You don't mess with America's EAS.
iHeart Media, the home of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Hate Radio, was fined on Tuesday by the FCC/Federal Communications Commission, for misusing America's EAS/Emergency Alert System. Here is an excerpt from the FCC Press Release:
The Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau has resolved an investigation into the misuse of the Emergency Alert System (EAS) tones by iHeartCommunications, Inc., a subsidiary of iHeartMedia.
On October 24, 2014, iHeart’s station WSIX-FM, in Nashville, Tennessee, aired a false emergency alert during the broadcast of the nationally-syndicated “The Bobby Bones Show.” Broadcast or transmission of emergency tones outside an emergency or authorized test violates FCC regulations designed to protect the integrity of the EAS system. False broadcast of an emergency signal can cause unnecessary public concern and undermine the urgency of real alerts.
FCC’s Enforcement Bureau. “Misuse of the emergency alert system jeopardizes the nation’s public safety, falsely alarms the public, and undermines confidence in the emergency alert system.”
As part of the settlement, iHeart admits its broadcast of EAS tones during the 'Bobby Bones Show.' violated the FCC’s EAS laws. The company is required to pay a civil penalty of $1 million dollars and implement a comprehensive three-year compliance and reporting plan. Additionally, they must remove or delete all simulated or actual EAS tones from the company’s audio production libraries.
iHeart certainly doesn't need more debt. They
continue to report heavy losses quarterly with an outstanding debt of $20 Billion. This is partly due to their parade of well-known radio hate mongers, with
Rush Limbaugh leading the way in killing off adverting and sponsor revenue with his
hate speech. Over 135,000 people have signed a
Limbaugh Sponsor Petition, boycotting companies until they remove ads from his show. Over 3,000
companies have left. Perhaps iHeart should rethink their strategies. Better yet, perhaps iHeart should rethink their
leadership. This is not a test.