The FCC should retain local ownership limits on FM radio, said multiple music licensing groups and low-power FM entity REC Networks in an ex parte meeting with Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel Monday, per an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 19-310. The meeting included representatives of the musicFIRST Coalition, the Future of Music Coalition, SoundExchange and the American Association of Independent Music. “The current numeric limits on local commercial FM radio station ownership remain necessary in the public interest to preserve and promote ownership diversity, viewpoint diversity including through music and lyrics as well as news and information,” the filing said.

It isn’t possible to eliminate the interference to electric vehicles from AM radio, said Alliance for Automotive Innovation CEO John Bozzella in a blog post Monday. The techniques for shielding EVs from AM interference add weight to the cars, reduce their range and increase costs to consumers, said the blog post. According to an October Center for Automotive Research report, reducing interference would cost $3.8 billion over the next seven years. Mandating AM in vehicles is not required for public safety, not popular with consumers “and now we know: not cheap," said the post. "It is noteworthy that the impartial Congressional Budget Office estimates the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act would necessitate automakers spend a fraction of their estimate to ensure access to local AM radio stations in electric vehicles," emailed an NAB spokesperson. "We hope automakers follow Ford’s lead in reversing their decision to remove AM radio capability from their vehicles to ensure the 82 million Americans who listen to AM radio have access to this local, free service.”

Broadcasters that support geotargeted radio are confounded the FCC hasn’t approved the technology, said Roberts Radio CEO Steve Roberts in a letter to the agency posted Friday in docket 20-401. “What is the Commission waiting for? More of us to exit the market?” wrote Roberts. Consolidation is forcing smaller broadcasters out of the industry, and geotargeting technology would help them to compete by allowing hyperlocal advertising and information, he said. NAB and several larger radio groups have opposed proposed rule changes that would allow the use of GeoBroadcastSolutions’ geotargeting technology, and the docket for the proceeding has largely been quiet since 2022, until recently. Last week, representatives of the U.S. Black Chambers (USBC) and the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council meeting with Commissioner Geoffrey Starks pushed for geotargeted radio. Several months ago, the USBC acquired the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, which had been a vocal proponent of geotargeted radio until November 2022, when it publicly withdrew its support (see 2210310070). Roberts is a founding member of NABOB. NABOB didn’t comment on whether the USBC letter means its stance on geotargeted radio has changed. “Time is running short for the Commission to make this change while it can still make a difference,” said the USBC ex parte filing.

America’s Public Television Stations President Patrick Butler will retire in 2024, APTS announced in a news release Wednesday. “It has been my great honor to advance the cause of America’s public television stations during a period of extraordinary challenge and opportunity,” Butler said in the release. Butler, who has headed the group since 2011, “will stay on through the selection of his successor but no later than the end of next year,” the release said. Federal and state funding for public broadcasting has reached record levels during Butler’s tenure and 40 of 50 state governments now fund public TV, the release said. Thirty-four states funded public TV before Butler took office. Under Butler, the former Association of Public Television Stations rebranded to its current name, the trade group reached record membership among public TV stations, and Congress enacted the Next Generation Warning System infrastructure program for public broadcasters, the association said. Prior to joining APTS, Butler was senior vice president of The Washington Post Company for 18 years, served as an aide to Senate Majority Leader and White House Chief of Staff Howard Baker, and was a speechwriter for President Gerald Ford.

Filings by the Media and Democracy Project petitioning against the renewal of the license of WTXF Philadelphia have become repetitious and the FCC should conclude the proceeding, said Fox in an ex parte letter Monday posted in docket 23-293. “The FCC has been generous in allowing MAD to continue making filings well after the close of the formal pleading cycle,” said Fox. “Now that these filings have become entirely repetitious, both the Commission and the viewing public would be well-served by conclusion of this proceeding.” Recent MAD requests for the FCC to include filings and evidence related to lawsuits against the Fox network by shareholders and voting machine companies run counter to FCC rules, Fox said. The FCC’s character policy for licensees does not override language in the Communications Act limiting the agency’s review of a station’s license renewal to consideration of conduct by that station, Fox said. Fox and retiring Chairman Rupert Murdoch's family “are attempting to deny the FCC readily available information essential to the FCC making a ‘character qualification’ determination -- in effect, trying to pull the wool over the Commission's eyes,” MAD said in an email. “My takeaway from this filing is that the Murdochs and Fox really do not want the FCC and MAD to see the documents they produced in the Shareholder, Dominion and Smartmatic court cases -- obviously relevant documents, already on digital disks and easily produced,” said MAD supporter Preston Padden, a former Fox and Disney executive.

