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

In the Matter of                        )
                              )
Willis Broadcasting Corporation              )    File No. 
EB-01-OR-052
Licensee of WGRM-FM           )    NAL/Acct. No. 
200132620004
Greenwood, Mississippi                  )    FRN No. 0004-
3042-67


                MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

     Adopted: April 15, 2002                 Released: April 
17, 2002 

By the Chief, Enforcement Bureau:
                               
                       I. Introduction

     1.   In this Memorandum  Opinion and Order (``Order''), 
we  grant  in part  and  deny  in part  Willis  Broadcasting 
Corporation's   (``Willis   Broadcasting'')   petition   for 
reconsideration of the Forfeiture  Order that we released on 
October 18, 2001.1   In the Forfeiture Order,  we assessed a 
$25,000 forfeiture against Willis Broadcasting for violating 
Sections  1.89(b), 11.35(a),  17.4(a)(2), and  73.3526(c) of 
the Commission's  Rules (``Rules'').2  The  noted violations 
relate  to  Willis  Broadcasting's  failure  to  respond  to 
Commission  correspondence;  failure   to  have  operational 
Emergency  Alert  System  (``EAS'')  equipment  at  WGRM-FM; 
failure to register WGRM-FM's antenna structure; and failure 
to  make  WGRM-FM's  public inspection  file  available  for 
inspection.   For the  reasons  explained  below, we  reduce 
Willis Broadcasting's $25,000 forfeiture to $22,000.

                       II.  Background

     2.   On April 24, 2001,  an agent from the Commission's 
New  Orleans,  Louisiana  Field Office  (``Field  Office''), 
inspected   Willis   Broadcasting's  WGRM-FM   facility   in 
Greenwood,  Mississippi.  During  his inspection,  the agent 
found  that WGRM-FM's  EAS  equipment  was neither  properly 
installed nor capable of  receiving EAS messages,3 WGRM-FM's 
antenna structure was not  registered,4 and that WGRM-FM had 
failed  to  ensure  that  its  public  inspection  file  was 
available at all times during normal business hours.5

     3.   On  May 3,  2001,  the agent  issued  a Notice  of 
Violation  (``NOV'') to  Willis Broadcasting,  via certified 
mail,  return receipt  requested,  citing  the EAS,  antenna 
structure, and public  inspection file violations.  Pursuant 
to Section 1.89(b)  of the Rules, the  agent directed Willis 
Broadcasting to  respond to the  NOV within twenty  days6 of 
the May 3, 2001 NOV issuance date and noted that enforcement 
action might follow if it  did not.  The U.S. Postal Service 
delivered the  NOV to  Willis Broadcasting  on May  7, 2001.  
Receiving no  response to the  May 3,  2001 NOV, on  May 25, 
2001,  the  agent  resent  a  copy  of  the  NOV  to  Willis 
Broadcasting and warned  it that it was  required to respond 
to Commission correspondence.  This time, the agent directed 
Willis Broadcasting  to respond  within fifteen days  of the 
May 25, 2001 reissuance date  and noted that penalties might 
follow if it did not.  The U.S. Postal Service delivered the 
resent NOV to  Willis Broadcasting on May  31, 2001.  Willis 
Broadcasting  did not  respond.   Subsequently,  on July  3, 
2001, the  District Director  of the  Field Office  issued a 
Notice  of Apparent  Liability for  Forfeiture (``NAL'')  to 
Willis Broadcasting for its failure to respond to Commission 
correspondence,   EAS,   antenna   structure,   and   public 
inspection  file violations.7   Willis Broadcasting  did not 
respond  to the  NAL.  On  October 18,  2001, we  issued the 
Forfeiture Order,  noting that  Willis Broadcasting  had not 
responded  the NAL,  and in  which we  imposed the  proposed 
$25,000  forfeiture.  Willis  Broadcasting  now  asks us  to 
reconsider  the Forfeiture  Order and  reduce or  cancel the 
$25,000 forfeiture.

