Radio Ink - Radio's Premier Management & Marketing Magazine

October 30, 2009: Ely Radio has been issued an $11,000 forfeiture by the FCC's Enforcement Bureau over violations of FCC lighting, monitoring, record-keeping, and notification requirements related to the antenna for Ely's Oldies KWNA-AM/Winnemucca, NV.

In response to a report that the 203-foot tower's red beacon lighting was out, an agent traced the antenna registration to Sheen Broadcasting, and checked with the FAA and found that no Notice to Airmen had been filed for an outage. Winnemucca police, asked to check on the tower, reported back that no lights were on at 8:10 p.m.

A San Francisco FCC agent later inspected the station, and management told the agent that the antenna lights had been turned off because the beacon's rotation was causing noise in the station's audio. Management also claimed to have notified the FAA about the outage, but there was nothing supporting that in the station log.

The agent was also told that Ely leases the tower from Sheen and that there was no agreement between them about who monitors the lights, but Sheen later said that the antenna was sold to Ely in 2006. That is still in dispute, but the Enforcement Bureau says the San Francisco office "reasonably concluded that the preponderance of the evidence" showed that Ely had bought the tower.

The FCC reduced the $13,000 forfeiture proposed in its earlier notice of apparent liability to $11,000, based on Ely's history of compliance with FCC rules.