Federal Communications Commission	DA 21-439


Before the
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20554

In re Application of  

School District, Bay City

For Renewal of License for
Station WCHW-FM
Bay City, Michigan
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Facility ID No. 59351
NAL/Acct. No. MB-202141410019
FRN: 0010754273
File No. 0000122730

ORDER

Adopted:  April 19, 2021	Released:  April 19, 2021

By the Chief, Audio Division, Media Bureau:

I. INTRODUCTION
1. The Media Bureau (Bureau) has before it a request to cancel a Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL) School District, Bay City, Memorandum Opinion and Order and Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture, DA 21-259 (MB Mar. 4, 2021).
 issued to School District, Bay City (Licensee), licensee of Station WCHW-FM, Bay City, Michigan (Station), for apparently willfully violating section 73.3539 of the Commission’s rules (Rules) by failing to timely file a license renewal application for the Station.  As discussed below, we cancel the forfeiture and instead admonish Licensee for the violation.
II. BACKGROUND
2. Section 73.3539(a) of the Rules requires that applications for renewal of license for broadcast stations must be filed “not later than the first day of the fourth full calendar month prior to the expiration date of the license sought to be renewed.” 47 CFR § 73.3539(a).  
  An application for renewal of the Station’s license should have been filed by June 1, 2020, the first business day of the fourth full calendar month prior to the Station’s October 1, 2020 license expiration date. See 47 CFR §§ 73.1020, 73.3539(a).
 The application was not filed until September 29, 2020.  The Licensee provided no explanation for its untimely filing of the application. 
3. Accordingly, on March 4, 2021, we released the NAL, which proposed a forfeiture of three thousand dollars ($3,000).  The NAL gave the Licensee thirty days to pay the full amount of the proposed forfeiture or file a written statement seeking reduction or cancellation of the proposed forfeiture. NAL at 3, para. 9.
  
4. On March 30, 2021, the Licensee submitted a written response in which it explains that, due to restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, its employees did not have access to the Station—located inside a school—from March 12, 2020, until June 24, 2020. Response to Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture of Blount County Broadcasting Corp. (received Mar. 30 2021) (Response). 
  Licensee further states that it was under the impression that the filing deadline for the renewal application was July 1, 2020, and believed that it had filed its renewal application on June 29, 2020, but then received an email on September 3, 2020, from the Bureau staff informing Licensee that the Commission had not received an application. Id.
  
III. DISCUSSION
5. Although Licensee was incorrect in its belief that the filing deadline was July 1, 2020, Licensee was nonetheless unable to file before the June 1, 2020, filing deadline because of its inability to access the Station during the COVID-19 school closure.  However, the staff has reviewed the Licensee’s account in the Commission’s database, LMS, and determined that several renewal applications were begun on June 29, 2020, but none was filed—all remain in “saved” status.  Licensee misunderstood our electronic filing procedures and erroneously assumed that it submitted a timely filed renewal application.  Therefore, the failure to promptly and correctly file the renewal application following the reopening of the Station was due to Licensee’s own error.  As the Commission has held, violations resulting from inadvertent error or failure to become familiar with the FCC's requirements are willful violations. See S. California Broad. Co., Memorandum Opinion and Order, 6 FCC Rcd 4387, 4387, para. 3 (1991), recon. denied, Memorandum Opinion and Order, 7 FCC Rcd 3454 (1992) (stating that “inadvertence ... is at best, ignorance of the law, which the Commission does not consider a mitigating circumstance”); Standard Comm’cns Corp., Memorandum Opinion and Order, 1 FCC Rcd 358, 358 (1986) (stating that “employee acts or omissions, such as clerical errors in failing to file required forms, do not excuse violations”).
  Moreover, the Commission has specifically ruled that confusion or difficulties with the Commission's electronic filing system are not grounds for reduction or cancellation of a forfeiture. See Ritenour Consol. School Dist., Forfeiture Order, 25 FCC Rcd 3266, 3267, para. 5 (MB 2010) (Ritenour) (rejecting licensee’s argument that it thought renewal application was timely filed because it was in “pending” status); Muskegon Training and Educ. Center, Forfeiture Order, 23 FCC Rcd 11241, 11242-43, para. 6 (MB 2008) (same).
  Accordingly, we admonish Licensee for its willful violation of section 73.3539 of the Rules.
IV. ORDERING CLAUSES
6. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to section 504(b) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. § 504(b).
  and sections 0.61, 0.283, and 1.80(f)(4) of the Commission’s rules, 47 CFR §§ 0.61, 0.283, 1.80(f)(4).
  the Notice of Apparent Liability for a Forfeiture (NAL/Acct. No. MB-202141410019) issued to School District, Bay City IS CANCELLED and that School District, Bay City is instead HEREBY ADMONISHED for its violation of section 73.3539 of the Commission’s rules.
7. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the application for renewal of license filed by School District, Bay City for Station WCHW-FM, Bay City, Michigan (File No. 0000122730) IS GRANTED.
8. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that copies of this Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture shall be sent by First Class and Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested, to Bryan Bishop, Bay City Public Schools, PO Box 48708, Bay City, MI 48708.
						FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION




						Albert Shuldiner
						Chief, Audio Division
						Media Bureau

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