                         III. Discussion

     4.   According to Willis Broadcasting,  at the time the 
agent inspected  WGRM-FM and during the  following period at 
issue here,  its president  and chief executive  officer was 
struck  with  a  disabling  illness  that  disrupted  Willis 
Broadcasting's normal functioning and  led to its failure to 
respond to  the NAL.  Willis  Broadcasting asks us  to waive 
the $25,000  forfeiture because  its failure to  respond was 
caused by events beyond  its control.  Willis Broadcasting's 
failure to  respond to NAL is  not a violation of  the Rules 
and did not result in any penalty, per se.  That failure did 
lead, however,  to our issuance  of the Forfeiture  Order in 
this  case.   Accordingly,  we  deny  Willis  Broadcasting's 
request that we waive the $25,000  NAL and turn to the other 
issues  Willis  Broadcasting  raises  in  its  petition  for 
reconsideration.

     5.   To   the  extent   that  Willis   Broadcasting  is 
requesting that  we reconsider the  issuance of the  NAL for 
the Section  1.89(b) of the  Rules violation for  failing to 
respond to  the NOV,  we will examine  Willis Broadcasting's 
purported  reasons for  the  delay  in responding.   Section 
1.89(b) of the Rules specifies that:

     [i]f an answer cannot be sent or an acknowledgment 
     cannot be made within such 10-day period by reason 
     of    illness    or   unavoidable    circumstance, 
     acknowledgment  and answer  shall be  made at  the 
     earliest  practicable  date  with  a  satisfactory 
     explanation for the delay.8

According  to Willis  Broadcasting,  it is  the licensee  of 
twenty-one AM and FM stations and holds 100% of the stock of 
several   subsidiary   corporations  that   are   Commission 
licensees.   Willis Broadcasting  states that  its president 
and chief  executive was solely responsible  for the affairs 
of Willis Broadcasting and  its subsidiary corporations, and 
was  primarily  responsible  for overseeing  the  day-to-day 
operations  at Willis  Broadcasting's broadcast  facilities.  
Willis  Broadcasting then  details its  president and  chief 
executive officer's  illness and  its corporate  response of 
appointing  its vice  president to  ``address any  issues or 
matters   pertaining  to   the  day-to-day   operations  and 
activities of the corporation  and any matters pertaining to 
the radio stations,  which the President has  been unable to 
address.''  Instead  of specifying  a date certain  when the 
vice-president took  on the president and  chief executive's 
duties  and obligations,  Willis Broadcasting  simply states 
that it was from the advent  of the illness and continues to 
the present.   We know that  the agent inspected  WGRM-FM on 
April  24,  2001.  We  do  not  know, however,  when  Willis 
Broadcasting's president and chief executive first fell ill.  
Lacking that information and the subsequent date that Willis 
Broadcasting appointed  the vice president to  discharge the 
president and  chief executive's duties and  obligations, we 
are  unable   to  evaluate  whether   Willis  Broadcasting's 
November  of 2001  explanation of  its seven-month  delay in 
responding to the May 3, 2001 NOV, which was reissued on May 
25, 2001, was made at the earliest practicable date.9  Thus, 
we deny Willis Broadcasting's request for reconsideration of 
the Section  1.89(b) of the  Rules violation and  affirm the 
issuance of the monetary forfeiture for this violation.10

