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


In the Matter of                  )
                                 )
Twenty-One                 Sound  )       File Number EB-05-KC-017
Communications, Inc.              )
Licensee, KNSX(FM)                )      NAL/Acct. No. 20053256002
Facility ID: 68579                )
Steelville, MO                    )                                                
Florissant, MO                        FRN: 0009075656



                      FORFEITURE ORDER

Adopted:  July 25, 2005                                                                            
Released:  July 27, 2005

By the Regional Director,  South Central Region, Enforcement 
Bureau:

I.   INTRODUCTION

     1.   In this Forfeiture Order (``Order''), we issue a 
monetary forfeiture in the amount of eighteen thousand 
dollars ($18,000) to Twenty-One Sound Communications, Inc. 
(``Twenty-One Sound''), licensee of Station KNSX(FM) in 
Steelville, Missouri, for willful and repeated violation of 
Sections 11.35(a), 73.1125(a), and 73.3526(a) of the 
Commission's Rules (``Rules'').1  The noted violations 
involve Twenty-One Sound's failure to maintain Emergency 
Alert System (``EAS'') equipment in operational readiness 
condition, failure to maintain a main studio in compliance 
with the Rules, and failure to maintain a complete public 
inspection file.

II.   BACKGROUND 

     2.   On March 1, 2005, an agent with the Commission's 
Kansas City Office of the Enforcement Bureau (``Kansas City 
Office'') attempted to inspect the main studio for Station 
KNSX(FM).  The agent found signs at the KNSX(FM) transmitter 
site in Woodland Lakes, Missouri that stated the main studio 
was located in a guard shack at the entrance to a gated 
residential area near the transmitter site.2  The agent 
observed that there were no signs on or near the guard shack 
that indicated it was associated with the station.  The 
guard shack was staffed twenty-four hours per day by a 
single guard.  The guards who manned the guard shack worked 
for the nearby residential community.  The guard on duty 
during the inspection, who worked between 3 P.M. and 11 
P.M., stated that he was the only guard paid on occasion by 
the station owner to make the public file available to the 
public.  There was no microphone or transmission or 
production equipment of any kind in the guard shack.  All of 
the equipment which enabled the station to operate was 
located at the transmitter site.  The guard stated that the 
KNSX transmitter could not be controlled from the guard 
shack.  The station owner contemporaneously stated that he 
was in the process of obtaining a main studio in Sullivan, 
Missouri for Station KNSX(FM) and Station KESY(FM), a co-
owned station licensed to Cuba, Missouri.  The owner also 
admitted that the station did not publish a local or toll-
free number in the Steelville telephone directory.

     3.   During the inspection on March 1, 2005, the agent 
observed that the public file in the guard shack did not 
contain any ownership reports or issues programs lists after 
December 24, 2003.  The file contained a station license 
that expired on February 1, 2005 and did not include a 
license renewal application or license renewal.    

     4.   Also on March 1, 2005, the agent inspected the 
unattended KNSX transmitter site and observed that the sole 
EAS unit for the station was installed there.  The EAS unit 
was found in manual operating mode and, as installed, was 
incapable of automatically retransmitting messages and 
tests.  The station had been receiving EAS activations, but 
a review of the station logs for the two-month period prior 
to the inspection confirmed that the station had not 
retransmitted any activation it had received and had not 
transmitted several required weekly EAS tests.  The owner 
also admitted that he did not contact the local or state EAS 
coordinator to determine which stations he had been assigned 
to monitor, and, as a result, was only monitoring one of the 
three stations assigned to it.   

     5.   On April 12, 2005, the Kansas City Office issued a 
Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture to Twenty-One 
Sound in the amount of twenty-five thousand dollars 
($25,000) for the apparent willful and repeated violation of 
Sections 11.35(a), 73.1125(a) and 73.3526(a) of the Rules.3  
On June 6, 2005, Twenty-One Sound submitted a response to 
the NAL requesting cancellation or reduction of the proposed 
forfeiture.4       

III.        DISCUSSION

     6.   The proposed forfeiture amount in this case was 
assessed in accordance with Section 503(b) of the Act,5 
Section 1.80 of the Commission's Rules (``Rules''),6 and The 
Commission's Forfeiture Policy Statement and Amendment of 
Section 1.80 of the Rules to Incorporate the Forfeiture 
Guidelines, 12 FCC Rcd 17087 (1997), recon. denied, 15 FCC 
Rcd 303 (1999) (``Forfeiture Policy Statement'').  In 
examining Twenty-One Sound's response, Section 503(b) of the 
Act requires that the Commission take into account the 
nature, circumstances, extent and gravity of the violation 
and, with respect to the violator, the degree of 
culpability, any history of prior offenses, ability to pay, 
and other such matters as justice may require.7

