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FCC rules
- Thread starter BigJimmy
- Start date
I do read some discussions where the exact definitions you just described are up for debate. The staff person and the management person can't be the same person? In this day of automation, there are some one-person stations in this country and I don't think it is a secret from the FCC.
And the term "main studio" is up for debate. Some of these one person stations apparently team up with a CPA, a lawyer, or maybe an insurance agent and the person sitting at the reception desk of the accounting firm, or the law firm or the insurance agency, or maybe even the small town library draw a paycheck from the station, but under a side arrangement is working primarily at the duties of the business or the library or whatever. The owner/manager needs to be able to be summonsed by telephone to "get your hiney over here post haste and meet with the FCC rep." In the meantime the 'receptionist' has possession of the public file and appropriate certificates which can be examined by the FCC rep while awaiting the arrival of management. I don't know if the reception office is considered the 'main studio' in this case, but it is likely that the automation machine, any room with a microphone for live or recorded preoduction may be in a bedroom of the manager/owners home, or in a garage or barn in his back yard. There may no space at the 'legal address of the public file" where a microphone actually exists.
We are still living with some rules written in another era that don't really fit today's reality.
And the term "main studio" is up for debate. Some of these one person stations apparently team up with a CPA, a lawyer, or maybe an insurance agent and the person sitting at the reception desk of the accounting firm, or the law firm or the insurance agency, or maybe even the small town library draw a paycheck from the station, but under a side arrangement is working primarily at the duties of the business or the library or whatever. The owner/manager needs to be able to be summonsed by telephone to "get your hiney over here post haste and meet with the FCC rep." In the meantime the 'receptionist' has possession of the public file and appropriate certificates which can be examined by the FCC rep while awaiting the arrival of management. I don't know if the reception office is considered the 'main studio' in this case, but it is likely that the automation machine, any room with a microphone for live or recorded preoduction may be in a bedroom of the manager/owners home, or in a garage or barn in his back yard. There may no space at the 'legal address of the public file" where a microphone actually exists.
We are still living with some rules written in another era that don't really fit today's reality.
It could be done that way--the FCC recognizes that the 'management' person might be out selling, or otherwise briefly out of the office--but he/she would need to be available to get back to the "main studio" when alerted the inspector is poking around. Supposedly, too, the main studio should have some kind of program origination equipment. The real focus is usually on the public file, so an office that is open during normal business hours and staffed with someone who can show an inspector the public file will kind of meet muster.
Finally, it helps if the FCC has the "main studio" address on file so they can find it when they come looking.
Finally, it helps if the FCC has the "main studio" address on file so they can find it when they come looking.
The old "classic" view of such a station that is small enough in its operation to worry about these issues is that something called "The Studio" would be a place that any civilian could look at a say: "Oh, I see, you could actually go on the air live... right here. A mic, a gain control, and a live "broadcast loop" to the transmitter from here."
In poking though web sites that last 10 years trying to figure out what LPFM is, and what it is like, and what can a commercial station that is in a small community.... (or serving a small sub-set of a metro area population) learn from these people. Stations with a flea-sized staff are probably made up of people who have day-jobs in the real world. The come home at night, or gather at some location in the back of some building somewhere, and "pre-record" content much like recording pod-casts. You could easily have 8 to 12 different people, each in their own location doing this, and all of them then using the Internet to dump these recorded segments into an automation machine working away in a miniature version of what computer people call a "lights-out facility" that seldom enjoys the smell of a human being.
In a station like that, why would the facility of the "main studio" be any more robust than the 8 or 12 locations being used on a regular, maybe daily, basis.
I am curious to know if anyone has attended a meeting where this kind of scenario was discussed with actual FCC people. When FCC folks come back from visiting some LPFM stations and some small, small town commercial stations, they must at the end of the day have a session over a cold brewskie in which they debate among themselves what is appropriate, and when some kind of citation should be written.
In poking though web sites that last 10 years trying to figure out what LPFM is, and what it is like, and what can a commercial station that is in a small community.... (or serving a small sub-set of a metro area population) learn from these people. Stations with a flea-sized staff are probably made up of people who have day-jobs in the real world. The come home at night, or gather at some location in the back of some building somewhere, and "pre-record" content much like recording pod-casts. You could easily have 8 to 12 different people, each in their own location doing this, and all of them then using the Internet to dump these recorded segments into an automation machine working away in a miniature version of what computer people call a "lights-out facility" that seldom enjoys the smell of a human being.
In a station like that, why would the facility of the "main studio" be any more robust than the 8 or 12 locations being used on a regular, maybe daily, basis.
I am curious to know if anyone has attended a meeting where this kind of scenario was discussed with actual FCC people. When FCC folks come back from visiting some LPFM stations and some small, small town commercial stations, they must at the end of the day have a session over a cold brewskie in which they debate among themselves what is appropriate, and when some kind of citation should be written.
All they are interested in is that stupid public file that no-one (besides the professional activists) gives a -- about. Rules for LPFM's on the public file are kind of vague, but for all other levels of stations, you darn well better have a public file with current quarterly "issues" lists or pay a big fine.
Hence the concept of a "studio" where the public can come in and read about all the important public affairs programs you run at 6 AM Sunday mornings.
Hence the concept of a "studio" where the public can come in and read about all the important public affairs programs you run at 6 AM Sunday mornings.
S
stevensonair
Guest
And you'd prefer what, a one-click renewal with no pretense of any community service obligations?
It is interesting here in the forums. We have a lot of messages by people wanting radio to be "like it was in the good old days". Usually that means they want a free-wheeling personality adlib-ing HIS way (girls were not all that welcome back in the day).
What get's lost in the conversation is the fact that the FCC hovered over some issues of station operation that also contributed to the sound. (I'm not talking about public files, tower lights and tower base fences. Some of what people want when they talk about the good ol' days includes an FCC that was kind of like your nosy aunt Martha at license renewal time. Nobody wants Aunt Martha back, but they want radio to have some components that went away when Aunt Martha moved to the nursing home.
What get's lost in the conversation is the fact that the FCC hovered over some issues of station operation that also contributed to the sound. (I'm not talking about public files, tower lights and tower base fences. Some of what people want when they talk about the good ol' days includes an FCC that was kind of like your nosy aunt Martha at license renewal time. Nobody wants Aunt Martha back, but they want radio to have some components that went away when Aunt Martha moved to the nursing home.
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