Written by: Michael LeClair
4/18/2012 9:55 PM 

by Micheal LeClair

Today’s panel on EAS started out friendly but during discussion of the recent national test the tone became more threatening. Stung by the fact that perhaps a third of all broadcast stations have not yet reported their test results, FCC Chief, Policy Division, Thomas Beers threatened to go all NAL on negligent operators. “We shouldn’t have to beg for these reports,” said Beers.

Unfortunately, the FCC’s data collection method didn’t provide stations with electronic “receipts” last December. So some stations have now begun to worry about receiving a fine for not reporting. At least in one case it was recently reported on a listserv that a station received a notice from the FCC about a missing test submission which the engineer claims was actually filed.

Both sides have a point- the FCC graciously “indemnified” stations for any operational errors the national test may have discovered so they expect it’s only fair to get back an answer. At the same time stations have a right not to be fined for an improperly functioning collection system. Really.

In response to questions on how stations could ensure avoiding a fine, Beers let fly with the e-mail address of Timothy May who can check the database of information collected so far. So there you have it: timothy.may@fcc.gov.

Poor Tim- I’m not sure he asked for that.

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