     7.   Section 11.35(a) of the Rules requires broadcast 
station licensees to ensure that EAS Encoders, EAS Decoders 
and Attention Signal generating and receiving equipment used 
as part of the EAS are installed so that the monitoring and 
transmitting functions are available during the times the 
stations and systems are in operation.8  Broadcast station 
licensees are also required to receive, interrupt normal 
program, and transmit certain EAS messages.9  When 
facilities are unattended, Sections 11.51 and 11.52 of the 
Rules require licensees to employ automatic systems to 
interrupt programming and transmit certain EAS messages.10  
On March 1, 2005, the EAS unit for Station KNSX(FM) was 
installed at its unattended KNSX transmitter site and set in 
manual mode.  The owner of Twenty-One Sound claimed to visit 
the site occasionally to transmit manually the required 
weekly and monthly EAS tests.  He admitted, however, that, 
since he put the station back on the air in 1996, the 
transmitter site had never been regularly staffed.  Thus, 
the EAS unit at this unattended transmitter site should have 
been set on an automatic mode.  Because the EAS unit was set 
in manual mode, if an actual and unscheduled EAS message was 
received, no person would be present at the EAS transmitter 
site to interrupt normal programming and transmit the EAS 
message or test.  Therefore, although its EAS unit was 
installed and not defective, Twenty-One Sound failed to 
maintain an operational EAS system.  

     8.   In its response, Twenty-One Sound does not deny 
that its EAS unit was set in a manual mode on March 1, 2005, 
but, nevertheless, requests cancellation or reduction of the 
proposed forfeiture.  Twenty-One Sound alleges that the EAS 
unit was originally set in an automatic mode and, due to a 
power outage or equipment glitch, reverted to the manual 
mode on an undisclosed date.  Twenty-One Sound claims that 
the problem would have been found and corrected when the EAS 
equipment did not function properly during the next required 
monthly test.  If Twenty-One Sound's EAS unit was set in an 
automatic mode and only recently switched to manual mode, 
its EAS unit should have functioned properly in January and 
February of 2005.  However, on January 8, 2005, the 
station's EAS unit did not automatically retransmit the 
required monthly test.  The station's logs show that the 
station received the required monthly test on January 8, and 
originated, rather than retransmitted, it.  Moreover, the 
station's logs show that the EAS unit failed to retransmit 
the required monthly test in February 2005. Although the 
station owner claimed to have conducted the weekly and 
monthly tests, there was no evidence that any weekly or 
monthly tests were conducted by the station between January 
8 and March 1, 2005.  The EAS unit's logging system and 
printer worked properly on January 8, 2005 and again when it 
was tested on March 1, 2005.  The station owner stated that 
he was unaware of any damage or repairs to the EAS unit's 
logging system and printer between January 8 and March 1.  
The station owner knew or should have known that its EAS 
unit was not set in automatic mode when it failed to 
retransmit the January and February monthly tests.  
Accordingly, we find no basis to cancel or reduce the 
forfeiture associated with this violation.    

     9.   Section 73.1125(a) of the Rules requires FM 
stations to maintain a main studio.  ``A station must equip 
the main studio with production and transmission facilities 
that meet applicable standards, maintain continuous program 
transmission capability, and maintain a meaningful 
management and staff presence.''11  The Commission has 
defined a minimally acceptable ``meaningful presence'' as 
full-time managerial and full-time staff personnel.12  The 
guard shack/main studio at the time of inspection was 
staffed by a single guard.  Twenty-One Sound asserts in its 
response that the guard on duty during the inspection was 
the station manager.  However, when the agent questioned the 
guard, the guard stated, in the presence of the station 
owner, that he was not considered part of station 
management. The owner did not dispute contemporaneously the 
guard's statements.  Accordingly, we cannot rely upon 
Twenty-One Sound's assertion that the guard was the station 
manager without corroborating documentation.  Thus, we 
conclude Twenty-One Sound failed to maintain full-time 
managerial personnel.  Twenty-One Sound also claims that the 
guard could control the transmitter and originate 
programming from the main studio via the telephone, and it, 
therefore, equipped its main studio with production and 
transmission facilities that meet applicable standards.  No 
radio equipment of any kind, however, was located in the 
guard shack other than a telephone.  All of the station's 
equipment was located at the transmitter site.  Moreover, 
when asked if he could control the station transmitter, the 
only guard on duty stated explicitly that he could not 
control the transmitter from the guard shack.  Assuming 
agruendo that the guard did know how to control the 
transmitter from the guard shack, the guard still could not 
maintain continuous program transmission capability, because 
there was only one telephone line to the guard shack.  If 
the guard placed or received a phone call during his shift, 
he would not be able to control the transmitter or originate 
programming.  Therefore, we find that Twenty-One Sound 
failed to equip its main studio with production and 
transmission facilities that meet applicable standards and 
failed to maintain continuous program transmission 
capability.  

