WASHINGTON — Sunshine Broadcasting of Gainesville, Fla., is being assessed a $15,000 fine for violating the rules for keeping track of children’s programming. The Federal Communications Commission issued a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture, otherwise known as an “NAL,” for two Sunshine stations—WIMP-CD in Miami and WARP-CD in Tampa-St. Petersburg—for failing to file timely children’s programming reports.
FCC records indicate that WIMP hadn’t filed the reports for 11 quarters and WARP, for 13. The omission was discovered when license renewals were filed for the station’s Sept. 22, 2012.
The base fine for each omitted report is $3,000, but the FCC adjusted it downward based on “the nature, circumstances, extent and gravity of the violation, and, with respect to the violator, the degree of culpability, any history of prior offenses, ability to pay, and other such matters as justice may require.” The fine levied for WIMP was adjusted to $6,000; for WARP, $9,000, bringing the total to $15,000.
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