     6.   Willis Broadcasting  seeks reconsideration  of the 
Section 11.35(a) of the Rules  violation included in the NAL 
and Forfeiture Order.  Specifically, it takes issue with our 
statement in  the Forfeiture  Order that  it ``did  not have 
Emergency  Alert  System'' equipment  installed  .  . .  .''  
According to Willis Broadcasting,  WGRM-FM's EAS unit was in 
place  when   the  agent   inspected  the   station,  albeit 
malfunctioning.  Our  review of  the record reveals  that in 
the  Forfeiture Order,  we inadvertently  omitted the  words 
``and operating''  to the  sentence ``Willis .  . .  did not 
have Emergency Alert System equipment  installed . . . .''11  
We  do not  find that  the inadvertent  omission of  the two 
words   ``and   operating''   is   prejudicial   to   Willis 
Broadcasting in  this instance because the  NAL sufficiently 
recounted  that   ``the  EAS  equipment  was   not  properly 
installed  or   capable  of  monitoring  or   receiving  EAS 
messages.''12  Indeed, Willis Broadcasting concedes that the 
EAS unit was malfunctioning and has since fixed the unit and 
obtained  a backup  EAS  unit.  Consequently,  we find  that 
Willis Broadcasting was not  complying with Section 11.35(a) 
of the Rules  at the time of the  agent's inspection.  Thus, 
we  deny  reconsideration  on  this issue,  and  affirm  the 
issuance of  the monetary forfeiture for  this violation, as 
clarified herein.

     7.   Willis Broadcasting next  seeks reconsideration of 
the Section  17.4(a)(2) of  the Rules violation  included in 
the NAL  and Forfeiture Order.  Willis  Broadcasting asserts 
that WGRM-FM's antenna structure was registered, contrary to 
our assertion  in the  NAL and  Forfeiture Order.   When the 
agent  inspected WGRM-FM,  he  determined  that the  antenna 
structure  associated  with  WGRM-FM was  not  registered.13  
Willis Broadcasting now tells  us that the antenna structure 
was registered  at the  time of  the agent's  inspection and 
provides  us with  ASR number  1010218.  Our  review of  the 
Commission's ASR  number database  reveals that  the antenna 
structure was in fact registered  at the time of the agent's 
inspection and that ``Clay V.  Ewing, d/b/a WGRM'' is listed 
as the antenna structure's owner.  Therefore, we will reduce 
the forfeiture amount by the  $3,000 amount noted in the NAL 
for this violation.  Although we find that WGRM-FM's antenna 
structure was registered, we instruct Willis Broadcasting to 
update   the   appropriate  Commission   antenna   structure 
ownership records  if Mr. Ewing  no longer owns  the antenna 
structure associated with WGRM-FM.14

     8.   In its  final request for  reconsideration, Willis 
Broadcasting states  WGRM-FM's public inspection  file ``was 
at  the Station  at the  time of  the inspection.''   Willis 
Broadcasting  concedes  that  ``there  may  have  been  some 
documents   misfiled  and/or   missing''  from   the  public 
inspection   file  at   that   time,   errors  that   Willis 
Broadcasting has  since corrected.  The  operative provision 
of Section  73.3526(c)(1) for a licensee  that maintains its 
main  studio within  its community  of license  is that  the 
public  inspection  file  ``must  be  available  for  public 
inspection at  any time  during regular  business hours.''15  
Willis  Broadcasting's  contention   that  WGRM-FM's  public 
inspection  file was  at  the station,  albeit missing  some 
parts, does not excuse it from failing to provide the public 
inspection file  to the agent at  his request.  Accordingly, 
we deny Willis Broadcasting's request for reconsideration on 
this  point   and  affirm  the  issuance   of  the  monetary 
forfeiture for this violation.

     9.   In  conclusion, after  subtracting $3,000  for the 
Section  17.4(a)(2)  of  the  Rules violation  that  we  are 
dismissing in this Order, we find Willis Broadcasting liable 
for a $22,000 forfeiture.

                    IV.  Ordering Clauses

     10.  Accordingly,  IT  IS  ORDERED  that,  pursuant  to 
Section 405  of the Communications  Act of 1934,  as amended 
(``Act''),16 and Sections 1.80(i)  and 1.106 of the Rules,17 
Willis     Broadcasting    Corporation's     petition    for 
reconsideration IS  GRANTED to  the extent  indicated herein 
and IS DENIED in all other respects.

