Click here for Adobe Acrobat version
Click here for Microsoft Word version
********************************************************
NOTICE
********************************************************
This document was converted from Microsoft Word.
Content from the original version of the document such as
headers, footers, footnotes, endnotes, graphics, and page numbers
will not show up in this text version.
All text attributes such as bold, italic, underlining, etc. from the
original document will not show up in this text version.
Features of the original document layout such as
columns, tables, line and letter spacing, pagination, and margins
will not be preserved in the text version.
If you need the complete document, download the
Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat version.
*****************************************************************
Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
In the Matter of )
)
Media Broadcasting Corporation ) File No. EB-02-NF-019
)
Owner of Antenna Structure ) NAL/Acct. No. 200232640005
Registration # 1011741 )
Winston-Salem, North Carolina ) FRN 0006-7563-73
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Adopted: January 20, 2004 Released: January 22,
2004
By the Chief, Enforcement Bureau:
I. INTRODUCTION
1. In this Memorandum Opinion and Order (``Order''), we
dismiss the petition for reconsideration filed on
January 13, 2003, by Media Broadcasting Corporation
(``Media''). Media seeks reconsideration of the
Forfeiture Order,1 in which the Chief, Enforcement
Bureau (``Bureau''), found it liable for a monetary
forfeiture in the amount of six thousand dollars
($6,000) for willful and repeated violations of Sections
17.4(g) and 17.51(a) of the Commission's Rules
(``Rules'').2 The noted violations involve Media's
failure to post its antenna structure registration
(``ASR'') number (1011741) and its failure to exhibit
red obstruction lighting on its antenna structure
between sunset and sunrise.
II. BACKGROUND
2. Media is the licensee of broadcast station WAAA (AM) in
Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and owns that station's
antenna structure (ASR number 1011741). An agent from
the Commission's Norfolk, Virginia, Resident Agent
Office (``Norfolk Office'') observed violations of
Sections 17.4(g) and 17.51(a) of the Rules on January 22
and 23, 2002. On February 1, 2002, the Norfolk Office
issued a Notice of Violation which notified Media of
those violations. On June 13, 2002, the Norfolk Office
issued a $12,000 Notice of Apparent Liability for
Forfeiture3 to Media for willful and repeated violations
of Sections 17.4(g) and 17.51(a). On December 5, 2002,
the Bureau issued a $ 6,000 Forfeiture Order to Media
for the same violations.
3. The Forfeiture Order noted that Media had not yet
corrected the violations and required Media to submit an
affidavit within 30 days stating whether Media had
dismantled its antenna structure or taken other steps to
correct the violations. Media submitted an affidavit
received on January 13, 2003, indicating that it was
planning to dismantle antenna structure 1011741 but had
been unable to do so because of weather conditions.
Media submitted a second affidavit received February 6,
2003, indicating that it had dismantled antenna
structure 1011741. In both affidavits, Media seeks
reconsideration of the Forfeiture Order. Media argues
that financial hardship and the ``expeditious
dismantling'' of its antenna structure warrant
reconsideration.
III. DISCUSSION
4. Section 405 of the Communications Act of 1934, as
amended (``Act'')4 and Section 1.106 of the Rules5
required Media to file its petition for reconsideration
no later than 30 days the after release of the
ForfeitureOrder. Pursuant to these provisions Media's
petition for reconsideration was due no later than on
January 6, 2003, but Media did not file it until January
13, 2003. Accordingly, we find that Media's petition
for reconsideration must be dismissed as untimely.
5. Even had Media's petition for reconsideration been
timely filed, we would have denied it on the merits. In
the Forfeiture Order we reduced the forfeiture amount to
$6,000 on the basis of financial hardship. Media has
provided no information that would support an additional
reduction on the basis of financial hardship. We,
therefore, believe that no further reduction of the
forfeiture amount would have been warranted on that
basis. Media's ``expeditious dismantling'' of its
antenna structure also would not warrant any additional
reduction. Media did not in fact dismantle its antenna
structure expeditiously. It dismantled antenna
structure 1011741 approximately one year after being
notified of the violations - an unacceptably long delay.
Furthermore, even if Media had acted expeditiously, no
mitigation of the forfeiture would be warranted on the
basis of correcting the violations. As the Commission
stated in Seawest Yacht Brokers, 9 FCC Rcd 6099, 6099
(1994), ``corrective action taken to come into
compliance with Commission rules or policy is expected,
and does not nullify or mitigate any prior forfeitures
or violations.''6
IV. ORDERING CLAUSES
6. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to Section
405 of Act and Section 1.106 of the Rules, Media's
January 13, 2003, petition for reconsideration of the
Bureau's Forfeiture Order issued on December 5, 2002, IS
DISMISSED as untimely and the issuance of the $6,000
forfeiture IS AFFIRMED.
7. Payment of the forfeiture shall be made in the manner
provided for in Section 1.80 of the Rules 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.7 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
reference NAL/Acct. No. 200232640005 and FRN 0006-7563-
73. Requests for full payment under an installment plan
should be sent to: Chief, Revenue and Receivables Group,
445 12th Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20554.8
8. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a copy of this Order shall
be sent by First Class Mail and Certified Mail Return
Receipt Requested to Media Broadcasting Corporation,
P.O. Box 11197, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27116-
1197.
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
David H. Solomon
Chief, Enforcement Bureau
_________________________
1 17 FCC Rcd 24523 (Enf. Bur. 2002)
2 47 C.F.R. §§ 17.4(g) and 17.51(a).
3 Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture, NAL/Acct. No.
200232640005 (Enf. Bur., Norfolk Office, released June 13, 2002).
4 47 U.S.C. § 405.
5 47 C.F.R. § 1.106.
6 See also AT&T Wireless Services, 17 FCC Rcd 21866, 21871
(2002); Radio Station KGVL, Inc., 42 FCC 2d 258, 259 (1973); and
Executive Broadcasting Corp., 3 FCC 2d 699, 700 (1966).
7 47 U.S.C. § 504(a).
8 See 47 C.F.R. § 1.1914.