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                            Before the
                Federal Communications Commission
                      Washington, D.C. 20554

In the Matter of                 )
                                 )
King Broadcasting Company        )    File Number:  EB-01-DV-003
                                 )    NAL/Acct. No. 200232800007
Licensee of Station KBIM(AM)     )    FRN  0005-0019-46
Roswell, New Mexico              )
Facility ID #34871               )


              NOTICE OF APPARENT LIABILITY FOR FORFEITURE

                                             Released:  June 14, 2002

By the District Director, Denver Office, Enforcement Bureau:


                         I.  INTRODUCTION

     1. In this Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture ("NAL"), 
we find that King Broadcasting Company ("King"), licensee of station 
KBIM, Roswell, New Mexico, apparently willfully violated Sections 
73.49, 73.1350 and 73.1400 of the Commission's Rules ("Rules") by 
failing to provide an effective enclosure for the station's antenna 
structure and failing to establish monitoring procedures to ensure 
compliance with authorized operating power, mode of operation and AM 
directional system parameters.  We further find that King apparently 
willfully and repeatedly violated 73.1560 of the Commission's Rules1 
by exceeding nighttime power levels and operating with an improper 
mode of operation.  We conclude, pursuant to Section 503(b) of the 
Communications Act of 1934, as amended ("Act"),2  that King is 
apparently liable for a forfeiture in the amount of twenty-one 
thousand dollars ($21,000).


                         II.  BACKGROUND

     2. On December 8, 2000, the Federal Communications Commission's 
("FCC") Denver Office received a case referral from the FCC 
Enforcement Bureau's Technical and Public Safety Division, regarding a 
complaint alleging that station KBIM(AM) was causing interference to 
station KPOF(AM) in Denver, Colorado.  Station KBIM is authorized to 
operate on frequency 910 kHz with a nominal daytime power of 5,000 
watts using a non-directional antenna and with a nominal nighttime 
power of 500 watts using a directional antenna.1  According to the 
terms of the license, the average hours of sunset and sunrise for May 
2001, during which KBIM was required to operate pursuant to its 
nighttime authority, were 7:45 p.m. until 6:00 a.m. for advanced 
Mountain Daylight Time ("MDT") time.

     3. On May 20 and 21, 2001, an Agent from the Denver Office 
monitored the on-air signal of KBIM. During the period of 
approximately 5:10 p.m. MDT on May 20, 2001 to 8:58 a.m. MDT on May 
21, 2001, the Denver Office Agent took numerous field strength 
measurements at or near the three licensed monitoring points and at 
other specified locations.  The Agent observed no changes in power 
level or mode of operation during this period. 

     4. On May 21, 2001, the Denver Office Agent inspected the KBIM 
broadcast station at 1301 North Main Street, Roswell, New Mexico, and 
the KBIM transmitter site near Berrendo Road and U.S. Highways 70 and 
85 near Roswell, New Mexico.  The inspection revealed KBIM was 
operating with a 1,000 watt auxiliary transmitter because the 5,000 
watt main transmitter was off-the-air for repair.  KBIM's contract 
engineer stated that the station had operated at a power level of 
approximately 1,050 watts for daytime and nighttime operations for an 
unspecified period.  No logs were available showing power checks and 
mode of operation changes since March 11, 2001.  The CRL System 
Sequencer used for automated and unattended changes of daytime and 
nighttime power and mode of operation was turned off.  The Sine 
Systems remote control system was not properly programmed to advise 
station personnel of any out-of-tolerance condition related to power 
changes, mode of operation changes or directional antenna parameter 
monitoring.  The station had no established monitoring procedures or 
schedules to determine compliance with operating power, mode of 
operation, or directional antenna parameter monitoring and station 
personnel had failed to perform periodic complete inspections of the 
transmitting system.

     5. The inspection of KBIM's three antenna structures revealed 
that the protective base fence around the South #1 tower was broken 
and several wooden pickets were missing which enabled access to the 
radiating tower.

