A New Issues/Programs List - Due In Your Public File by Tuesday, January 10th

Happy New Year! It's that time again for the first FCC regulatory responsibility of 2017. As we have notified you before, every broadcast licensee must place their issues and programs list in the station public file on a quarterly basis every January 10th, April 10th, July 10th and October 10th. The list must be comprised of "programs that have provided the stations most significant treatments of community issues" during the preceding three months. So, the January 2017 list will include community issues programs presented during October, November and December 2016.

Important as this responsibility has been in the past, it is now even more critical that it be performed responsibly and completely! Since last June, commercial radio stations in the top-50 Neilson markets with five or more full-time employees have been required to upload their public file, which includes these quarterly lists, to the FCC's online public file facility. And, by March 1st, 2018, ALL other radio stations, regardless of market or employee size, will be required to have all of their public file materials online. So we are only about a year away from the online requirement for everyone. At that time, all your issues and programs lists for the entire renewal period will be available community-wide, nationwide and even worldwide to all who wish to see them or examine them without you even knowing they were inspected. That includes public interest groups, the FCC enforcement staff and even your competitors. Remember, these lists must be maintained in the station's local public file together with all others for the remainder of the license renewal term.

How important is it? Well, as one example, a couple of stations in South Carolina gave this holiday gift to their licensee. Just a few days before Christmas, the FCC issued two notices of apparent liability for forfeiture to the licensee of a couple of South Carolina stations.

The Violation: Failure to have placed all the required issues/programs reports in the public file at the required time. Most of the reports were recreated, but several could not be located.

The Fine: $12,000 for one station and $10,000 for the other.

A review of the FCC's enforcement actions will reveal that issues/programs list violations are a major focus for the enforcement bureau. When all radio stations public files are online, the ability of the Bureau to monitor the content and timeliness of licensee issues/programs lists will be substantially greater. Accordingly, it is extremely important that the lists are done timely, carefully and with sufficient documentation.

Further guidance on the issues/programs list requirements can be found in prior articles from January 6th, 2015, September 30th, 2014, November 20th, 2012, May 25th, 2010, and June 1st, 2010.

This column is provided for general information purposes only and should not be relied upon as legal advice pertaining to any specific factual situation. Legal decisions should be made only after proper consultation with a legal professional of your choosing.