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Inspecting the public file

A few years ago, I was "just waiting for the right day" in downtown Chicago to stop in and place formal complaints in the public files
protesting the self-interference the addition of iboc made on these particular AMs.
Since then, the noise has been diminished some in the AM iboc mode, WGN and WLS have abandoned it.
I could still do this over at WBBM, as a CBS station they'll be one of the last iboc hissers.

If you can't get into a radio station for a tour, then ya can just grumble, " All right then. I need to inspect the public file."
Seems to be a good way to become unpopular at the station, if that's what one wants.
 
As I'm sure you understand, You do not put anything directly in the public file but the station IS required to put anything in the file like a letter of complaint it receives. Since most management at the stations never looks at their PF, you'd be wasting your effort to put it in yourself. The PF is usually maintained by some low level staffer who probably doesn't have any authority really. You cannot take anything out of the PF file either, thus someone is usually tasked to watchover you as you examine the file.
I've got to agree with you on the technical farce that's AM IBOC.
I've also got to agree with you that needless and repetitive demands to see the public file would make you unpopular, although you do have that right.
 
The plan was to have 2 copies of a letter, both addressed, but one to the FCC, then hand the station their copy personally, while
showing them the letter already addressed to the FCC.

> OPINION ALERT <
Reason I haven't done it is because I'm pretty sure iboc is a suicidally cynical "kill AM" move, and it would only please all the involved parties
who have no intention of stopping the destruction. I think they WANT AM to sound as bad as possible, as soon as possible.


>Opinion mode off <
 
Except for the smallest stations, an effort to harass by endless Public File requests will not bring pain to senior management or the licensee. It could make the day miserable for employees who are not responsible for and have no control over whatever motivated the harassment.
 
Tom Wells said:
The plan was to have 2 copies of a letter, both addressed, but one to the FCC, then hand the station their copy personally, while
showing them the letter already addressed to the FCC.
Click to expand...

The letter does not have to immediately be put in the public file. Like any letter, it has to be appropriate for the file, and a prudent time for management to review it would be allowed to pass. Instant insertion is not required.

In fact a station can exclude from the public file letters it feels are from "nutcases" and those that do not address legitimate issues relevent to the licensee. Otherwise, every mail and email requesting a song or participating in a contest or asking for commercial rates not related to politics, etc, would have to go there, too.

A rant about something that is not the station's doing, such as "Toyota should not be allowed to lie in its ads" would not be real material, and a rant against HD Radio, unless specific to the station as in "WXXX interferes with my reception of WYYY" would be classified by most as irrelevant. Some stations put just about anything in, others follow the guidances of legal counsel to exclude things that are not relevant.
 
Well, of course the complaint is that WXXX is interfering with WXXX. Let's keep that clear.
 
Tom Wells said:
Well, of course the complaint is that WXXX is interfering with WXXX. Let's keep that clear.
Click to expand...

I think that the fact that HD is authorized by the FCC puts letters to stations complaining about legal operation in the same category as angry DXer letters of the 60's insulting stations for starting 24 hour a day operation and thus blicking the chance to hear Australia on AM from Buffalo: crank letters.
 
But AM HD interferes hundreds of miles away. A local station next to a big 50kw clear channel station could be unlistenable at night because of IBUZ.
 
bilco said:
Boise and Nick, Sure someone could do that. There is nothing that says the station has to give them a place to sit down, or access to the bathroom, or anything else that makes their visit worth doing. The fee for copying might be increased by the wage of the person having to supervise the copying if that time was excessive and that would meet the feds definition of reasonable. Alan has it right. Most format changes are the result of much research, and/or caused by a failure in the existing format. In any event what counts is not the lines at the door but the numbers in the book. A hundred people at the door doesn't compare to ratings that represent several thousand listeners. Listeners, not harrassers. Odds are people with enough time to harass a station like that probably aren't customers of the advertisers anyway. Definately support the advertisers and mention that you heard it on such and such station. The client apprciates it, the salesmen appreciate it and the station gets better. Show up at activities, not just as prize pigs but to let the sponsor know you listen.
Bilco
Click to expand...

Go to a non-commercial station and you most likley will get nothing. I dropped in on one and it was missing entire portions. I staightened it out and gave them the responsibility of filling the issues part of the file when it was due quarterly along with te ownership report.
 
MickeyD said:
Go to a non-commercial station and you most likley will get nothing. I dropped in on one and it was missing entire portions. I staightened it out and gave them the responsibility of filling the issues part of the file when it was due quarterly along with te ownership report.
Click to expand...
The Feds hand out big fines for bad Public Inspection Files. You might have saved that Non-Comm big bucks. The FCC does not accept ignorance of the law as an excuse. They, rightfully so, expect anyone/group holding a license to know what they are required to do by law.
 
Lol! Yup. The Commission is perfect, ya know too. They don't make mistakes. Take, for example, a "station" in Alva, ok with the call KTTL. If they screw up as bad as this one is, they just ignore it... Forever. Too bad we, the Badddd 'ol broadcaster can't just ignore paperwork or even have one !!!! piece of paper missing. That's what I love about the fed Gestapo in general. They can excuse themselves from nearly everything but they dish out fines for meaningless garbage with a glee in their greedy little eyes.
 
The FCC never makes mistakes. The EAS and Public File are simply revenue sources for the FCC. They rarely send an engineer to inspect, they send to the stations a glorified clerk they call an "Agent"
 
Did I come in in the middle of a story? What's the KTTL deal?
 
Just tossed it in to show how the FCC is far from perfect themselves. They run around handing out fines for paperwork errors but cannot even keep their own house in order in lots of cases. Sorry for the confusion... Go look up KTTL sometime. It's the most convoluted thing I've ever seen. In limbo since the 80s and still no change. The FCC just buries their mistakes.
 
Nick said:
OKCRadioGuy said:
LOL! I like the idea of using the public file as a harrasment tool of a station that's hacked off their former audience. Now that's funny stuff! I can just imagine a line out the door of people looking through the public file... LOL!!
Click to expand...
I was at a protest of a station that flipped from alternative rock to CHR. The protest was on a freezing day in January with about 200 people present, right outside the studio. We all could have had a bigger impact if we had all demanded access to the public file at once. And also if we had written complaint letters to put in the public file.

In all seriousness, if LMAs and Time Brokerage Agreements are required to be placed in the public file for the duration of the license term, I'd like to inspect the public file of a certain LPTV station.
Click to expand...

Yet they still changed the format!
 
OKCRadioGuy said:
Just tossed it in to show how the FCC is far from perfect themselves. They run around handing out fines for paperwork errors but cannot even keep their own house in order in lots of cases. Sorry for the confusion... Go look up KTTL sometime. It's the most convoluted thing I've ever seen. In limbo since the 80s and still no change. The FCC just buries their mistakes.
Click to expand...
OK drop the other shoe. The FCC record shows a construction permit issued in 1988 yet they are not on the air apparently. A CP can be built as soon as it's received. I see some correspndence regarding meeting new reporting requirements in the early 2000's but nothing else other than a returned for defect transfer. What's the FCC delay? They have a CP. Has it been rescinded? Have they exceeded the time allowed to build. I forget what that was back then but today it's something like 3 years. What's up and why?
Bilco
 
I think the accepted it for filing after the thing expired. They operated it for years with no clear license as an lma to a commercial station. It's the most fast and loose thing I've ever seen. It's off the air currently from what I've been told.
 
Has anyone here inspected a public file before, or had theirs inspected? I'm going to inspect a public file tomorrow for the first time in my life, what should I expect and how should I go about requesting an inspection?
 
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