The FCC Media Bureau proposed a $6,000 penalty for a Zanesville, Ohio, TV station over violations of the agency’s public file rules, said a notice of apparent liability Friday. WHIZ-TV uploaded one quarterly issues/programs list more than a year late, and seven more under a year late. “The Licensee did not provide any explanation for its failure to upload these issues/programs lists in a timely manner,” the filing said.

Comments on the FCC’s NPRM on FM6 stations are due July 18, replies Aug. 1, in docket 03-185, said a notice prepared for Friday’s Federal Register. The NPRM sought comment on rules for allowing FM6 stations to broadcast their analog audio signals as an ancillary service and allowing FM stations to use Channel 6 spectrum (see 2206020061).

The FCC Enforcement Bureau sent warnings to two property owners allegedly hosting pirate radio broadcasters, threatening penalties of up to $2 million, according to two “Notices of Illegal Pirate Radio Broadcasting” listed in Thursday’s Daily Digest. One was sent to Monel Meriland of Burlington. Vermont, for illegal broadcasts on 90.9 MHz in Newark, New Jersey in March, and another to R & T Realty Associates in Freehold, New Jersey, for broadcasts on 105.5 MHz in Queens, New York. “You are hereby notified and warned that the FCC may issue a fine of up to $2,000,000 if, following the response period set forth below, we determine that you have continued to permit any individual or entity to engage in pirate radio broadcasting,” the notices said.

Geo-targeted radio ads would have “devastating impact” on the radio industry, NAB President Curtis LeGeyt told FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr in a call Friday, said an ex parte filing posted Wednesday in docket 20-401. “That the technology is pitched as ‘voluntary’ does nothing to assuage industry fears,” said the filing, arguing even if only some stations use the tech, it will bring ad rates down for all. “There are no anti-competitive or consumer harms that would result from dismissing GBS’s [GeoBroadcast Solutions] proposal,” LeGeyt told Carr. “The only interest truly in support of the rule change is a private one -- GBS -- while the public stands to lose considerably if the FCC grants GBS’s petition.” Radio personality Hugh Hewitt recently also wrote Carr condemning the geo-targeted radio proposal (see 2206020064). GBS didn’t comment.

Cable groups should support an NAB proposal that would require broadcasters using ATSC 3.0 multicasting and channel hosting to submit a showing to the FCC that they could transmit all hosted programming on a single 1.0 facility if there’s a complaint, NAB told the Media Bureau in a call Friday, according to an ex parte filing posted Wednesday. ATVA said its members shouldn’t be responsible for policing broadcasters and filing complaints, but NAB argued in the filing that cable companies would be the ones most affected by capacity abuse. “NAB is puzzled by ATVA’s apparent assertion that cable companies will suffer severe injury from abuse of the rule but also that the injury will be so subtle as to escape notice,” the filing said. “That is an abundantly reasonable proposal to address a situation that will never actually arise in practice,” NAB said. Though the filing gives the date of the call as May 10, NAB confirmed it occurred Friday.

The FCC Media Bureau denied an FM translator’s request to be allowed to remain silent and rescinded its license after learning the broadcaster, Powell Meredith Communications, didn’t construct the station in the authorized location and didn’t fulfill the conditions of its license, said a letter in Tuesday’s Daily Digest. PMC built its station on a ham radio tower in a recreational vehicle park rather than at the authorized tower site 30 yards away, the letter said. PMC argued the FCC was discriminating against the station because the company's sole principal is a minority, and said the agency was acting outside its authority. "There is nothing about the License Condition or LOI [letter of inquiry] that is disparate, discriminatory, or beyond the Bureau’s authority," the letter said. "The constructed facilities were not licensable because PMC provided false information in the License Application by stating that it had completed construction at the authorized location,” the letter said. That construction also violated FCC rules because of its “temporary nature,” said the bureau.

The FCC Media Bureau proposed a $6,500 penalty for a Methow Valley, Washington, TV translator for failing to file a license to cover on time and operating without authorization after its incentive auction displacement construction permit expired, said a notice of apparent liability in Monday’s Daily Digest. K44EN-D submitted documentation that it had constructed its displacement facilities and was operating from them, but it didn't do so until three years after completing them and six months after the permit expired, the NAL said. “It is well settled that administrative oversight is not an excuse for failure to comply with the Commission’s rules,” said the NAL.

The FCC should undertake "extraordinary scrutiny" in reviewing the planned sale of 18 Spanish-language radio stations to the Latino Media Network, Republican lawmakers urged in a letter dated Wednesday to Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel. Citing LMN's financial backing by Lakestar Finance, with ties to investor George Soros, they said the proposed sale "is the latest in a series of moves by elite progressives desperate to claw back support from Hispanic voters." The lawmakers said they "are concerned that far-left ideologues are attempting to consolidate and expand their control over the media, so they can flood the airwaves with propaganda." Signers were Sens. Mario Rubio and Rick Scott of Florida, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Reps. Carlos Gimenez, Maria Salazar and Mario Diaz-Balart of Florida. The agency didn't comment.

The American Militia Association, licensee of WHYU-LP Meyersdale, Pennsylvania, hasn't shown its intervention would help resolve a proceeding seeking to determine if Pennsylvania broadcaster Roger Wahl is qualified to keep that license, Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin ordered in docket 21-401 Thursday. It sought to intervene (see 2205170080).

Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin's decision that Auburn Network’s broadcast licenses won’t be revoked over owner Michael Hubbard’s felony convictions (see 2205090059) ignores FCC policy and creates "a dangerous precedent," the FCC Enforcement Bureau said in docket 21-20 Thursday, asking the full commission for a reversal. It said the judge used multiple wrong legal standards for determining Hubbard’s corruption convictions for public corruption weren't disqualifying, and the decision ignores all the evidence in the record concerning mitigating factors. It said by not striking evidence Auburn submitted after the discovery period closed, Halprin's decision leaves open the possibility future cases could have parties introducing evidence in its written case submissions that couldn't be investigated by the other party -- "a dangerous precedent for allowing 'trial by ambush,'" the bureau said. It asked the commission to provide guidance "concerning the admissibility of 'ambush' evidence ... in hearings conducted on a written record to ensure future hearings adhere to procedural safeguards that reflect well-settled principles of fairness."