Federal Communications Commission DA 26-161 Before the FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D.C. 20554 In the Matter of Amendment of Part 11 of the Commission’ Rules Regarding the Emergency Alert System ) ) ) ) PS Docket No. 15-94 ORDER Adopted: February 13, 2026 Released: February 13, 2026 By the Chief, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau: I. INTRODUCTION 1. In this Order, the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau (Bureau) considers a request filed by Sun Broadcasting, Inc. (Sun) seeking a limited waiver of the Commission’s rule addressing operational readiness for Emergency Alert System (EAS) equipment as applied to six broadcast radio stations (WFSX-FM and corresponding translators W290DB 105.9 (W290DB) and W277AP 103.3 (W277AP), WFFY, WHEL, WARO, WRXK-FM, and WXKB) In its waiver request, Sun refers to its stations as WFFY(FM), WHEL(FM), WARO(FM), and WXKB-FM. The Commission’s records in the Licensing and Management System (LMS) indicate that the call signs of these stations are WFFY, WHEL, WARO, and WXKB, respectively. The Bureau refers to Sun’s stations as represented in LMS because it is the system of record for call-sign facility association. See 47 CFR § 73.3550. that Sun seeks to relocate to a new facility. For the reasons discussed herein, the Bureau grants Sun’s limited waiver request for radio stations WFSX-FM, WFFY, WHEL, and WARO. We decline to grant the waiver request for radio stations WRXK-FM and WXKB for the reasons below. The issue of whether to grant Sun a limited waiver of the EAS operational readiness rules for its broadcast television station WXCW is moot because Sun already moved that station’s EAS equipment before submitting its waiver request. II. BACKGROUND 2. The EAS is a national system used to disseminate public warnings of impeding emergencies over broadcast, cable, and satellite networks to consumers’ radios, televisions, and other audio and video devices. See 47 CFR § 11.2(b) (defining “EAS Participants”). EAS Participants are required to have devices installed and capable of sending and receiving EAS tests and messages. See, e.g., 47 CFR §§ 11.11(a) (summarizing EAS encoder and decoder requirements for broadcasters); 11.52(a) (requiring EAS Participants to be capable of receiving the attention signal and emergency messages of other broadcast stations); 11.56(a) (requiring EAS Participants to have deployed equipment that can receive and process Common Alerting Protocol messages from the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System). In particular, section 11.35 of the FCC’s rules requires EAS Participants to ensure that their EAS equipment is “installed so that the monitoring and transmitting functions are available during the times the stations and systems are in operation.” 47 CFR § 11.35(a). EAS Participants may operate without EAS equipment for up to 60 days pending the repair or replacement of defective equipment. Id. § 11.35(b); see also id. § 11.35(c) (requiring EAS Participants to submit a request to the FCC for additional time if the repair or replacement is not completed within 60 days). 3. Sun is a licensee for broadcast radio stations WFSX-FM, WFFY, WHEL, WARO, WRXK-FM, and WXKB and television station WXCW, which are all EAS Participants that operate EAS equipment. See Sun Broadcasting, Inc. – Limited Waiver of the EAS Equipment Rules, PS Docket No. 15-94 (filed Feb. 10, 2026) (Sun Waiver Request). We construe Sun’s filing as a request to waive all rules, such as 11.11(a), 11.35(a), 11.52(a), and 11.56(a), that may require continuous operation of EAS equipment. Sun operates under a shared services agreement with the Fort Myers Broadcasting Company (FMBC), in which Sun rents space at FMBC’s facility and receives from FMBC certain engineering services subject to Sun’s control, including maintenance of Sun’s EAS equipment. See id. at 1-2. Without a waiver, the EAS equipment for Sun’s WXCW station was relocated on January 12, 2026. See id. at 2, n.3; Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau Grants Limited EAS Waiver to Fort Meyers Broadcasting Company, PS Docket No. 15-94, Order, DA 26-109 (PSHSB Feb. 3, 2026) (FMBC Order). On February 3, 2026, the Bureau granted FMBC a limited waiver of the EAS operational readiness rules so that it could move its other EAS equipment to a new location in Fort Myers, Florida. See Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau Grants Limited EAS Waiver to Fort Meyers Broadcasting Company, PS Docket No. 15-94, Order, DA 26-109, (PSHSB Feb. 3, 2026). 