KCPW Adds "Fair Game"

KCPW stated in a press release that it has added "Fair Game" from Public Radio International to it's weeknight programming. The show airs Monday through Thursday at 7 P.M., right after "All Things Considered."
"'Fair Game' is wonderful," Bryan Schott, News Director for KCPW.. "It's perfect for our listeners who are culturally connected and politically savvy. ‘Fair Game’ is a fresh and very funny jump-start to our evening lineup. It’s a terrific addition to our schedule."
The show is hosted by Faith Salie and originates from WNYC in New York City. Schott was formerly host of a Saturday talk show on KSL 1160 a few year ago.

General Managers Learn What's "Hot" in D.C.

FCC attorney advises of liability risks, possible fines

By: Rob Sanders
rfsanders@gmail.com

The general managers for nearly every Wasatch Front broadcast operator met Thursday at an annual conference of the Utah Broadcasters Association, at the University Park Marriott hotel near the University of Utah.

The guest speaker was David D. Oxenford, a broadcast law attorney with Davis Wright Tremaine in Washington D.C. Oxenford, who speaks to UBA annually, addressed the managers on the “hot issues” at the FCC, liability issues, and how to avoid fines.

IBOC All broadcasters are acting under “temporary authority,” Oxenford said in regard to HD programming. Broadcasters are currently not supposed to sell ad time of HD2 signals, although Oxenford admitted that it’s currently “not enforced.”

One manager asked if digital HD2 stations need to run a weekly EAS test. Oxenford said that there are currently no rules that require EAS tests, but no rules that release broadcasters from it either.

Ralph Carlson, manager of KDYL, blasted IBOC calling it “one of the biggest scams perpetuated on radio broadcasters,” because of the hash caused by IBOC on adjacent channels. Broadcasters also have to pay royalties to IBOC's inventors. Carlson asked if the FCC would require adjacent stations to install filters to protect stations buried by hash.

“There’s no obligation for the stations to do it,” Oxenford said. He cited an example of a rim-shot station in another market who was buried by an adjacent station, who happened to be a format competitor. Oxenford said the buried station had no option but to beg the other station into installing a filter (which they reluctantly did).

These unclear technical aspects of “HD2” are being held up by the Democratic controlled congress, Oxenford said, because current legislators want to decide what “specific public interest obligations” broadcasters need to meet, before technical issues are finalized.

Public interest programming is problematic, Oxenford said, because many HD2 stations may specialize in a service such as “all-traffic.” How can an all-traffic station provide public interest programming?

Other issues such as copy-protection issues are also holding up finalization of HD rules.

Payola Simply put, anything that is paid for needs to be credited as “paid for.” It goes well beyond the immediate image of disc jockies taking pay for play under the table.

Anytime anything is aired by anyone because of sort of exchange took place, it needs to be mentioned on-air. This includes video news releases given to television stations, Oxenford said.

For example, he mentioned that if the proponents of clean fuel cars were to give the station a news package on alternate fuels, it's considered pay-for-play, even if no exchange of money were made.

Stations can free themselves from payola accusations by simply running a disclaimer stated that financial consideration had been provided.

Fox 13's general manager wanted to know if a client paid for time to be on an infotainment show if a disclaimer needed to be ran. Oxenford said that a station would.

He warned that even if a syndicated show, such as American Top 40, were paid to play songs that local affiliates could be on the hook for payola accusations.

The only exception, Oxenford said, is a run-of-the-mill commercial spot.

Localism “Localism is back on the radar screen,” Oxenford said. Oddly enough, it was “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” that brought attention to the issue again.

Three years ago, in a post-Janet Jackson-scandal world, the FCC began to hold hearings on localism. These were tabled until the recent KDND Sacramento stunt, which brought the hearings back to life.

Some blame consolidation for “dangerous” contests, Oxenford said. Overall there has been a widespread feeling that broadcasters have let the public down. Proponents of localism call for policy ranging from rolling back ownership limits to more LPFM applications.

