SE Idaho Station at Risk of Losing License

[seattlefollower]

This reminds me a bit of the threads above about AM stations in the Salt Lake area,
this station used to be non-commercial and held by a church, but it seems it was sold.
Idaho AM Station Faces FCC Hearing

[David]

The FCC's enforcement efforts (or lack of same) never cease to make me shake my head. A graveyard station in Idaho is at risk of losing its license for being silent 80% of the time over a 2 1/2 year period, yet KDYL and KMRI were reportedly broadcasting with full 10 kW day power for weeks or months at a time, and the FCC didn't do squat about it. KDYL has only been on the air once in the past two years and hasn't been approved for an STA, and the FCC just renewed their license last September. I recently read about an AM station in Las Vegas that got slapped with a NOV for having an unlocked gate on the fence which surrounds its tower, and an AM station in Oregon that was nailed by the FCC for broadcasting with full daytime power for only ONE HOUR after local sunset.


I can only conclude that A) The FCC picks and chooses which stations they're going to cite, or B) The FCC only responds to violations when someone files a complaint. There just doesn't seem to be a definitive answer as to why some radio stations get nailed by the FCC, and others break the rules for years and get away with it.

[CAwasinNJ]

B is the correct answer. The FCC operates on the assumption that all stations are going to do what they're supposed to and they don't routinely monitor stations for compliance.

Yes the extended periods of silence are a concern, but that isn't the only issue and I would argue isn't the most important one. The FCC doesn't specifically say it but they want to know if the licensee is lying to them. If they lied when they said they went back on the air with their licensed facilities before 1 year of silence then the license is expired and the station is deleted as a matter of law and none of the rest of it matters. Case closed.

As far as the comparisons to KMRI or KDYL, those have different circumstances. KMRI is the easier of the two between the legal wranglings and the destruction of the tower. KDYL is more of a problem. As far as I can see, I agree that they've never filed for an STA. In fact, they answered Yes to these questions on the renewal application:

• Licensee certifies that, during the preceding license term, the station has not been silent (or operating for less than its prescribed minimum operating hours) for any period of more than 30 days.
  
• Licensee certifies that the station is currently on the air broadcasting programming intended to be received by the public.
  

Without any evidence to the contrary, the FCC has to take the licensee's word.  And they did.  As I said at the top, there's an assumption that licensees follow the rules.  That's the only possible way the FCC can function.  They simply don't have the resources to actively police everyone.  It would be great if they did, but they don't.  If anyone had really cared they would have filed an objection to the renewal, but nobody did.  That's the answer to your question.  They have to somehow find out about a violation before anything will happen and they do not go out looking for them.