Two stations, one in a major market, the other in rural Alabama, are both are facing a similar outcome from investigations by the Federal Communications Commission. In the first case, the FCC is proposing an $8,000 fine against Spanish Broadcasting System’s “Mega 96.3” KXOL-FM Los Angeles for alleged contest rule violations.
The FCC review began after it received a complaint about KXOL’s “Mega Bomba” contest that aired between July and October 2019. A listener, who won a prize of $396, said SBS failed to comply with the rules of its own contest by taking too long to send the prizes to the winners. The contest rules posted on the station website said winners would get their prize within 30 days. But the listener said the money wasn’t received until May 2021.
In its response to the complaint, SBS admitted there was an “undue delay” in issuing the contest prizes within the promised timeframe. The broadcaster says it first had delays from the onset of the pandemic that transitioned its employees to a work-from-home setting. Further complicating matters, SBS says its corporate IT systems suffered a ransomware attack between Oct. 2020 and March 2021, and once it recovered from the attack, it lacked the staff needed to get the winner’s check quickly processed.
Under Commission rules, stations must “fully and accurately disclose the material terms” of a contest and conduct it “substantially as announced and advertised.” The rule book also says prizes “must be awarded promptly.”
Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan Egal says in the decision that SBS had already failed to meet the announced contest terms when it suddenly had to deal with the pandemic and the ransomware attack. Given the totality of the circumstances, Egal proposes an $8,000 fine for SBS – or double the minimum fine of $4,000 for violations related to station-conducted contests.
“The Commission has determined that large or highly profitable companies should expect to pay higher forfeitures for violations,” Egal writes in the decision. “Thus, to ensure that the forfeiture is an effective deterrent and not simply a cost of doing business for KXOL, an upward adjustment of the base forfeiture amount is further justified.”
SBS now has 30 days to pay the $8,000 fine or make a case for why it should be reduced or forgiven.
That can be an uphill task as Shelby Broadcast Associates has just demonstrated. The Commission has upheld a $16,500 fine that was proposed for alleged violations with the Tarrant, AL-licensed translator W252BE at 98.3 FM. The FCC says Shelby repeatedly operated the translator outside its licensed parameters between 2015 and 2018 without filing for special temporary authorization.
Shelby submitted its tax forms in an effort to show as a small broadcaster, the proposed fines were excessive. But the FCC was unconvinced. Audio Division Chief Albert Shuldiner points out in the order that Shelby has a pending $184,000 deal to sell the station. The fine is only 8.9% of the purchase price, he points out, which is within the amount previously deemed reasonable for penalties.
Rivera Communications filed a still-pending $184,000 deal to buy the translator from Shelby in 2020. Rivera already uses the signal to simulcast regional Mexican “La Jefa” WAYE/ WQCR (1220/1500).