Copyright Liability Let’s say a station were to promote the following contest: Make a home-made music video and post it on our web site, and the winner gets $500.

According to Oxenford, a contest as seemingly innocent as that could get a station in a heap of trouble.

First, the station doesn’t have the rights to run the music on the internet. Second, the station doesn’t have the rights to “synchronize music with video,” and third any protections they have from DCMA is lost because by promoting a contest, they “encouraged users to break copyright laws.”

Phone Calls It may be the end for radio prank calls. No station can record or put a caller on the air without their oral consent – “not even a hello” can go out over the air, Oxenford said.

Craig Hansen, of Simmons Media, asked if the oral consent rule applies to callers who call into a contest. Oxenford said that when a caller actually calls in it’s assumed that the caller knows they are going on the radio and such “implied consent” would be sufficient.

Streaming is another issue that may cause broadcasters heartburn, because up to this point the royalties have been unclear.

Currently, and operator pays 88 cents per “aggregate tuning hour,” or 10.9 percent of revenue (whichever is greater).

This may jump to 3 cents per listener hour or 30 percent of revenue (whichever is greater). The news of this seemed to made a few of the managers in the room appear uneasy.

Additionally, Internet radio operators are asked not to pre-announce songs, so listeners can’t record it, never play more than three songs in a row by the same artist, or four songs by the same artist in a three hour block.

As for podcasting, Oxenford suggested that music may want to be removed altogether.

“Music programming is very problematic in podcasting,” Oxenford said. Stations do not own rights to place music in podcasts which is seen by royalty agencies as a Internet piracy because of its “download-able form.”

Oxenford suggested stations just put the comedy bits up and not the entire show.

EEO Every radio group with more than five full-time employees are required to meet FCC EEO requirements. In the past radio operators were only warned for EEO violations, Oxenford said, but now the FCC enforcement bureau is handing out fines.

A station can be fined from $7,000 to $20,000. Ignorance of EEO policy is no longer an excuse to get out of a fine, Oxenford said.

The idea behind EEO policy is to ensure that everybody has an equal chance of being hired into broadcasting, and not just those in the “old boy's network.”

All job openings need to be “widely distributed.” A station should not only post the job on their web site and other trade publications, but should also send the listing to community groups.

A few exemptions are available. If an employee is being “promoted from within,” Oxenford said that wide dissemination of the job opening is not required. If a station has a single candidate in mind, and only interviews that candidate, then wide dissemination is not required in that case either.

Hiring family members requires wide dissemination of the job opening.

David D. Oxenford has a radio law blog that can be found at http://www.broadcastlawblog.com.

Terry Wood, An Advocate Against Divine Strake?

As discussed on "Utah's Forum for Radio," ABC 4 (KTVX) anchor Terry Wood traveled to Las Vegas to hand-deliver KTVX viewer's petitions against Divine Strake, a proposed military test explosion that will take place in the deserts of Nevada.

Seven-thousand ABC 4 viewers responded to the station's collections against Divine Strake. Wood publicly criticized the test on-air, saying as a "personal note" that he was taking a stand on an issue for the first time in his forty-year career.

"I have never taken a position of advocacy before," Wood told viewers. "But more than a professional journalist, I am a citizen of Utah ....I am willing to put my career of forty years on the line."

The issue has created a few ethical questions. Television has the force to go to battle for a community's good. However, Wood's public take on the issue has a few media ethics people, including the Utah chapter of the Society For Professional Journalists raising eyebrows.

CBS To Sell KUTV

CBS announced today the sale of 7 television stations, including KUTV Salt Lake City and KUSG in St. George to Cerberus. In Utah CBS owns the two television stations as well as some outdoor (billboard) properties.

The Deseret Morning News reports that station manager David W. Phillips said viewers will see "virtually no change" in programming.

Cerebrus, whose name-sake is strangely the "hound of Hades" in Greek mythology, is a New York based private investment firm. Currently they own no television properties, although they manage $22 billion dollars worth of other properties accoring to the CBS press release.