     10.  In addition, Twenty-One Sound questions the 
fairness of the main studio rules for lower power stations, 
because higher power stations have larger principal 
community contours and greater flexibility in locating their 
main studios.  The Commission has addressed this concern, 
however, by allowing stations to locate their main studios 
within either the station's community of license, at any 
location within the principal community contour of any AM, 
FM, or TV broadcast station licensed to the station's 
community of license, or within twenty-five miles from the 
reference coordinates of the center of its community of 
license.13  Thus, lower power stations and higher power 
stations serving the same community would have almost the 
same options in locating their main studios.  Twenty-One 
Sound also states that it has now obtained a new main studio 
for the station in Cuba, Missouri.  Licensees are expected 
to take prompt remedial action to comply with the Rules 
after being informed of a violation, so such action does not 
warrant a reduction in the forfeiture.14

     11.  Section 73.3526(a) of the Rules requires 
commercial broadcast stations to maintain for public 
inspection, a file containing materials listed in that 
section.15  The public inspection file is to be maintained 
at the main studio of the station16 and be available for 
public inspection during regular business hours.17  The 
Kansas City Office found that the station's public file was 
apparently unavailable to the public during normal business 
hours, because the guard on duty stated that he was the only 
guard to provide the public file to members of the public 
and that the other guards were supposed to call him if 
anyone came by between 9 A.M. and 3 P.M.18  The Kansas City 
Office also concluded that it would  be very difficult for 
the public to find the file, as the guard shack was not 
labeled19 and the station did not maintain a telephone 
number listed in the local directories.20  In its response 
to the NAL, Twenty-One Sound asserts that the other guards, 
who worked between 9 A.M. and 3 P.M., would make the public 
file available to members of the public.  It is possible 
that the station owner failed to inform the guard on duty of 
this fact, and we have no other evidence to contradict the 
station owner's assertion that the file would have been 
available to members of the public between 9 A.M. and 3 P.M.  
Therefore, we reduce the forfeiture associated with this 
violation from $10,000 to $3,000, because the public file 
was partially complete and was only missing the station's 
license renewal,21 ownership reports, and issues-programs 
lists22 after December 24, 2003.23 

     12.  We have examined Twenty-One Sound's response to 
the NAL pursuant to the statutory factors above, and in 
conjunction with the Forfeiture Policy Statement.  As a 
result of our review and based on the evidence, we find that 
Twenty-One Sound willfully24 and repeatedly25 violated 
Sections 11.35(a), 73.1125(a) and 73.3526(a) of the Rules by 
failing to maintain EAS equipment in operational readiness 
condition, failing to maintain a main studio in compliance 
with the Rules, and failing to maintain a complete public 
inspection file.  We find it appropriate to reduce the 
forfeiture for these violations from $25,000 to $18,000.  

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(f)(4) of the 
Commission's Rules,26 Twenty-One Sound Communications, Inc. 
IS LIABLE FOR A MONETARY FORFEITURE in the amount of 
eighteen thousand hundred dollars ($18,000) for willfully 
and repeatedly violating Sections 11.35(a), 73.1125(a) and 
73.3526(a) of the Rules. 

     14.  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.27  Payment of the forfeiture must 
be made by check or similar instrument, payable to the order 
of the Federal Communications Commission.  The payment must 
include the NAL/Acct. No. and FRN No. referenced above.  
Payment by check or money order may be mailed to Federal 
Communications Commission, P.O. Box 358340, Pittsburgh, PA 
15251-8340.  Payment by overnight mail may be sent to Mellon 
Bank /LB 358340, 500 Ross Street, Room 1540670, Pittsburgh, 
PA 15251.   Payment by wire transfer may be made to ABA 
Number 043000261, receiving bank Mellon Bank, and account 
number 911-6106.  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. 
20554.28 

     15.  IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a copy of this Order 
shall be sent by First Class and Certified Mail Return 
Receipt Requested to Twenty-One Sound Communications, Inc. 
at its address of record and its counsel, Lee J. Peltzman, 
Shainis & Peltzman, Chartered, 1850 M Street NW, Suite 240, 
Washington, DC 20036.  



                              FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS 
                              COMMISSION



                              Dennis P. Carlton
                              Regional Director, South 
                         Central Region 
                              Enforcement Bureau
               
_________________________

147 C.F.R. §§ 11.35(a), 73.1125(a), and 73.3526(a).

2The KNSX(FM) transmitter was located nearby but not within 
the gated residential community. 

3Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture, NAL/Acct. No. 
20053256002 (Enf. Bur., Kansas City Office, April 12, 2005) 
(``NAL'').

4Twenty-One Sound  requested an extension of  time in which 
to submit a  response to the NAL, which was  granted by the 
Kansas City Office. 

