Advertisement |
FCC Enters Consent Decree with WSKQ/New York
RADIO ONLINE | Thursday, April 6, 2017 |
The FCC's Media Bureau and SBS-owned Tropical WSKQ-FM/New York have entered a Consent Decree in which resolves issues arising from the Bureau's review of applications for renewal of the station's license filed in 2006 and 2014. Under the decree, the station pay a civil penalty of $10,000 to resolve alleged violations by WSKQ that it had aired indecent programming and violated the broadcast hoax rule.
One complaint alleged that station personnel prank-called a woman claiming to be employees of a local hospital and told her that her husband's and daughter's dead bodies were at the hospital. After the call recipient became hysterical, station personnel told the call recipient that the call was a prank. Plus the station recorded and aired a phone conversation without giving prior notice to the individual being called of the intention to do so. To compound matters, WSKQ aired the call at issue twice.
Other complaints included indecency allegations, where WKSQ argued that no sanction is appropriate because none of the broadcasts are actionably indecent. The petitioners argued that the broadcasts in question are indecent, but they did not show any case where a broadcast station faced the prospect of license revocation based on comparable facts.
Advertisement |
Latest Radio Stories
AWMF Unveils 49th Annual Gracie Awards Winners |
High Plains Radio Network Seeks Chapter 11 Bankruptcy |
Kansas House Endorses AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act |
Advertisement |
Share of Time Spent Listening to Radio Sources In-Car |
vCreative and Evvnt Announce vTickets Reseller Partnership |
Tyler Murray Joins WEEI's Red Sox Radio Booth |