An AM station outside of Detroit has received a notice of violation from the FCC Enforcement Bureau concerning issues involving its EAS, station power and operating parameters.
The notice was sent to Vazquez Broadcasting Corp., the licensee of WSDS in Salem Township, Mich., after an agent inspected the station in July. The bureau told the station to write back with more information and to explain the alleged violations.
The FCC listed these concerns:
- At the time of the inspection, there was no station log available for inspection that included entries of EAS tests received, including the required weekly or monthly EAS tests from the Local Primary Stations and FEMA IPAWS. “Furthermore, the entries stored in the memory of the company’s EAS encoder/decoder, a Sage Digital ENDEC, were dated 1997.”
- The station was monitoring two Local Primary AM stations, but the Michigan State EAS Plan specifies that stations in Washtenaw-Lenawee Counties are required to monitor WEMU (89.1 FM) and WWWW (102.9 FM).
- The station was operating with 1104 Watts of power during the daytime, 36.6% more than the authorized daytime power of 808 Watts.
- The chief operator informed the agent that the station was incapable of operating within its nighttime parameters. “That night, the agent confirmed with measurements that the station continued to operate after sunset with its authorized daytime power and antenna pattern.” The FCC noted that the station had filed a reduced power notification in March that it would be operating with 200 Watts daytime and 1600 Watts at night due to transmitter issues, but said it failed to request Special Temporary Authority to operate at those levels for more than 30 days. (The station license is unusual in that its night power is higher than its day power.)
- The license requires the station to use a directional antenna, but “the antenna monitor was not fully operational and could not provide reliable phase and current readings for each tower in the station’s directional antenna array,” the bureau wrote.
The station airs a Spanish-language format called La Explosiva. According to its Wikipedia page and website, it simulcasts with WCAR(AM), a Birach Broadcasting station in another Detroit suburb.
Vazquez Broadcasting was instructed to reply within 20 days with more information including actions taken or planned to correct the issues.
