephone conversation live or recording a telephone conversation for later broadcast, a station must inform any party to the call of its intention to broadcast the conversation. However, that notification is not necessary when the other party knows that the conversation will be broadcast or this knowledge can be reasonably presumed, such as when the party is associated with the station (for example, as an employee or part-time reporter) or originates the call during a program during which the station customarily broadcasts the calls. Tobacco and Alcohol Advertising. Federal law prohibits the airing of advertising for cigarettes, little cigars, smokeless tobacco, and chewing tobacco on radio. Congress has not enacted any law prohibiting broadcast advertising of any kind of alcoholic beverage. The Local Public Inspection File Requirement to Maintain a Public Inspection File. Virtually all licensees and permittees of TV and radio stations and applicants for new broadcast stations are required to maintain records that must be made available for public inspection. LPFM stations do not have a public inspection file but are required to maintain a political file. Viewing the Public Inspection File. The public can access a station’s public inspection file at https://publicfiles.fcc.gov. Contents of the File. The items required to be in a station’s public file, the rule section requiring the filing, and the retention period for each item are listed below. Also included is a brief description of each item, but the description should not be relied upon in place of the underlying rules’ description of that item.
NCE stations that interrupt regular programming to conduct fundraising on behalf of a third-party non-profit organization pursuant to 73.503(e) (FM stations) or 73.621(f) (TV stations) must place in the public inspection file information regarding the fundraiser, including the date, time and duration of the fundraiser and name of the non-profit organization that benefited. Complaints or Comments About a Station Write directly to station management to comment on their broadcast service. If your concerns are not resolved, provide all the information the FCC needs to process your complaint about other broadcast matters is to fully complete an on-line complaint at https://consumercomplaints.fcc.gov/hc/en-us. You can also call in, e- mail or file your complaint in hard copy with the FCC’s Consumer Center in the following manner: Federal Communications Commission Fax: (202) 418-0232 Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau Telephone: (888) 225-5322 (voice) Consumer Inquiries and Complaints Division (888) 835-5322 (TTY) 45 L Street NE Email address: fccinfo@fcc.gov Washington, D.C. 20554 |
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