PUBLIC NOTICE
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th St., S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20554
News Media Information 202 / 418-0500
Internet: http://www.fcc.gov
TTY: 1-888-835-5322
DA 11-489
March 14, 2011
MEDIA BUREAU ANNOUNCES REVISIONS TO LICENSE RENEWAL PROCEDURES AND 
FORM 303-S; RADIO LICENSE RENEWAL CYCLE TO COMMENCE ON MAY 2, 2011 
By this Public Notice, the FCC’s Media Bureau announces revisions to FCC Form 303-S for radio and 
television stations (see below) and provides information on the upcoming 2011-2014 radio license 
renewal cycle.  Applications for stations in the first license renewal group (radio stations licensed to 
communities in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia) may be filed on or after 
May 2, 2011, and must be filed no later than June 1, 2011.  Each AM, FM, noncommercial educational 
(NCE) FM, FM translator, and Low Power FM (LPFM) station must electronically file Form 303-S 
(Application for Renewal of Broadcast Station License Renewal).  Each AM, FM, and NCE FM station, 
regardless of how many full-time staff it employs, must file FCC Form 396 (Broadcast Equal 
Employment Opportunity Program Report). NCE licensees also must file Form 323-E (Ownership Report 
for Noncommercial Broadcast Stations).  Licensees with pending applications from the prior renewal 
cycle are also subject to these filing requirements.  Such licensees should file new license renewal forms 
with updated information and certifications to cover all periods from the end of their last license term 
through the date of filing, except as otherwise stated below with respect to the new advertising sales 
agreement certification.  All renewal applicants must complete the required submissions on or prior to the 
filing deadline specified on the website of the Media Bureau’s Audio Division: 
Radio broadcast renewal dates by STATE: [ PDF | Word ]
Radio broadcast renewal states by DATE:  [ PDF | Word ] 
Links to the Consolidated Database System (CDBS) electronic filing system and a help file for the 
electronic filing system can be found as follows:
http://www.fcc.gov/mb/elecfile.html
http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/audio/cdbs-efile-help.html
License Renewal Procedures. The Media Bureau will not mail postcard notices to licensees.  The 
Media Bureau will send courtesy email notices to those licensees with a valid email address on file with 
the Bureau, but failure to receive a notice does not excuse a licensee from timely compliance with the 
Commission’s license renewal requirements.  (Additional information on updating licensee contact 
information is provided below.)  The base forfeiture amount for a late-filed AM or FM station (including 
NCE station) license renewal application is $3,000.  If a license renewal application is not filed by the 
expiration of the term, a station may be subject to an additional base forfeiture amount of $4,000 for 
unauthorized operations.  Additional information about license renewal procedures can be found on the 
Audio Division’s website [http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/renewal/index.html], and in the Instructions to 
FCC Form 303-S [PDF] and FCC Form 396 [PDF].  For NCE license renewal applicants, please also 
review the Instructions to FCC Form 323-E [PDF].
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Revisions to FCC Form 303-S. Several revisions to FCC Form 303-S have been made since the last 
license renewal cycle.  (The electronic version of FCC Form 303-S currently available through CDBS 
does not include the most recent form and instructions revisions).  Electronic access to the revised form 
through CDBS will be implemented prior to May 2, 2011.  The most significant form changes are as 
follows:
A. Non-Discriminatory Advertising Sales Agreements Certification.  Section II, Question 7 is a 
new certification for licensees of commercial radio and television stations.  Licensees must certify 
that their advertising sales agreements do not discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity and 
that all such agreements contain nondiscrimination clauses.  For both the radio and television 
renewal cycles, the certification covers the period from today, March 14, 2011, the effective date of 
the revised Form 303-S, to the date of the station’s license renewal application filing.  For subsequent 
license renewal cycles, the certification will cover the entire license term.  NCE licensees are not 
required to make this certification and, therefore, should select “not applicable.”
As detailed in the revised Form 303-S instructions, prohibited discriminatory practices include “no 
urban/no Spanish” dictates.  Broadcasters must have a reasonable basis for making the certification. 
If the response to Question 7 is “No,” a commercial licensee must attach an exhibit explaining the 
persons and matters involved and why the matter is not an impediment to a grant of the station’s 
license renewal application.  
B. Minimum Operating Schedule Certification. Section III, Question 4 is a new certification that 
the station has not been silent (or operating for less than its prescribed minimum operating hours) 
for a period of 30 days or more during the last license term.  If the answer to the question is “No,”  
an explanatory exhibit stating the dates during which the station was silent (or operating for less 
than its prescribed minimum operating hours) is required.
C. RF Radiation. In the prior license renewal cycle, certain AM and FM licensees were required to 
submit an exhibit (and all other AM and FM licensees to fill out a worksheet) to demonstrate 
compliance with the Commission’s maximum permissible radio frequency (“RF”) 
electromagnetic exposure limits.  The new version of the form (Section III, Question 7) replaces 
the exhibit/worksheet requirement with a certification concerning compliance with the RF 
exposure limits for stations that have had no material change in their RF environment since the 
station last received a grant of a license application or license renewal application.  For stations 
that have had a material change in their RF environment since they last received a grant of a 
license application or license renewal application, either an exhibit or a worksheet demonstrating 
compliance with the RF exposure limits is required.
D. Radio – Newspaper Cross-Ownership. Section III, Question 8 is a new certification that 
neither the applicant nor any party to the application has an attributable interest in a newspaper 
that is subject to the cross-ownership restrictions in 47 C.F.R. § 73.3555(d).  If the answer to the 
question is “Yes,” an explanatory exhibit is required.  Such an exhibit will be required whether 
the Commission has previously approved the cross-ownership interest or the interest is one that 
has been acquired without Commission approval (e.g., an interest in a local daily newspaper 
acquired by a radio station licensee after the licensee’s last license renewal application was 
granted).
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Address Change Procedures in CDBS.  To confirm and update contact information, use the following 
link to access CDBS:  http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts.  
Licensees with CDBS account IDs and passwords should log in and click the “Account Maintenance” 
button.  Both “Licensee Applicant” and “Contact Rep” information should be reviewed and, as necessary, 
updated. If updates are made, licensees should return to the CDBS Electronic Filing System page.  Click 
on “Additional non-form Filings” at the bottom of the list of FCC Forms and then click on “Change in 
Official Mailing Address for Broadcast Station.”  Licensees should follow those instructions for 
electronically updating information.  This form can be submitted for multiple stations with the same 
address.  
New users should access CDBS with the link above and click on the “Create a New Account” button.  
The address entered in the account creation process will be the new address of record for the these 
stations.  New users should then complete the “Additional non-form Filings” procedures described above.
Consult the CDBS user guide if you have any questions about filing:  
http://licensing.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbs_ug.htm  
Action by the Chief, Media Bureau.  Contacts in the Media Bureau’s Audio Division for further 
information regarding the filing of Form 303-S are Tom Hutton at (202) 418-7266 and Kelly Donohue at 
(202) 418-8192.  For further information on the non-discriminatory advertising sales agreement 
certification, contact Amy Brett of the Media Bureau’s Industry Analysis Division at (202) 418-2703.  
For further information regarding the filing of FCC Form 396, contact the Media Bureau’s EEO staff at 
(202) 418-1450.
- FCC -