December 24 Online Public File Compliance Deadline for Radio Stations

Saturday, December 24, 2016 is the deadline by which all commercial radio stations that have five or more full-time employees in their employment units, and are located in one of the top 50 Nielsen Audio markets, must upload historical documents from their physical public inspection files to their online public inspection files. Memos which we have previously distributed with additional details about these requirements can be found here and here.

Documents that stations must upload by the December 24 deadline include historical issues/programs lists and EEO public file reports. The FCC will automatically upload certain documents electronically filed in CDBS (or LMS) into each station’s online public file, including: authorizations, applications and related materials, ownership reports and related materials, contour maps, EEO materials, The Public and Broadcasting manual, and non-confidential letters of inquiry and investigative information requests from the Commission. While the FCC is responsible for uploading these materials to the online public file, stations are ultimately responsible for ensuring that their online files are complete. Therefore, if you notice that documentation is missing from your station’s public file, you should contact one of the attorneys in our office as soon as possible.

As a reminder, letters and emails from the public should not be uploaded to the online public file. Instead, those documents should remain in a physical public file housed at a station’s main studio.

Once a station has completed uploading all of its existing public file material to the online public file, the station must certify to the FCC that it has completed the process. The certification can be found under the “Settings” tab in a station’s online file.

If you have any questions about the FCC’s radio online public inspection file rules, please contact any attorney in our office.