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Before the
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554
)
In the Matter of )
One Mart Corporation ) File No. EB-06-SD-210
Former Licensee of Station KEVT ) NAL/Acct. No. 200732940004
Cortaro, AZ ) FRN: 0007290406
Facility ID #13969 )
)
FORFEITURE ORDER
Adopted: September 5, 2007 Released: September 7, 2007
By the Regional Director, Western Region, Enforcement Bureau:
I. INTRODUCTION
1. In this Forfeiture Order ("Order"), we issue a monetary forfeiture in
the amount of six thousand, four hundred dollars ($6,400) to One Mart
Corporation ("One Mart "), former licensee of AM Broadcast Radio
station KEVT in Cortaro, Arizona, for apparent willful and repeated
violation of Section 11.35 of the Commission's Rules ("Rules"). On
December 28, 2006, the Enforcement Bureau's San Diego Office issued a
Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture ("NAL") in the amount of
$8,000 to One Mart for failing to ensure the operational readiness of
KEVT's Emergency Alert System ("EAS") equipment. In this Order we
consider One Mart's request that we reduce the forfeiture amount
because of its good faith efforts to comply with the Rules, its
history of compliance with the Rules, and its financial ability to pay
the forfeiture.
II. BACKGROUND
2. On August 17, 2006, an agent from the Enforcement Bureau's San Diego
Office conducted an inspection at the main studio of KEVT located at
2919 E. Broadway, Suite 203, Tucson, Arizona, accompanied by the KEVT
chief engineer. Although EAS equipment was installed, the agent found
that it was not operating properly at the time of inspection. The San
Diego agent found that the EAS equipment was capable of transmitting a
required weekly test ("RWT"). However, a review of the EAS logs and
printouts generated by the EAS Encoder/Decoder indicated that from
November 2005 through August 2006, no required monthly tests ("RMTs")
were received or retransmitted from the first and second local primary
stations ("LP-1" and "LP-2") and that no RWTs had been received from
the LP-2 since June of 2005. The EAS logs also indicated that numerous
RWTs were not transmitted in 2006. Only three RWTs were sent during
the 15 week period from April 30 - August 12, 2006. No entries were
made by the KEVT staff in the EAS log to identify the causes of these
failures or what steps were taken to remedy them. On the date of
inspection, the San Diego agent requested that the LP-1 and LP-2 both
transmit RWTs. Neither RWT could be heard through the KEVT EAS
equipment and there was no indication that the KEVT EAS equipment
received either RWT. The KEVT EAS equipment did not produce any EAS
printout to indicate the RWTs from the LP stations had been received.
The chief engineer acknowledged to the San Diego agent that the KEVT
EAS equipment may have been having technical problems.
3. On August 29, 2006, the San Diego agent spoke with the KEVT chief
engineer and the chief engineer advised that One Mart would be
replacing the KEVT EAS equipment. The KEVT chief engineer indicated
that he was in the process of obtaining cost estimates from various
EAS vendors.
4. On December 28, 2006, the Enforcement Bureau's San Diego Office issued
the NAL in the amount of $8,000 to One Mart for violating Section
11.35 of the Rules. One Mart filed a response ("Response") to the NAL
on February 27, 2007, and supplemented that response on June 24, 2007.
In its Response, One Mart does not dispute the EAS violations found by
the San Diego agent. One Mart asks for mitigation of the forfeiture
amount based on the destruction of two of the four KEVT antenna
structures in 2003 by high winds, and the station's efforts to rebuild
while operating under special temporary authority at a greatly reduced
power, which greatly reduced its revenue. One Mart also asks that we
take into consideration its good faith efforts to replace the EAS
equipment, as well as its history of compliance with the Commission's
Rules.
III. DISCUSSION
5. The proposed forfeiture amount in this case was assessed in accordance
with Section 503(b) of the Act, Section 1.80 of the Rules, and The
Commission's Forfeiture Policy Statement and Amendment of Section 1.80
of the Rules to Incorporate the Forfeiture Guidelines ("Forfeiture
Policy Statement"). In examining One Mart'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.
6. Section 11.35 of the Rules requires all broadcast stations to ensure
that EAS encoders, EAS decoders and attention signal generating and
receiving equipment is installed and operational so that the
monitoring and transmitting functions are available during the times
the station is in operation. Broadcast stations must also determine
the cause of any failure to receive required monthly and weekly EAS
tests, and must indicate in the station's log why any required tests
were not received and when defective equipment is removed and restored
to service.
7. Section 11.61(a)(1) and (2) of the Rules requires broadcast stations
to (a) receive monthly EAS tests from designated local primary EAS
sources and retransmit the monthly test within 60 minutes of its
receipt and (b) conduct tests of the EAS header and EOM codes at least
once a week at random days and times. The requirement that stations
monitor, receive and retransmit the required EAS tests ensures the
operational integrity of the EAS system in the event of an actual
disaster. Appropriate entries must be made in the broadcast station
log as specified in Sections 73.1820 and 73.1840, indicating reasons
why any tests were not received or transmitted.
8. One Mart does not dispute the facts as described in the NAL, but does
ask for mitigation based on the decreased revenue of the station. One
Mart states that two of the four KEVT towers were destroyed by
"tornado force winds" on July 15, 2003, and the station was forced to
operate at substantially reduced power. This caused a major loss of
revenue and listenership to the station. To support this claim, One
Mart supplies its last three years of tax records. In analyzing a
financial hardship claim, the Commission generally has looked to gross
revenues as a reasonable and appropriate yardstick in determining
whether a licensee is able to pay the assessed forfeiture. The data
produced by One Mart, however, does not support cancellation or
reduction of the forfeiture, as the forfeiture amount does not exceed
two percent of One Mart's average gross revenues for the three years
covered by the financial documents. Therefore, we are unable to reduce
the forfeiture based on One Mart's inability to pay.
