A-O Broadcasting, former owner of KTMN(FM), Cloudcroft, N.M., must pay $25,000 for violating radiation emission limits on transmission equipment and for other transgressions, the FCC said Monday.
The fine was first proposed in November 2002 and was the first levied for emission violations. Previously, stations got away with a warning. After new limits were set in 1996, all stations were required to comply by Sept. 1, 2000.
KTMN’s owner was also fined for operating without a main studio, failing to install an emergency alert system and failing to have adequate transmission system controls. KTMN had been plagued by problems since its was constructed in September 2001. For a variety of reasons cited by the owner, the station had been on the air little more than a month before shutting down Nov. 7 of that year. KTMN never returned to the air and because of being inoperative for 12 consecutive months, the FCC terminated the license in January 2003. A-O is appealing the termination.
