Why Was Cumulus Hit With $20K FCC Fine?

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    It’s a pretty good size fine, especially for a company that recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The Commission says Cumulus’ cluster of five stations in Myrtle Beach has repeatedly violated a number of the Commission’s EEO rules for several years, some go back as far as 2008. The violations were found after the South Carolina cluster was randomly selected for an audit of its EEO program. Here’s the laundry list of violations.

     

    • Section 73.2080(c)(1), which requires a licensee to use recruitment sources for each fulltime vacancy.
    • Section 73.2080(c)(1)(ii), which requires a licensee to provide notification of each vacancy to any organization that distributes information about employment opportunities to job seekers upon request by such organization.
    • Section 73.2080(c)(5)(v), which requires a licensee to retain records to document the total number of interviewees for each of its vacancies and the referral source for each interviewee.
    • Section 73.2080(c)(6)(iv), which requires a licensee to include in its public file report the number of interviewees and the number of interviewees referred by each recruitment source.
    • Section 73.2080(c)(3), which requires a licensee to analyze the recruitment program for its employment unit on an ongoing basis to ensure that the program is effective in achieving broad outreach to potential applicants, and to address any problems found as a result of its analysis.
    • Section 73.3526(e)(7), which requires a commercial licensee to include certain EEO related materials in its public inspection file.

    The South Carolina stations the FCC says were in violation are: WDAI-FM Pawleys Island, WSYN-FM Surfside Beach, WSEA-FM Atlantic Beach, WLFF-FM Conway, and WHSC-AM Conway.

    The fine would have been $16,000 and then the Commission added this statement: “Cumulus Licensing, LLC has a history of violations relating to the EEO rules. In two previous decisions, Cumulus licensees were found to have committed EEO violations, one involving record-keeping deficiencies and the other involving recruiting, record-keeping, and reporting violations. Despite these prior findings, Cumulus continued violating EEO rules even after they were issued. Because Cumulus was found to have violated EEO rules on two occasions in two employment units, and now has been found to have violated the EEO rules in yet another unit for another two-year period even after being penalized for prior violations, we find that it has engaged in a “history of prior offenses. We are therefore adding an upward adjustment of $4,000 and propose a total forfeiture of $20,000.”

    The stations must now also follow strict FCC rules in order to help deter future violations. Specifically, the stations are required to submit to the Bureau’s EEO Staff annual reports for three years starting on September 4, 2018, that include the unit’s most recent EEO public file report; dated copies of all advertisements, bulletins, letters, faxes, e-mails, or other communications announcing each full-time vacancy for the preceding reporting year; the recruitment source that referred the hiree for each full-time vacancy, the job title of each full-time vacancy filled, and the date each fulltime vacancy was filled; a list of all sources that requested job notifications from the employment unit for jobs posted during the reporting periods listed below; the total number of interviewees for each full-time vacancy for the preceding reporting year and the referral source for each interviewee; and the sources contacted for each full-time opening during the reporting year. The Commission says these conditions are designed to ensure that Cumulus and any successor licensee of any of the stations maintain an adequate EEO program in compliance with the rules.

    Read the full 6-page FCC Notice of Apparent Liability HERE

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