In these last days of the presidential election, I am hearing that some stations are being flooded with so much demand by the presidential campaigns that they actually want to turn some down. That raises the question: can they? The answer is probably not, but yes under very strained and stringent circumstances.

So: Here’s the deal, as one candidate might say.

The Communications Act clearly states that all federal candidates are to have “reasonable access” to broadcast facilities. The Communications Act authorizes the FCC to revoke a station license:

... for willful and repeated failure to allow reasonable access or to permit purchase of reasonable amounts of time for the use of a broadcasting station, other than a non-commercial educational broadcast station, by a legally qualified candidate for Federal elective office on behalf of his candidacy.

In the new era of staff reductions, doing more with less, and the potential of increased local programming should some amount of translator program origination be allowed, many a broadcaster is asking, how can I get a bit more from my staff and comply with legal ...

Question 1: Do you run programming from any national or statewide unwired network? Question 2: Does your network run political advertising? If you answered YES, you have work to do! Did you know that your station is subject to the very same FCC political rules that ...

If you want the FCC and its Enforcement Bureau to stay off your back for advertising, one cardinal rule is: always tell the audience who is speaking to them. Section 317 of the Communications Act of 1934, and its counterpart, 47 C.F.R. 73.1212, require that whenever a ...

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit broadcasters hard. Characteristically, they have stepped up to meet the public interest need for vital information about how the pandemic has affected their local community, but advertiser economic support has been dwindling and cancellations ...

Credits: My firm, Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP has created a COVID-19 task force to provide information and support to our clients and neighbors during the current, unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. I am honored to be a contributor on that task-force. While I have added ...

By Gregg P. Skall Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP With 2020 election less than a year away and the fourth quarter of 2019 already a hot issue advertising season, the FCC rules on issue ads are more important than ever. Not only are candidates beginning to advertise ...

By Gregg P. Skall Womble Bond Dickinson (US) LLP The FCC finally has finally released its order on regulatory fees for fiscal year 2019. On August 27th, it issued a public notice announcing the opening of its automated filing and payment system. Notably, the ...

There has been a tremendous amount of information and opinion lately about teen use of vaping. Broadcasters anxious for new advertisers have looked at vaping as a new source of revenue, but be careful. This is a very dangerous area and one that must be well understood ...

Perhaps the most important development to come out of the FCC AM Revitalization docket has been to allow cross-service FM translators for AM stations and the new application windows for new translators. As a result, the number of licensed FM translators has grown from ...