547 U.S.C. § 503(b).

647 C.F.R. § 1.80.

747 U.S.C. § 503(b)(2)(D).

847 C.F.R. § 11.35(a).

9See 47 C.F.R. §§ 11.51(k), 11.52(e).

10See 47 C.F.R. §§ 11.51(k)(1), 11.52(e)(1).

11Main  Studio and  Program  Origination Rules,  Memorandum 
Opinion and Order, 3 FCC Rcd  5024, 5026 (1988). 

12Jones Eastern of the Outer Banks, Inc., Memorandum Opinion 
and Order, 6 FCC Rcd 3615,  3616 (1991), clarified 7 FCC Rcd 
6800 (1992). 

13See 47 C.F.R. § 73.1125(a). 

14See  AT&T  Wireless Services,  Inc.,  17  FCC Rcd  21861, 
21864-75 (2002);  Sonderling Broadcasting Corp., 69  FCC 2d 
289, 291  (1978); Odino  Joseph, 18  FCC Rcd  16522, 16524, 
para.  8 (Enf.  Bur.  2003);  South Central  Communications 
Corp., 18  FCC Rcd 700,  702-03, para. 9 (Enf.  Bur. 2003); 
Northeast Utilities, 17 FCC Rcd  4115, 4117, para. 13 (Enf. 
Bur. 2002).  

1547 C.F.R. § 73.3526(a).

16See 47 C.F.R. § 73.3526(b).

17See 47 C.F.R. § 73.3526(c)(1).

18Although  the  guard  lived  in  the  nearby  residential 
community, there is  no guarantee that this  guard would be 
reachable or that he would arrive at the guard shack within 
a reasonable period of time  for members of the public that 
arrived between 9 A.M. and 3 P.M. 

19Twenty-One Sound asserts in its  response to the NAL that 
there were signs  not far from the guard  shack that stated 
the guard  shack was the  station's main studio.   The only 
sign  the agent  could find,  however, was  located at  the 
transmitter site.   That sign  referenced the  guard shack, 
but did not  indicate which guard shack, of  the several in 
the residential complex, served as  the main studio.  If an 
agent, who  was looking for appropriate  signage, could not 
find  the main  studio's  signage, members  of the  general 
public would likely have  similar difficulties locating the 
main studio. 

20The  station did  maintain a  toll-free telephone  number 
that was listed in 800 directory assistance.   

21The  NAL noted  that Twenty-One  Sound's public  file was 
missing  a copy  of  its most  recent license  application.  
During the  inspection, the  station owner stated  that the 
Commission had  not yet  renewed its license.   However, in 
its response to  the NAL, Twenty-One Sound  states that its 
license was renewed  on January 21, 2005.   The public file 
contained neither the most  recent license application, nor 
the license renewal.  

22Twenty-One  Sound  correctly notes  that  issues-programs 
lists are only  to be retained until final  action has been 
taken on  the station's  next license  renewal application.  
Twenty-One Sound asserts  that it was not  required to have 
any  issues-programs lists  on March  1, 2005,  because its 
license was renewed on January 21, 2005.  However, pursuant 
to Section 1.117 of the Rules, an action issued pursuant to 
delegated authority is not final until 40 days after public 
notice of the action.  47 C.F.R. § 1.117.  Public Notice of 
Twenty-One Sound's license renewal was published on January 
26,  2005.  Thus,  its renewal  was not  final on  March 1, 
2005, and the issues-programs lists from 2004 were required 
to be maintained in the file.   

23The NAL  also stated that  the station's public  file was 
missing emails from the public.  During the inspection, the 
station  owner stated  that the  station received  numerous 
emails from the public, but that he failed to place them in 
the  public file.   However, in  its response  to the  NAL, 
Twenty-One Sound  asserts that the emails  in question were 
not required  to be placed  in the file, because  they were 
merely record requests.  

24Section  312(f)(1) of  the  Act, 47  U.S.C. §  312(f)(1), 
which  applies  to  violations for  which  forfeitures  are 
assessed  under Section  503(b) of  the Act,  provides that 
``[t]he  term  `willful,'  ...   means  the  conscious  and 
deliberate commission or omission of such act, irrespective 
of any intent  to violate any provision of this  Act or any 
rule or regulation of the Commission authorized by this Act 
....''  See Southern California Broadcasting Co., 6 FCC Rcd 
4387 (1991).   

25The term  ``repeated,'' when  used with reference  to the 
commission or  omission of any act,  ``means the commission 
or  omission  of  such  act  more than  once  or,  if  such 
commission  or omission  is continuous,  for more  than one 
day.''  47 U.S.C. § 312(f)(2).

2647 C.F.R. §§ 0.111, 0.311, 1.80(f)(4).

2747 U.S.C. § 504(a).

28See 47 C.F.R. § 1.1914.