FCC Upholds $233,000 Fine Against Cumulus Media For Consent Decree Violations

Big Fine

The FCC has formally slapped four CUMULUS MEDIA subsidiaries with a $233,000 fine for violations of the FCC's sponsorship identification rules, and for failing to timely self-report the violations pursuant to its prior consent decree. The fine was originally proposed in 2019 (NET NEWS 8/6/2019). CUMULUS sought a reduction of the fine, but the Commission turned down the request and upheld the original fine determination.

The fine was levied against CUMULUS subsidiaries RADIO LICENSE HOLDING CBC, LLC (RADIO LICENSE), CUMULUS LICENSING LLC, RADIO LICENSE HOLDINGS LLC, and CUMULUS RADIO LLC, and covers violations at Hot AC WDVD and Country WDRQ (NEW COUNTRY 93.1)/DETROIT, Sports WTKA-A (THE TICKET 1050) and Country WWWW (102.9 W4 COUNTRY)/ANN ARBOR, Country WFBE (NASH FM 95.1) and Sports WTRX-A (SPORTS XTRA 1330)/FLINT, and News-Talk WMAC-A/MACON.

The 2016 Consent Decree required CUMULUS to pay a civil penalty, enter into a compliance plan, and report any noncompliance with the sponsorship identification rules within 15 calendar days after discovery of such noncompliance, but the Commission says that seven CUMULUS stations subsequently violated the rule on 26 occasions while the company waited nearly eight months before reporting some of the violations. CUMULUS contended that the FCC should not have applied its upward adjustment factors to the base $104,000 fine amount, inappropriately considered past violations (under pre-transfer management) in setting the fine amount, and should have taken into consideration CUMULUS' standing in the business, record of compliance, and corrective actions. It also claimed that it is a "drastically different organization" than when the violations occurred, but the Commission noted that the company's "core senior management remained unchanged by the transfer of control."

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