Texas church fined $5,000 over EAS non-compliance

The FCC has fined Iglesia Cristiana Ebenezer of Greenville, licensee of KYLP-LP in Greenville, $5,000 for “willful and repeated violation of Section 11.35(a) of the commission’s rules.”

The violations involved were the church’s failure to install Emergency Alert System (EAS) equipment and maintain EAS logs.  

The church was issued a $9,000 Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture and Order (NAL) in May, 2013 for EAS violations.

In March of 2012, an agent from the Dallas Office observed on two occasions that KYLP-LP had no installed EAS equipment at either its main studio or transmitter site. 

The station also had no EAS logs showing that the KYLP ever had any operational EAS equipment.

In responding to the 2013 NAL, church staff said they ordered EAS equipment immediately after it became aware of the EAS requirements and installed it in April 2012.

The church also requested reduction or cancellation of the proposed $9,000 forfeiture due to its “extremely limited revenues” and “no history of prior violations.”

In lowering the forfeiture amount, the FCC noted “future violations of this kind may result in significantly higher forfeitures that may not be reduced due to Iglesia’s financial circumstances.”

Questions?  Contact TAB's Michael Schneider or call (512) 322-9944.