     6. On December 28, 2001, the Denver Office issued a Notice of 
Violation ("NOV") to King for the violations detected on May 20 and 
May 21, 2001, including among others, the failure to comply with the 
station's authorized directional parameters and power levels, failure 
to maintain transmitter control and inadequate base fencing.  On 
January 11, 2002, King submitted a reply to the NOV.  King stated that 
KBIM operated outside authorized tolerances and failed to change power 
and antenna patterns as required by its license because the station 
main transmitter had failed and the station was operating with a 1,000 
watt auxiliary transmitter that could not be remotely controlled.  
King noted that subsequent to the inspection, a new solid state AM 
transmitter was installed that was capable of full daytime power of 
5,000 watts and nighttime power of 500 watts.  The output power of the 
auxiliary transmitter was permanently lowered to 500 watts to serve as 
a back-up. The remote control system was programmed with the proper 
commands for sunrise and sunset specified on the station's 
authorization and an uninterruptable power supply was installed for 
the remote control.  The old wooden fence was replaced with a new 
chain link fence with locked gates.  Regular transmission system 
inspections were instituted and steps were taken to correct the other 
rule violations noted in the NOV.  


                            III. DISCUSSION

     7. Section 503(b) of the Act provides that any person who 
willfully and repeatedly fails to comply substantially with the terms 
and conditions of any license, or willfully and repeatedly fails to 
comply with any of the provisions of the Act or of any rule, 
regulation or order issued by the Commission thereunder, shall be 
liable for a forfeiture penalty.4  The term "willful" as used in 
Section 503(b) has been interpreted to mean simply that the acts or 
omissions are committed knowingly.5  

     8. A broadcast station licensee is responsible for maintaining 
and operating the station in compliance with the technical rules and 
in accordance with the terms of the station license.  Licensees must 
maintain and control operating parameters such as output power, level 
of modulation and directional pattern. In particular, Section 
73.1350(c)(1) of the Rules states in part that, "[m]onitoring 
procedures and schedules must enable the licensee to determine 
compliance with §73.1560 regarding operating power, and AM mode of 
operation . . . and §73.69 regarding the parameters of an AM 
directional system."  Section 73.1400 of the Rules states in part 
that, "[t]he licensee of an AM . . . station is responsible for 
assuring that at all times the station operates within tolerance 
specified by applicable technical rules contained in this part and in 
accordance with the terms of the station authorization. . . . ."  
Section 73.1560(a) of the Rules states in part that, "[t] he antenna 
input power of an AM station as determined by the procedures specified 
in §73.51 must be maintained as near as is practicable to the 
authorized antenna input power and may not be less than 90% nor more 
than 105% of the authorized power . . . whenever the transmitter of an 
AM station cannot be placed into the specified operating mode at the 
time required, transmissions must be immediately terminated . . . ." 

     9. On May 20 and May 21, 2001, KBIM failed to change to the 
proper mode of operation at night.  KBIM exceeded nighttime power 
limits by over 200% and operated a non-directional antenna during 
nighttime when a directional antenna was required.  In addition, 
KBIM's directional antenna parameters were out-of-tolerance.  The 
remote control system failed to properly detect out-of-tolerance 
conditions on daytime and nighttime power levels, proper modes of 
operation and directional antenna parameters.  KBIM had no established 
monitoring schedules or procedures to determine compliance with 
operating power, mode of operation, and parameters of the AM 
directional system, was unable to identify when the last complete 
transmitting system inspection had been conducted and no chief 
operator review of station logs were observed for the period March 11 
through May 19, 2001.

    10. Section 73.49 of the Rules states in part that "[a]ntenna 
towers having radio frequency potential at the base (series fed, 
folded unipole, and insulated base antennas) must be enclosed within 
effective locked fences or other enclosures."  KBIM's license 
describes the antenna system as a series excited vertical radiator.  A 
"series excited" radiator may also be described as a "series fed" 
radiator.  The AM transmission fencing requirements thus apply to 
station KBIM.  On May 21, 2001, an inspection of KBIM's three antenna 
structures revealed that the South #1 tower's protective base fence 
was broken and several wooden pickets were missing which enabled 
access to the radiating tower.  Effective base fencing is an important 
safety requirement.  AM series fed antenna structures radiate energy 
that renders any physical contact with the antenna structure itself 
extremely dangerous.  In addition, AM antenna structures are capable 
of generating radio frequency fields at the base of the antenna 
structure that may exceed the Commission's maximum permissible 
exposure guidelines.  Effective base fencing is thus important to 
prevent possible contact with the radiating structure and excessive 
radio frequency radiation exposure.

