This is a very good article. Underwriting is pretty easy to understand. What is difficult to understand is the rules that are not written. I have always advised stations to keep far away from that line in the sand the FCC has drawn.
The 'menu selections' the FCC notes should be 4 or fewer items and 3 is even safer. WOBO was fined for 5 items although it was a 15 second announcement. The FCC does NOT say how many items is too many in their rules nor do they state a number that is too many when admonishing and/or fining a station.
The FCC does not say an Underwriting announcement cannot exceed 30 seconds, only that the chances increase for violating FCC Underwriting Rules the lengthier the spot gets. I advise stations to go with 10 seconds, ideally, and not more than 15 seconds. I like the 8 second unit best.
Underwriting rules make no indication that Underwriting Announcements cannot be 'produced', scripted, with sound effects or with music background. The rules are silent about that but the FCC does use this as a justification for a fine (although not the sole reason).
In one instance, the FCC, in admonishing a Low Power FM, stated the Underwriting Announcements had production values similar to commercial stations. Per the FCC your announcements should sound 'different' enough to determine it is not a commercial. In the same opinion, the FCC noted the Underwriting Units were played in sets of 3 and 4, four times an hour. They noted the frequency and quantity resembled commercial stations in the area and suggested not more than an average of 6 Underwriting Units in an hour (never seen that one used again). By the way, a State NPR ran 36 underwriting credits between national and local on All Things Considered. I surmise the number per hour is less important than the presentation. This itself is a joke. The average radio listener has no idea what the difference is between an Underwriting Announcement and a commercial. In fact, my mechanic's wife was ticked at the Contemporary Christian non-comm she listened to. She heard a competitor sponsor a weather forecast and called the station wanting to buy commercials. The receptionist answering the phone was not on the ball. She didn't put her on to the Underwriting desk but told her they didn't run commercials and she couldn't buy any on the station. The mechanic's wife thought she had been lied to. I explained that for her.
There are a few out there that give LPFMs a bad name by running full-blown commercials and seemingly get away with it for years. Of those I've kept track of, they got caught and were on a very, very short leash with the FCC. Most wound up getting fined after getting a pass the first time. Stations in Florida, West Virginia and Oklahoma come to mind. I tell stations commercial competitors will watch for compliance and many will report you when you don't. One Houston metro Christian LPFM cleaned up after running full-blown commercials and infomercials for businesses after they were warned by fellow broadcasters to adhere to the rules or there would be a complaint filed. They claimed ignorance. I didn't buy that excuse.
The FCC just doesn't strike the moment you err. They wait, watch and establish a pattern of non-compliance so they have you not on one announcement but many. In essence they have enough to nail you to the wall with many nails before they pull out the hammer. You might wiggle out of 1 but they have you on 9 more to be sure you have no wiggle room.
Underwriting is so easy to control. Radio stations can dictate what they will run. The commercial station I work for sold a package where a business got a mention. We dictated what they got. Nobody demanded more and they bought with the full understanding of what they bought. I have sold 'business card' underwriting (never telling the client of the restrictive language required). For example: Support comes from John Deaux Pest Control offering once a year fire ant control. John Deaux Pest Control 555-1212. That station concluded each Underwriting Announcement with 'more information available in the Business Directory on the station's website (we had been advised phone numbers and websites were hard for listeners to memorize). We defined a business card as your business name, contact info and what you offer. We pushed more you say the harder it is to remember, so be short, sweet and to the point for best results. I had people say 'do you just walk if they demand you include something borderline?'. Yes you do. A person that doesn't follow the rules there, likely won't in other areas as well. If it's not what they genuinely want, fine but normally it is a control issue. So you walk because nothing good will happen beyond that point if you don't.
The most amazing I have knowledge of: two LPFMs in a certain town: both at unauthorized towers, antennas mounted higher than licensed, both greatly over-powered and both running commercials complete with calls to action, pricing and such. They made each other mad and both turned the competitor in to the FCC. The FCC did visit and found all the described. Both stations were admonished and given 30 days to become compliant. In my opinion, both licenses should have been yanked. They must have been very cooperative with the FCC Agent.