9. One Mart also states that it had planned to address the EAS issues at
the station once the station was back at full power. It states that it
had planned to have its chief engineer attend the NAB Radio Conference
in September 2006 to look for replacement EAS equipment. Reductions
based on good faith efforts to comply generally involve situations
where violators demonstrate that they initiated measures to correct or
remedy violations prior to a Commission inspection or investigation.
While One Mart has acknowledged that new EAS equipment was needed for
KEVT, and that it had planned to obtain such equipment, it has
produced no evidence that it initiated the purchase of new EAS
equipment or the repair of the old EAS equipment repairs prior to the
August 17, 2006, inspection by the San Diego agent, who notified One
Mart of the EAS equipment issues at KEVT. Therefore, we cannot
conclude that One Mart's efforts to comply occurred prior to a
Commission inspection and, consequently, we decline to reduce the
forfeiture amount on that basis.
10. Finally, One Mart asks that the forfeiture amount be reduced based on
its overall history of compliance with the Commission's Rules. We have
reviewed our records and we concur. Consequently, we reduce One Mart's
forfeiture amount from $8,000 to $6,400.
11. Based on the information before us, having examined it according to
the statutory factors above, and in conjunction with the Forfeiture
Policy Statement, we find that reduction of the proposed forfeiture to
$6,400 is warranted.
IV. ORDERING CLAUSES
12. ACCORDINGLY, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to Section 503(b) of the
Communications Act of 1934, as amended ("Act"), and Sections 0.111,
0.311 and 1.80(f)(4) of the Commission's Rules, One Mart Corporation,
IS LIABLE FOR A MONETARY FORFEITURE in the amount of $6,400 for
willfully and repeatedly violating Section 11.35 of the Rules.
13. 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. 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: Associate Managing Director - Financial Operations, Room
1A625, 445 12th Street, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20554.
14. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a copy of this Order shall be sent by First
Class Mail and Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested to One Mart
Corporation, at its address of record, and Ernest T. Sanchez, Esquire,
its counsel of record.
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
Rebecca L. Dorch
Regional Director, Western Region
Enforcement Bureau
See Assignment of License from One Mart Corporation to Sloan Broadcasting,
LLC, File No. BAL-20061010ACT, granted November 27, 2006 and consummated
January 5, 2007. Since the assignment of the license to Sloan
Broadcasting, LLC, the call sign of the station has been changed to KCEE.
We also note that on March 14, 2007, the Commission approved the
assignment of license of KQTL, Sahuarita, Arizona, Facility ID No. 19119,
from Multicultural Radio Broadcasting Licensee, LLC, to One Mart, File No.
BAL-20070129ALJ. The transaction was consummated on April 27, 2007. On May
2, 2007, One Mart changed the call sign of that station to KEVT.
47 C.F.R. S: 11.35.
Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture, NAL/Acct. No. 200732940004
(Enf. Bur., Western Region, San Diego Office, released December 28, 2006).
47 U.S.C. S: 503(b).
47 C.F.R. S: 1.80.
12 FCC Rcd 17087 (1997), recon. denied, 15 FCC Rcd 303 (1999).
47 U.S.C. S: 503(b)(2)(E).
47 C.F.R. S: 11.35(a) and (b).
The required monthly and weekly tests are required to conform to the
procedures in the EAS Operational Handbook. See also, Amendment of Part 11
of the Commission's Rules Regarding the Emergency Alert System, 17 FCC Rcd
4055 (2002).
47 C.F.R. S:S: 73.1820 and 73.1840.
See File Numbers BSTA-20030813AHE, granted August 23, 2003;
BSTA-20040315AFN, granted April 30, 2004; BSTA-20041101AIA, granted
February 23, 2005; BSTA-20050614ADW, granted November 22, 2005;
BSTA-20060301AEA, granted November 17, 2006.
See PLB Communications of Virginia, Inc., 7 FCC Rcd 2088 (1992)
(forfeiture not deemed excessive where it represented approximately 2.02
percent of the violator's gross revenues).
One Mart states that by August 24, 2006, the towers were rebuilt and tuned
and a license application was filed with the Commission on August 24,
2006, to cover the reconstruction. See File Number BZ-20060824AFC, granted
March 8, 2007.
See Radio One Licenses, Inc., 18 FCC Rcd 15964, 15965 (2003), recon.
denied, 18 FCC Rcd 25481 (2003).
One Mart reports that Sloan Broadcasting, LLC, has purchased new EAS
equipment for the station. We see no basis for reducing the forfeiture
amount based on the actions of the new licensee. A licensee is expected to
correct errors when they are brought to the licensee's attention and that
such correction is not grounds for a downward adjustment in the
forfeiture. See AT&T Wireless Services, Inc. 17 FCC Rcd 21866, 21871-76
(2002).
On November 16, 2006, the San Diego Office issued a Notice of Violation
(NOV No. V20073294001, released November 16, 2006) to One Mart because of
deficiencies in the KEVT public inspection file. The inspection which
generated this NOV, however, was the same inspection, conducted on the
same day, as the inspection which generated the instant NAL. Given that
these violations were observed by the San Diego agent on the same day, we
find that prior to these violations, One Mart had a history of compliance
with the Rules.
47 U.S.C. S: 503(b), 47 C.F.R. S:S: 0.111, 0.311, 1.80(f)(4), 11.35.
47 U.S.C. S: 504(a).
See 47 C.F.R. S: 1.1914.
Federal Communications Commission DA 07-3843
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Federal Communications Commission DA 07-3843