    11.  Based on the evidence before us, we find that King willfully 
violated Sections 73.49, 73.1350, and 73.1400 of the Commission's 
Rules by (1) failing to provide an effective locked fence enclosing 
the station's antenna structure and (2) failing to establish 
monitoring procedures to ensure compliance with authorized operating 
power, mode of operation and AM directional system parameters.  In 
addition, King willfully and repeatedly violated 73.1560 of the 
Commission's Rules by exceeding nighttime power levels and operating 
with an improper mode of  operation. 

    12. The base forfeiture amount set by The Commission's Forfeiture 
Policy Statement and Amendment of Section 1.80 of the Rules to 
Incorporate the Forfeiture Guidelines, ("Forfeiture Policy 
Statement"),6 for failure to maintain directional pattern within 
prescribed parameters is $7,000; for failure to comply with AM tower 
fencing is $7,000; for exceeding power limits is $4,000; and for 
failure to comply with transmitter control and metering requirements 
is $3,000.  In assessing the monetary forfeiture amount, we must also 
take into account the statutory factors set forth in Section 
503(b)(2)(D) of the Act,7 which include the nature, circumstances, 
extent, and gravity of the violation(s), and with respect to the 
violator, the degree of culpability, and history of prior offenses, 
ability to pay, and other such matters as justice may require.  
Applying the Forfeiture Policy Statement and the statutory factors to 
the instant case, a $21,000 forfeiture is warranted.  

                                 
                         IV.  ORDERING CLAUSES

    13. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED THAT, pursuant to Section 503(b) of 
the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, and Sections 0.111, 0.311 
and 1.80 of the Commission's Rules, King Broadcasting Company, is 
hereby NOTIFIED of an APPARENT LIABILITY FOR A FORFEITURE in the 
amount of twenty-one thousand dollars ($21,000) for violations of 
Sections 73.49, 73.1350, 73.1400, and 73.1560 of the Rules.8 

    14. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED THAT, pursuant to Section 1.80 of the 
Commission's Rules within thirty days of the release date of this 
NOTICE OF APPARENT LIABILITY, King Broadcasting Company SHALL PAY the 
full amount of the proposed forfeiture or SHALL FILE a written 
statement seeking reduction or cancellation of the proposed 
forfeiture.

    15. Payment of the forfeiture may be made by mailing a check or 
similar instrument, payable to the order of the Federal Communications 
Commission, to the Forfeiture Collection Section, Finance Branch, 
Federal Communications Commission, P.O. Box 73482, Chicago, Illinois 
60673-7482.  The payment MUST INCLUDE the FCC Registration number 
(FRN) referenced above and also must note the NAL/Acct. No. referenced 
in the caption.

    16. The response, if any, must be mailed to Federal Communications 
Commission, Enforcement Bureau, Technical and Public Safety Division, 
445 12th Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20554, and must include the 
NAL/Acct. No. referenced in the caption.

    17. The Commission will not consider reducing or canceling a 
forfeiture in response to a claim of inability to pay unless the 
petitioner submits:  (1) federal tax returns for the most recent 
three-year period; (2) financial statements prepared according to 
generally accepted accounting practices ("GAAP"); or (3) some other 
reliable and objective documentation that accurately reflects the 
petitioner's current financial status.  Any claim of inability to pay 
must specifically identify the basis for the claim by reference to the 
financial documentation submitted.  

    18. Requests for payment of the full amount of this Notice of 
Apparent Liability under an installment plan should be sent to:  
Chief, Revenue and Receivables Operations Group, 445 12th Street, 
S.W., Washington, D.C. 20554.9

    19. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED THAT a copy of this NOTICE OF APPARENT 
LIABILITY shall be sent by Certified Mail # 7001 0320 0002 9702  4313, 
Return Receipt Requested, to King Broadcasting Company, P. O. Box 
2308, Roswell, NM  88202.

                              FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION



                              Leo E. Cirbo
                              District Director, Denver Office




_________________________

     1 47 C.F.R. §§ 73.49, 73.1350, 73.1400, and 73.1560.

     2 47 U.S.C. § 503(b).

     3 King Broadcasting Company, Station KBIM License File Numbers 
BZ19790305AF and BR19800527UR (previously assigned BR800527 UR and 
BZ790305 AF, respectively), granted October 29, 1980.