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FCC PSA POLICY
- Thread starter Dave943
- Start date
There was so much deregulation in the past 20 years and it is my understanding that at some point in time The FCC did away with regulating programming. That included the PSA requirement. I'm not very clear on Public Affairs and News requirements. I think they did away with those too. That is why you see the consolidation (sic) of News Departments. You know, the Tucson beat can be covered by our REGIONAL News Department in Los Angeles... but I digress...
About the only thing an FCC inspector will ask to see is your Public File (the one that has your license, letters, and proof that you addressed some local issues QUARTERLY!!!) and proof that the operator on duty (during normal business hours) can conduct an EAS test (soon to be a CAP test). Note that the FCC DOES NOT define NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS. It's a brave new world for Broadcasters and you can hear it in almost every market. A very cheaply run product.
About the only thing an FCC inspector will ask to see is your Public File (the one that has your license, letters, and proof that you addressed some local issues QUARTERLY!!!) and proof that the operator on duty (during normal business hours) can conduct an EAS test (soon to be a CAP test). Note that the FCC DOES NOT define NORMAL BUSINESS HOURS. It's a brave new world for Broadcasters and you can hear it in almost every market. A very cheaply run product.
radiowizard101 said:
In 1938, or 1948... and so on, a station's news commitment (whether voluntary or per the rules) could be met via the news delivered by its network from New York or Chicago. There never was a requirement for a local news department.
An FCC inspector in 1975 did not look at logs, PA, PSA, news and Other compliance. That was done via statements and the calculations based on the composite week back when a renewal was for 3 years, took 6 to 8 weeks of a manager's time, annoyed to no end every community leader and official in the area, and could be 5 to 10 lbs. of paper. An FCC inspected looked at the technical operation, including "good engineering practices" and, when they were mandated, the public file and the CONELRAD, EBS and EAS compliance. They also used to check if the meters were being read, whether all operators had the right class of license, whether there was a designated chief operator, and all the stuff like tower lights, fencing, no exposed ground radials, TPO, etc.
Today, the inspector does not "only" look at EAS and Public File compliance, although those are a given. They look at the overall technical operation, often going to transmitter sites if they are not co-located. The principal job of the FCC during an inspection is insuring technical compliance; the license renewal process takes... and took... care of any content issues that the FCC did take authority over.
Normal Business Hours is a pretty standard term. It would generally mean the times that the office is open to clients, vendors, listeners, etc. It would probably parallel the hours an insurance office or a law firm might be open, but variations could be established. For example, normal business hours at WUNO when I managed it were 8 to Noon and 2 to 5, as nearly all offices closed for lunch then.
The main reasons for scaling back news and PA were: the economy and the fact that most listeners did not a) want news on their music station and b) want PA programming, ever. "Serving" a community is not forcing things on listeners they don't want.
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