     11.  Payment of the $22,000 forfeiture shall be made in 
the  manner provided  for in  Section 1.80  of the  Rules,18 
within  30  days of  the  release  of  this Order.   If  the 
forfeiture is not paid within the period specified, the case 
may be referred to the  Department of Justice for collection 
pursuant to  Section 504(a)  of the  Act.19  Payment  may be 
made by  mailing a check  or similar instrument,  payable to 
the order  of the ``Federal Communications  Commission,'' to 
the  Federal  Communications  Commission,  P.O.  Box  73482, 
Chicago, Illinois  60673-7482.  The payment should  note the 
NAL/Acct.   No.  200132620004   and  FRN   No.  0004-3042-67 
referenced  above.   Requests  for  full  payment  under  an 
installment  plan  should be  sent  to:  Chief, Revenue  and 
Receivables  Operations   Group,  445  12th   Street,  S.W., 
Washington, D.C. 20554.20

     12.  IT IS  FURTHER ORDERED that  a copy of  this Order 
shall be  sent by certified mail,  return receipt requested, 
to Willis Broadcasting Corporation, 645 Church Street, Suite 
400, Norfolk, Virginia  23510, and to its  counsel, David M. 
Hunsaker,  Esq.,  Putbrese,  Hunsaker  &  Trent,  P.C.,  100 
Carpenter Drive, Suite 100, P.O. Box 217, Sterling, Virginia 
20167-0217.
        


                         FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
     


                         David H. Solomon
                         Chief, Enforcement Bureau
_________________________

1 Willis Broadcasting Corp., 16 FCC Rcd 18565 (Enf. Bur. 
2001).

2 47 C.F.R. §§ 1.89(b), 11.35(a), 17.4(a)(2), 73.3526(c).

3 See 47 C.F.R. § 11.35(a).

4 See 47 C.F.R. § 17.4(a)(2).

5 See 47 C.F.R. § 73.3526(c).

6 Section 1.89(b) of the Rules requires a written answer 
within 10 days of receipt of the NOV or such other period as 
may be specified.  47 C.F.R. § 1.89(b).

7  Willis  Broadcasting  Corp., NAL/Acct.  No.  200132620004 
(Enf.  Bur., New  Orleans Field  Office rel.  July 3,  2001) 
(``Willis NAL'').

8 47 C.F.R. § 1.89(b).  Willis Broadcasting used its 
petition for reconsideration to explain its delay.

9 Commission records reveal that in several prior cases that 
are  not pending  before us,  Willis Broadcasting  failed to 
respond  to  NOVs  that  it received  in  April,  June,  and 
September of 1999 regarding the operation of its stations.

10 Compare  with Northeast Passage  Corp., 16 FCC  Rcd 21890 
(Enf. Bur.  2001) (claim for relief  granted where supported 
by description of illnesses,  pertinent dates of disability, 
and effect on petitioner's  ability to respond to Commission 
correspondence).

11 See Willis Broadcasting Corp., 16 FCC Rcd at 18565. 

12 Willis NAL at ¶ 2.

13 The agent did not  see the Antenna Structure Registration 
Number (``ASR'')  number posted  per Section 17.4(g)  of the 
Rules.   In  addition,  the station's  general  manager  was 
unable to produce any  documentation relating to this matter 
and told the agent that he  did not know whether the antenna 
structure  was registered.   The agent's  search of  the ASR 
number database  did not  show that Willis  Broadcasting had 
registered the structure.

14 See 47  C.F.R. § 17.57; see American Tower  Corp., 16 FCC 
Rcd 1282 (2001)  (new owner liable for Section  17.57 of the 
Rules  violation for  failing  to  update antenna  structure 
ownership  information   after  the  sale  of   the  antenna 
structure).
15
 See 47 C.F.R. § 73.3526(c)(1).
 
16 47 U.S.C. § 405.

17 47 C.F.R. §§ 1.80(i), 1.106. 
18
 47 C.F.R. § 1.80.

19 47 U.S.C. § 504(a).

20 See 47 C.F.R. § 1.1914.