The FCC’s order creating a gradual phase-in of audio description rules to additional markets over 10 years (see 2310170070) will take effect Nov. 27, said a Media Bureau public notice posted Friday in docket 11-93.

Preliminary numbers for the 2023 NAB Show New York indicate 12,231attendees, a 28% increase over the prior year, said NAB in a news release Thursday. The event, held in the Javits Center, also featured 270 exhibitors. The 2024 show is slated for Oct. 8-10, the release said.

A proposed $25,000 forfeiture against a small radio broadcaster shows that stations need to recruit broadly and adhere to FCC equal employment opportunity rules, said Wiley broadcast attorney Kate Dickerson in an online post. The FCC enforcement bureau issued a notice of apparent liability earlier this month against Rocking M and Melia Media, two Kansas radio groups owned by Monte and Doris Miller. According to the NAL, the broadcaster late-filed EEO reports, didn’t recruit adequately for vacancies and failed to adequately document EEO recruitment efforts. The stations told the agency that their businesses were disrupted by COVID-19 and the departure of a CEO. “Relying on a licensee’s own private contacts, such as employee or client referrals, is not recruitment as contemplated under the Commission’s rules,” which require public outreach, the NAL said. “The lesson for broadcasters here is to use a variety of sources -- including online sources with a broad reach, such as Indeed, and more locally focused sources such as a college or university -- to advertise full-time job openings,” Dickerson wrote. A broadcaster should also “get in the habit of taking screenshots or retaining job-posting confirmation emails for each and every online source it utilizes,” said Dickerson. Broadcasters should also periodically review their recruitment sources, Dickerson said. “If the same sources are referring applicants over and over, the broadcaster should consider adding additional sources (preferably, local sources and sources targeted at relevant minority populations),” she wrote.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has rejected AM licensee Gerald Parks’ en banc appeal of the court’s denial of his petition for mandamus relief (see Ref:[2308110028]), said an order Tuesday. Parks has argued that the FCC is legally required to allow him to continue holding a broadcast license even though he didn’t file a 2020 renewal application on time.

The FCC should require Fox to produce documents about ad sales at WTXF-TV Philadelphia and evidence connected with lawsuits against Fox, said the Media and Democracy Project in an ex parte meeting with Media Bureau Chief Holly Saurer and other Media Bureau staff. Former FCC Chair Alfred Sikes, former Weekly Standard editor William Kristol and I Street Advocates attorney David Goodfriend attended the meeting in support of MAD, according to the filing posted Friday in docket 23-293. Goodfriend told us he was there as a volunteer and doesn’t legally represent MAD or any of the parties in the matter. The “public interest imperative” of WTXF’s license renewal requires review of “all the evidence from the Dominion and Smartmatic litigations, all documents reviewed in the four stockholder derivative lawsuits, and all documents and written communications from political advertisers requesting to purchase advertising” on WTXF, said the ex parte filing. “Granting the motion for production of documents is necessary to allow the FCC to make an informed decision on whether to set the WTXF renewal application for hearing,” the filing said. MAD's request for documents from lawsuits and proceedings that don't involve WTXF don't have "any support in the law or rules," said Fox in a filing Monday. "MAD seeks a wide-ranging public fishing expedition untethered from criteria relevant to a license renewal proceeding," Fox said. "Unfortunately for MAD, its preferred law is not that of the Commission’s, and a grant of MAD’s 'Motion' would prejudice not only Fox 29 Philadelphia, but also destabilize the integrity of the Commission’s broadcast license renewal process more broadly." The FCC should follow its own long-standing procedures, Fox said. The FCC is considered unlikely to grant the MAD petition.