4. On February 10, 2026, Sun filed a petition seeking a waiver of section 11.35 to allow the relocation of the EAS equipment of WFSX-FM and corresponding translators W290DB 105.9 (W290DB) and W277AP 103.3 (W277AP), See Radio Insight, Fox Sports Adds Additional Fort Myers Signal (May 15, 2024), https://radioinsight.com/headlines/268792/fox-sports-adds-additional-fort-myers-signal/. along with WFFY, WHEL, and WARO, to FMBC’s new location while those stations continued to operate. See Sun Waiver Request at 3. Sun represents the anticipated relocation date for WARO and translators W290DB and W277AP as February 16, 2026, and February 17, 2026 for WHEL and WFFY. Id. Further, Sun indicates that the relocation date for WFSX-FM is scheduled for February 19, 2026. Id. In its request, Sun does not provide an anticipated date for moving the EAS equipment of WRXK-FM and WXKB-FM, noting that these stations were recently acquired and are being operated at their previous owner’s location pursuant to a transition services agreement, but Sun states that it anticipates eventually moving that EAS equipment to Sun’s location as well. See id. 5. Like FMBC, See FMBC Order at 2. Sun submits that this new equipment location “serves the public interest because . . . [it] is less flood-prone and therefore makes it more likely that the Stations headquartered at the new location can maintain service during the increasingly frequent weather emergencies plaguing the Fort Myers market.” Id. at 3. Additionally, Sun states that the EAS equipment that remains to be moved will be inoperable for two hours or less, and that it will not be moved in the event that an emergency appears imminent. See id. at 2-3. Sun also notes that, like the FMBC stations, there are no stations that depend on Sun to relay EAS messages for their own operability. See id. at 3. III. DISCUSSION 6. A provision of the Commission’s rules “may be waived by the Commission on its own motion or on petition if good cause therefor is shown.” 47 CFR § 1.3. The Commission may find good cause to grant a waiver “if special circumstances warrant a deviation from the general rule and such deviation will serve the public interest.” See Northeast Cellular Telephone Co. v. FCC, 897 F.2d 1164, 1166 (D.C. Cir. 1990) (citing WAIT Radio v. FCC, 418 F.2d 1153, 1159 (D.C. Cir. 1969)). The waiver applicant generally faces a high hurdle and must plead with particularity the facts and circumstances that warrant a waiver. See WAIT Radio v. FCC, 418 F.2d at 1157. Based on the circumstances described, we conclude there is good cause to grant Sun a limited waiver of the Commission’s EAS requirements to facilitate the relocation of WARO’s EAS equipment, and the EAS equipment of WFSX-FM’s translators W290DB 105.9 and W277AP 103.3, for a period not to exceed two hours on February 16, 2026. The Bureau also concludes there is good cause to grant the limited waiver to enable the relocation of WFFY’s and WHEL’s EAS equipment for a period not to exceed two hours on February 17, 2026, and the relocation WFSX-FM’s EAS equipment for a period not to exceed two hours on February 19, 2026. Each of these limited waivers is conditioned on Sun’s statement that it will not proceed with the move if there appears to be any risk of an emergency event. See Sun Waiver Request at 2-3. Each of these limited waivers is also conditioned on Sun not proceeding with the move if it would conflict with a required EAS test. 7. The Bureau finds that special circumstances exist and that it is in the public interest to grant Sun a narrow waiver to facilitate the relocation of the EAS equipment of WFSX-FM, WFFY, WHEL, and WARO so that these stations can continue to support EAS, especially in view of the increasingly frequent weather emergencies plaguing the Fort Myers market noted by Sun. See id. at 3. Sun explains that the new office location is less flood prone, which makes it more likely that its stations can maintain service during these weather emergencies. See id. In view of this public safety benefit, along with the limited duration of the waiver and Sun’s assurance that it will not proceed with a relocation during a planned EAS test or if there appears to be any risk of an emergency event, we conclude that the risk of harm to the public interest by granting the waiver is minimal. 8. We deny, without prejudice, the waiver request for stations WRXK and WXKB. Sun’s request, as it pertains to those stations, does not specify the dates when EAS equipment will be taken offline and therefore lacks sufficient specificity for the Bureau to consider it. See Amendment of Part 101 of the Commission's Rules to Facilitate the Use of Microwave for Wireless Backhaul and Other Uses and to Provide Additional Flexibility to Broadcast Auxiliary Service and Operational Fixed Microwave Licensees, WT Docket No. 10-153, RM-11602, Report and Order, Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, and Memorandum Opinion and Order, 26 FCC Rcd 11614, 11617, 11654-59, paras. 