The Enid News and Eagle, Enid, OK

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March 19, 2013

FCC rescinds radio KEIF-LP’s license

By Cass Rains, Staff Writer Enid News and Eagle

ENID, Okla. — An Enid radio station’s license was rescinded Monday by the Federal Communications Commission after the station failed to follow guidelines and file proper reports, according to a letter from the federal agency.

KEIF-LP, or 104.7 The Rocket, lost the grant for renewal of its license following fines in 2010, for selling advertisements and broadcasting from an antenna nearly two times the legal height. Its license has been declared expired and its call letters deleted from FCC databases.

KEIF-LP, a low-power FM station licensed to Enid Public Radio Association, was allowed to broadcast nonprofit educational programming from an antenna height of 33 meters.

The FCC issued sanctions and fines of $10,000 for the violations, which were dated and sent via certified mail July 13, 2010, according to the FCC letter. A copy of the renewal order was received by The Rocket and signed for July 23, 2010.

According to a 2010 FCC report, KEIF was distributing advertising rate cards to local businesses and broadcasting promotional advertisements on its station. The rate card stated The Rocket’s “classic rock” format offers “great result for your advertising dollar.”

The report also alleged the station broadcast from an antenna height of nearly 62 meters.

Chisholm Trail Broadcasting, which owns several stations in northwest Oklahoma, blew the whistle on The Rocket in May 2005.

“Specifically, we find sufficient evidence of violations of the Commission’s enhanced underwriting and technical rules that, when considered together, evidence a pattern of abuse,” the 2010 report stated.

In the letter dated Monday, FCC said KEIF filed a license application renewal Feb. 27, and the application was to have been filed no later than June 1, 2011.

FCC stated the license for the station will be listed as expired as of 12:01 a.m. June 1, 2011, and the station’s call sign will be deleted from databases.

The letter also states the owner of the tower must follow prescribed safety measures of painting and illumination of the tower until it is dismantled.

According to the FCC website, sanctions could be imposed upon those who broadcast without a license.

“The FCC takes enforcement of unauthorized radio operations very seriously. Anyone found operating a radio station without an FCC authorization can be subject to a variety of enforcement actions, including seizure of equipment, imposition of monetary forfeitures and criminal penalties,” according to the FCC website.

Calls to Enid Public Radio Association, to which the FCC letter was addressed, went unanswered Tuesday. A message was left with a number listed on the station’s Facebook page Tuesday afternoon.

The station still was broadcasting Tuesday evening.

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