[rfu-membership] Serious Rules Violations Two Weeks Straight for Aon Productions

[Mike Lehman]

Hi William,
I'm requesting your presence or that of someone else who can represent 
the Aon Productions show at the RFU meeting on Tuesday, April 17 at 8pm 
in the Family Room downstairs at the IMC.

The last two weeks have resulted in listeners hearing numerous FCC 
content violations from your show. Please note that any _SINGLE_ FCC 
violation can result in thousands of dollars in fines. Essentially, such 
a fine would shut down RFU and everyone else's show on it. We cannot 
risk continuation of such violations by your show.

On April 6, I was listening and heard music that included multiple 
examples of FCC violations. The person I spoke with was cooperative, but 
it was also clear that they were aware that the song had problems. This 
song should never have been aired before 10apm or after 6am.

On April 13, another member reported the same situation -- music playing 
that included multiple instances of FCC prohibited language during the 
time it was being played. When this member phoned the studio, he was 
dealt with in a brusque and unprofessional manner.

It's bad enough to have even one FCC violation. As I've noted, RFU 
cannot afford the fine for even a single violation. Please be aware that 
due to the fact that many people already don't like the IMC and RFU for 
the work we do supporting people in our community who would not 
otherwise have a voice, we are targeted by people who just want to get 
something on us for any little violation -- and your show handed them 
all kinds of material to use against us.

I could have seen the first week's mistake being something of a 
misinterpretation, although it seemed clear enough to whoever it was I 
talked to that there was a problem with the music. Thus it is greatly 
disturbing that virtually the same issue repeated itself a week later 
and that a RFU member who was concerned about our losing our license and 
was trying to help was treated with such disrespect by the person who 
answered the studio phone.

Currently, the authority for enforcing our policy of ensuring compliance 
with FCC rules rests with me, as the person who is technically the 
station manager. It has been a goal to transfer this authority to the 
RFU Membership group. Since the group has been meeting the Sunday before 
the Tuesday general RFU meeting, I was holding off talking to them about 
the first week's problem until today's meeting. Unfortunately, the 
original problem has been seriously aggravated since by having the same 
violations happen again a week later.

After consulting with the RFU Membership group, I will be proposing that 
Aon Productions be put on six months probation. Any violation of a FCC 
rule during that time will result in the immediate cancellation of your 
show. This includes not only issues with content of music, but any 
violations of language use by DJs (which is more strict than for the 
music itself, even during the "safe harbor" 10pm-6am time), failure to 
properly sign the log, etc. If you have any questions about what the 
rules are or how to stay within them, please ask for clarification 
before you have another FCC rule violation, because afterwards is very 
likely to be too late.

While our mission is to put the media into the hands of those who might 
otherwise not have access to it, we also have to keep in mind that this 
is a collective project. What Aon Productions has done is threaten the 
hard work and investment of hundreds of people in the community who 
would be without RFU if we were forced off the air due to FCC fines.

So I am requesting a representative of Aon Productions to attend the RFU 
meeting this Tuesday so that we all can be sure that this problem will 
not occur again and that everyone involved in Aon is absolutely clear 
about the requirements to keep things legal. We really want to keep your 
show on the air, but we can't risk everyone else's show by having this 
happen again.

If you have any questions before the meeting, please let me know.
Mike Lehman