3 and 99-109 (2011) (ruling against proposals that lacked specific, detailed information required by the Commission for evaluation at the time they were raised, while other proposals were not considered as they were not yet ripe). Further, Sun has not provided any details on the current location of this EAS equipment, its plans regarding the operational status of those stations during the equipment move, or any argument as to whether deviating from 11.35 will service the public interest. Without this information, the Bureau cannot render a decision on whether the harm the public faces from disconnecting this EAS equipment is outweighed by public safety benefits. Further, granting a waiver without specifying the date on which it would apply would result in overly broad relief, permitting Sun to relocate WRXK and WXKB on any day, which would not be a limited waiver as sought in Sun’s request. Sun may supplement its waiver request as it pertains to WRXK and WXKB once it is able to provide sufficient information about the planned relocation and whether it would serve the public interest. 9. We dismiss the waiver request for WXCW as moot because its EAS equipment was already moved on January 12, 2026 without Commission approval. Although the Bureau dismisses this request as moot, this decision in no way implies retrospective Commission approval of that decision or a finding that Sun’s conduct complied with the Commission’s EAS equipment rules. Our action here is without prejudice to any enforcement action by the Commission for noncompliance with the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, or the Commission’s rules. 10. Since Sun incorporates the details of FMBC’s waiver requests, See Fort Myers Broadcasting Company - Limited Waiver Request of Rule 47 C.F.R. § 11.35, PS Docket No. 15-94 (filed Jan. 6, 2026); and Fort Myers Broadcasting Company - Supplement to Limited Waiver Request of Rule 47 C.F.R. § 11.35, PS Docket No. 15-94 (filed Jan. 26, 2026). we again reject any assertion that the relocation of EAS equipment falls under the Commission’s rules provision for the repair and replacement of defective EAS equipment, See 47 CFR § 11.35(b). which Sun submits was a reasonable belief in its waiver request. See Sun Waiver Request at 2, n.3. Section 11.35(b) provides only for the continued operation of EAS Participants without further FCC action when EAS equipment becomes “defective.” 47 CFR § 11.35(b). The facts presented in both Sun’s and FMBC’s waiver requests indicate that the EAS equipment is not defective, i.e., the equipment itself became unable to exercise its monitoring or transmission functions. Cf. 47 CFR § 11.35(a) (“EAS Participants are responsible for ensuring that EAS . . . equipment . . . are installed so that the monitoring and transmitting functions are available during the times the stations and systems are in operation). Instead, these waivers only indicate that the EAS equipment is disconnected for relocation. Simply disconnecting EAS equipment from operation does not make it defective. Cf. Charter Communications, Consent Decree, 39 FCC Rcd 13136, 13141, para. 9 (EB 2004) (asserting that EAS equipment is not “defective” under section 11.35(b) when they are capable of performing the monitoring and transmitting functions that are required to be available during the times when the EAS participant’s systems are in operation). 11. Notwithstanding the Bureau’s partial grant of Sun’s request, the Bureau observes that Sun filed it only three business days before the date of its requested relief.  While the Bureau appreciates that Sun sought to conform its conduct with the rules and encourages similarly situated EAS Participants to seek a waiver if circumstances require, the Bureau urges parties to do so as far as possible in advance of their expected need for relief to afford the Commission sufficient time to consider such requests. IV. ORDERING CLAUSES 12. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that, pursuant to sections 4(i) and (j) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 U.S.C. §§ 154(i) and (j), and section 1.3 of the Commission’s rules, 47 CFR § 1.3, sections 11.11(a), 11.35(a), 11.52(a), and 11.56(a) of the Commission’s rules, 47 CFR §§ 11.11(a), 11.35(a), 11.52(a), and 11.56(a), ARE WAIVED, as to stations WFSX-FM and corresponding translators W290DB 105.9 (W290DB) and W277AP 103.3 (W277AP), WFFY, WHEL, and WARO as specified herein. 13. The request is DENIED as to WRXK and WXKB. 14. The request is DISMISSED AS MOOT as to WXCW. 15. This action is taken under delegated authority pursuant to Sections 0.191 and 0.392 of the Commission’s rules, 47 CFR §§ 0.191, 0.392. FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION Zenji Nakazawa Chief Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau 2