How to Keep Your Radio Station From Being Fined And/Or Sued
You Have Five Choices
- Research this topic yourself. Locate the pertinent F.C.C. regulations. Make notes. Make sure you understand the research and then distribute the key points to your staff - in concise, easy-to-understand language. This should take only a few hours of your time - perhaps a day.
- Have a staff member do the research and write up the ebook for everyone else at your station.
- Download all the information you need right now for about what you'd pay for a very good hamburger (plus fries and a soft drink).
- Don't do anything. Just take your chances and hope that everyone at your station already knows all the rules regarding on-air phone calls. If you're a Station Owner and you lose this gamble, you'll have the pleasure of contributing several thousand dollars to the U.S. government.
- Ask your attorney to prepare an in-depth "advisory report" on how to broadcast telephone calls without violating either state wiretapping/eavesdropping laws* or F.C.C. regulations. Good attorneys are worth the large fees they charge. If you have a good attorney, you might choose this option.
If your radio station is regulated by the F.C.C., you must have ON-AIR PHONE CALLS: Legal vs Illegal on hand for easy reference by you and your staff.
Quick Overview of Contents
- This, by the way, is the regulation that nailed that Detroit station to the tune of $4,000.
- The second way your phone calls can get you in trouble with F.C.C. (The F.C.C. has done a terrible job of educating radio stations about this. As a result, almost no radio station knows this rule even exists. But they do get fined for violating it!)
- The first way your phone calls can get you in trouble with the F.C.C. (Most radio people are aware that the F.C.C. has rules regarding this aspect. But most people aren't sure exactly what those rules are.)
- My specific recommendations for keeping your station safe & legal.
- How State Laws affect your radio station's broadcast of phone calls
- How Do Others "Get Away With It"? - Many radio programs appear to violate the very regulations I explain in ON-AIR PHONE CALLS: Legal vs Illegal. I explain how they do it. It is not necessary that you know how they "get away with it," but so many people ask me that I decided to "pull back the curtain" and reveal these secrets.
- "The Bottom Line" - Three paragraphs that distill all the information I've researched for you. (I go into considerably more detail in explaining everything. But once I've explained it, I also boil it all down to a single page for your future reference.)
