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Miss. LPFM Faces $1,500 Paperwork Fine

FCC upholds filing deadline despite a parent’s death

A low-power FM radio station in Mississippi faces a $1,500 fine from the Federal Communications Commission for failing to file for license renewal on time.

The station is WEHS in Eupora, Miss., licensed to Voice of Eupora. Its president told the FCC that his mother had been ill and subsequently died, which is why he’d been out of town for several months, causing the application to be filed more than two months late in April of 2020.

“Although we are sympathetic to the licensee’s president’s loss, we find that issuing a notice of apparent liability is still appropriate here,” the commission’s Audio Division ruled.

“The commission has long held that ‘licensees are responsible for the acts and omissions of their employees and independent contractors,’ and has consistently ‘refused to excuse licensees from forfeiture penalties where the actions of employees or independent contractors have resulted in violations.’ The licensee itself was ultimately responsible for ensuring it complied with the rules by filing a timely renewal application. It did not do so.”

The base penalty is $3,000 but the commission reduced it to $1,500 based on circumstances, including the fact that LPFMs are a secondary service.

The station has 30 days to pay or file a reply to the notice of apparent liability.

 

 

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