Yes, Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming like a freight train but that’s not the only thing happening this time of year. It’s also time for radio stations to renew their licenses. All radio and TV stations are licensed by the FCC for eight years, and they expire in groups by state. The licenses for all Oregon radio stations expire in 2014 and the stations had to have their renewal applications in to the FCC by October 1. If you’d like to object to the renewal then your deadline is coming up too… January 2, 2014. If you’d like to go on the record about KPOJ’s renewal, then we’d be very, very glad to help.
Now, let us say from the start that KPOJ will have their license renewed. It’s a forgone conclusion. No matter what we, the public, say or want, it will happen. The FCC has blatantly failed to enforce the mandate of stations to “serve the public interest”, and it
shows no sign of starting. According to the FCC, ClearChannel, the owner of KPOJ (and itself owned by Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital) owns 1172 radio stations and 35 TV stations across the country. They’re an 800-pound gorilla that’s guaranteed to get whatever they want when it comes to licenses. And in an era where 6 companies control almost every media outlet available, and where Citizens United has made it possible for them to bribe (sorry, “contribute to”) every public official who might make changes at the FCC, our public-servant regulators are unlikely to suddenly grow a spine. And yet, we still feel that the public should be heard.
There are two ways to protest a license. The first is to file a “petition to deny”, a formal legal objection to the renewal. (CREW, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, filed a petition to deny renewal of three broadcast licenses for FOX stations in Washington DC and Baltimore. Here’s a link to their petition so you can see how involved these things are.) There are several requirements for this type of petition listed on the FCC website…
- A person must be a “party in interest” and have “standing.” That means, generally, that the person must have more than a passing interest in the station.
- He or she must be a regular listener or viewer or have some other contact with the station that gives the petitioner a real stake in outcome of the renewal process.
- A petition must be supported by an affidavit of a person or persons with personal knowledge of the allegations of fact contained in the petition.
- A petition to deny license renewal must be “timely.” That is, as noted above, a petition to deny must be filed at least one month prior to the license expiration date.
- Failure to include a certification that a copy of the petition was also mailed to the station and the affidavit may result in dismissal of the petition to deny.
For those people unable to blow money on an attorney for an unwinnable cause, the FCC has provided a way for the unwashed masses to participate in this charade of regulation. Again, from the FCC website…
“A person or entity opposing the grant of a radio station’s license renewal application may file an informal objection against the license renewal application at any time prior to staff action on the license renewal application. An informal objection is less formal than a petition to deny, but some requirements still apply. It may take the form of a letter signed by the objector and mailed or delivered to one of the FCC addresses above. An informal objection need not contain the affidavit required for a petition to deny. It should, however, contain sufficient information to establish any violation alleged. Additionally, an informal objection not received by the time the station’s license renewal application has been granted by the Commission will not be considered.”
Also, in the interests of full disclosure, if you’d like to file Positive Comments you must file by the petition-to-deny deadline date at the Commission Secretary’s address on the website.
So, what to do when you need to be heard but no one will listen? You create a petition. We went to Ipetition.com and created the one below…
Thomas Jefferson called information “the currency of democracy”, but today’s data blizzard doesn’t equate to information. Bias, unreliability, and outright deception are pervasive. Political talk radio notoriously presents just one side of a many-sided discussion, and KPOJ once served to counterbalance that monolith.
Radio stations only exist because the public sets rules for scarce broadcast spectrum, creating the value that translates into ad revenue. In return they are obligated to act in the public interest by serving the informational needs of that public. By switching to Sports (the third such station in Portland) and dropping its Progressive talk format (the only one in Portland) KPOJ abrogated its responsibility to serve the public. They manifestly failed to act in the most basic public interest, and should have no right to reap the rewards of a society they do not contribute to.
We, the undersigned, ask the FCC not to renew KPOJ’s broadcast license.
To sign this petition, please go to
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/deny-kpoj-license-renewal
or go to “ipetitions.com” and search for “KPOJ”
Our goal is 5000 signatures; right around the number of people who signed the SaveKPOJ petition when the station closed. We will collect signatures until December 31, 2013, and then send the petition to the FCC. We’ll all see what reaction, if any, they have.
We encourage you share this petition with everyone you know on every platform you can think of. If you want to email or mail us something additional to include, our email address is TomDwyer@TomDwyer.com and our snailmail address is 530 SE Tenino St, Portland, OR, 97206. If you’d like to send your own thoughts separately from this petition, your comment should identify the station’s call sign (KPOJ), city and state (Portland, OR), the station’s facility ID number (53069), and the license renewal application file number (BR20130930BBC). Mail an original and one copy of your comments to:
Office of the Secretary Federal Communications Commission 445 12th Street SW Room TW-A325 Washington, D.C. 20554 Attention: Audio departmentIf you’d like to dig deeper into the process, here are some links that may be useful…
How to Challenge a Radio Station’s License Renewal
Example of formal petition to deny
CREW files petition with FCC seeking to deny renewal of News Corp’s Fox Broadcast Licenses
The Public and Broadcasting (full document, html)
Thank you in advance your support and participation in this effort. Maybe if we can bring a little attention to the issue of media consolidation and propaganda then the station’s loss won’t have been completely in vain. And, look at it this way… our friend may be dead, but we can at least have a little fun at the wake!
BEFORE WE GO…
In our last-minute verification of some of the station information with the FCC, we spoke with a wonderful lady named Penelope who gave us some quick, unofficial stats and information you might be interested in…
- Less than 2% of broadcast license renewal applications are denied. Usually the denials are for misrepresenting information to the FCC, not for content or complaints.
- There is ONE administrative law judge to handle ALL the renewal cases. When Penelope started about 40 years ago, there were four.
- Staff in her section has dropped from 2800 people to 1800, and continues to shrink. The workload, however, continues to rise.
