FCC Actions

The commission is opening a comment period for a proposed rulemaking for a “simplified multilingual alert processing approach for EAS alerts through which pre-scripted alerts that have been pre-translated into non-English languages can be initiated by alert originators for distribution to the public by the TV and radio broadcasters, cable service providers, and other services that make up the EAS public alert distribution system.” Among the topics the proposal seeks comments are whether stations should be required to transmit alerts in the language of the program content it carries, whether stations should also be allowed to transmit templated alerts in languages that do not correspond to the content offered on the station or whether to limit it to the language that corresponds to the station’s programming.

The proposal would see alerts offered in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Italian, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, and Vietnamese along with English and ASL. The FCC noted that the preliminary 2023 national EAS test revealed that already 2% of EAS participants transmitted alerts in Spanish, while 0.1% did so in other non-English languages.

The Federal Communications Commission today proposed rules that would make it casier for emergency managers to send emergency alerts in non-English languages to the public over television and radio. The proposal would remove a key barrier to sending multilingual messages through the Emergency Alert System, which could in turn spur more alerts that are accessible to more people-and potentially save lives.
According to U.S. Census data, over 26 million people in the U.S. report that they do not speak English very well or at all. While the Emergency Alert System currently allows authoritics to issue their alerts in languages other than English, the vast majority of these alerts are issued only in English. One of the key multilingual alerting challenges faced by authorities is translating time-sensitive alerts into additional languages during crises.

The Commission’s proposal would address this challenge by presenting emergency managers with pre-scripted, template alert messages and prerecorded audio files in non-English languages as an option for initiating alerts over the Emergency Alert System.

In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking adopted today, the Commission is seeking comment on proposals to:

• Create template alert scripts in the 13 most commonly spoken non-English languages in the U.S. These template scripts and audio files would be produced by the Commission and installed in the Emergency Alert System equipment operated by Emergency Alert System participants, such as broadcasters and cable providers.
• Seek comment on the feasibility of developing and implementing American Sign Language (ASL) versions of the template alerts, including how ASL translations of the template scripts would be processed and displayed.
• Establish a process through which emergency managers can initiate template alerts, which
  Emergency Alert System participants would then be required to transmit on their channel(s) in the template language that corresponds to their programming content.

Gillian Sutton’s Frijoles Canyon Trading Company turned in the licenses for its 1490 KRSN/107.1 K296GI Los Alamos NM on May 1, 2023 after the stations had been silent since May 1, 2022. On August 2, the Albuquerque Board of Education filed an “Emergency Petition for Extraordinary Relief” seeking to have the cancellation overturned so that they could be the temporary trustee of the licenses, so they could resume operating on an emergency basis. The FCC rejected the request as untimely as the license cancellation notice was published on May 4 giving any petition for reconsideration a deadline of June 5 and this was not filed until August 2, but also in that as a third-party they lacked standing to seek reinstatement of a surrendered authorization.

Albuquerque Board of Education, which owns a network of stations based at 89.1 KANW Albuquerque, followed by filing an Application for Review of the decision, which was rejected this week. The FCC rejected their review on multiple grounds including that while ABE asked for a waiver request the original petition did not request any specific rules be waived, there was no obligation to provide a basis for denying said waiver request where none was requested, the original petition was not timely filed as its original request was filed on August 2 and not within the statutory 30-day filing period for petitions for reconsideration, and they did not have standing as they were not the licensee or a party whose interest was adversely affected.

Pirate Actions

A Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture was issued against Brigido Danerys Gonzalez for operating a pirate “La Bakana” 90.1 in Hazleton PA. Between 2022 and 2023, FCC investigators noted the station operating from three different sites with Gonzalez taking advertising and hosting under the name ‘Super Dany’.

License Cancellations

Cortaro Broadcasting Corporation has surrendered the license of Spanish Christian 1150 KCKY Coolidge AZ.

Dockins Broadcast Group has rescinded its license cancellation requests for 960 WGRO Lake City and 1400 WPRY Perry FL, instead filing Silent STAs for the stations.

Silent Notifications

• Augustus Foundation’s 107.7 WHSL Lisman AL (Lightning damage)
• Lazer Media’s 1480 KSBQ Santa Maria CA (Thunderstorm damage)
• Caribbean Media Group’s 1400 WIRA Fort Pierce FL (Causing interference to nearby AM)
• Omni Broadcasting’s 1400 WFDM Fort Walton Beach FL (Lightning damage)
• Dockins Broadcast Group’s 960 WGRO Lake City FL (Technical problems)
• Dockins Broadcast Group’s 1400 WPRY Perry FL (Technical problems from Hurricane damage)

AM Changes

Townsquare Media’s News/Talk 890 KDXU St. George UT