Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania gospel radio station WGBN-AM’s owner was notified yesterday that they were to be fined $25,000 for presenting a public safety risk to passing aircraft for failing to properly light two antenna structures 206-feet in height and failing to notify the FAA of lights being out on the towers and not painting them to meet visibility requirements.
The FCC in its forfeiture order, said that Pentecostal Temple Development Corporation didn’t follow procedures in responding to FCC notifications and asked for a payment plan, but never executed one.
Enforcement Bureau Regional Director David Dombrowski informed Pentecostal that it had not followed written directions contained its Notice of Apparent Liability (NAL).
Pentecostal pledged to cure the violations in 2016, but didn’t. On January 30, 2017, Pentecostal submitted a Petition for Reconsideration, but didn’t send it to the right office, the order states.
In lieu of identifying that Pentecostal did not follow procedures in its forfeiture order, and therefore owed $25,000, Dombrowski used a description that is hard to find in any other agency NAL: “Pentecostal Temple engaged in procedurally deficient shenanigans.”
If they were looking to grab headlines with ‘shenanigans’ they nailed it, but they didn’t identify how Pentecostal was devious or underhanded. They, like many other tower owners who received fines were just non-compliant with FCC guidelines.