Houston Radio Station Enters FCC Consent Decree Over Public Inspection File Issue

A radio station in the Houston market entered a consent decree with the FCC after its “failure to affirmatively certify compliance with its public file obligations in Section 73.3526 of the Commission’s rules,” which were self-admitted in its 2021 FCC radio station license renewal.

The FCC said “the Audio Division staff determined that the public file deficiencies were attributable to a failure by Gow Media, LLC, to comply with political file requirements.”  

As noted in the consent decree, Section 73.1943(a) of the Commission’s Rules requires stations to maintain and make available for public inspection information about all requests for broadcast time made by or on behalf of candidates for public office, and section 73.1943(c) requires stations to upload such information to their online political files “as soon as possible,” meaning “immediately absent unusual circumstances.”

Gow Media, LLC, and its licensee KFNC-FM Mont Belvieu, agreed “to implement a comprehensive compliance plan to ensure future compliance with its political file obligations and to submit periodic compliance reports to the Media Bureau.”