Enforcement Bureau Fines Another LPFM Station for Underwriting Violations

Another Low Power FM station has signed a consent decree with the FCC Enforcement Bureau and agreed to pay a fine for violating the FCC’s rules prohibiting the broadcast of advertisements on noncommercial stations.

In this case, the Commission received a complaint alleging that the station broadcast prohibited advertisements and provided audio samples of advertisements allegedly broadcast and recorded on a single day.

In response, the Enforcement Bureau issued a letter of inquiry and in the LPFM station’s response, it admitted to airing 9 announcements with prohibited promotional references which employed comparative and/or qualitative language to describe products or services, calls to action and/or the solicitation of future contact, used pricing language and/or offered inducements to do business, and employed “menu listings” (e.g., excessive arrayal) of products or services.

In addition to agreeing to pay a fine of $10,000, the station also is required to establish a compliance plan and appoint a compliance officer.