The FCC Media Bureau is telling a North Carolina FM to pay its overdue annual regulatory fees or risk license revocation. An Order to Pay or to Show Cause was issued jointly with the FCC’s Managing Director to Durlyn Broadcasting’s WPNC. With the exception of 2011, 2017, and 2019, none of the station’s regulatory fees have been fully paid since 2010.
WPNC must now provide the Media Bureau with evidence of full payment within 60 days, or show why payment should be waived or deferred. While Broadcast Attorney David Oxenford says this is an extreme case, he says it is, “Another reminder that the FCC takes unpaid regulatory fees seriously, and that licensees must ensure that such fees are paid in a timely manner.”
In 1959, the FCC ordered television manufacturers to include UHF channels on television sets sold in the United States. Wonder if a case can be made for AM licensees waiving regulatory fees until the FCC shows similar leadership and orders radio manufacturers to include AM channels on their products sold in the United States including automotive receivers?