LPFM Station License Renewal
Enter your station's call letters
For renewal filing services, please use REC EZforms or contact REC at 1-844-REC-LPFM.
LPFM license renewals are coming up.
For those LPFM stations that were applied for in the 2000/2001 filing windows, it's that time again. For those who applied in the 2013 window, welcome to your first experience with the renewal process. Once every 8 years, all broadcast stations must renew their station licenses. The process is more than just filling out a form, but there is a substantial public notification process that takes place. Perhaps you have heard these renewal announcements on other radio stations. If you filled in your LPFM call letters above, this information will be personalized for your station.LICENSE RENEWALS ARE DUE 4 MONTHS PRIOR TO THE EXPIRATION DATE ON THE LICENSE. DON'T WAIT UNTIL THE EXPIRATION DATE, OTHERWISE YOU MAY RECEIVE A $1,500 FINE FROM THE FCC.
Verify that your mailing address & e-mail address are correct in the FCC records
To make the process a smoother one, the FCC recommends that all licensees verify their mailing and e-mail addresses in CDBS is correct. If it needs to be corrected, you will need to file a Mailing Address Change form in CDBS. Clients retaining REC for the renewal process will have this handled by us.No Pre-Filing Renewal Announcement is required.
With the rule changes that went into effect on October 30, 2020, the "pre-file" announcements are no longer required for renewals.Post Filing-Announcement
Under the new rules, there are no specific times or dates that the announcements need to be made. Instead, the announcements must be made within the following parameters:- A total 6 announcements will need to be made over a 4 week period (this means that you can run 2 announcements in 2 of the 4 weeks)
- No more than one announcement can be made in a single day.
- Announcements can only be made Monday through Friday between 7:00 AM and 11:00 PM local time. (No announcements on weekends)
- The first announcement must air within 5 days of the renewal application appearing in the FCC "Applications" public notice.
- Stations not broadcasting in English should translate the renewal message to your own language.
The following is the text for the post-filing announcement. The FCC Rules suggest that it may need to be read (or translated) verbatim:
"On [DATE THE RENEWAL APPLICATION WAS FILED IN LMS], [NAME OF LICENSEE ORGANIZATION], licensee of [CALL LETTERS], [STATION FREQUENCY], [COMMUNITY OF LICENSE], [STATE], filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission for renewal of license. Members of the public wishing to view this application or obtain information on how to file comments and petitions can visit www.fcc.gov/stationsearch and search in the list of [CALL LETTERS]'s filed applications."
Silent Stations
For stations that are currently silent, the public notice must be provided on the station's website. There are some basic web design requirements for the display of these messages.- The website can be the actual station website or for the licensee's parent organization's website.
- A conspicious link or table labelled "FCC Applications" must be placed on the main landing (home) page of the website.
- The actual public notice must reside on a separate page.
- Public notices and the link from the main page must reside for a minimum of 30 consecutive days.
- Just posting a public notice on Facebook, Twitter, CraigsList or other similar site does not meet the requirements.
- No modifications are necessary for station mobile apps.
- Stations without websites will need to have their public notices listed on a public local website such as a site for a city government, chamber of commerce, community bulletin board local newspaper or state broadcaster's association.
"On [DATE THE RENEWAL APPLICATION WAS FILED IN LMS], [NAME OF LICENSEE ORGANIZATION], licensee of [CALL LETTERS], [STATION FREQUENCY], [COMMUNITY OF LICENSE], [STATE], filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission for renewal of license. Members of the public wishing to view this application or obtain information on how to file comments and petitions can visit [URL OF THE RENEWAL APPLICATION IN LMS*]."For silent stations, to get your renewal application's URL:
- Go to the REC Renewal Status page (https://recnet.com/renewal-status)
- Enter you station's call sign.
- Look for the field called "Renewal Application File Number".
- Right click on that link and click on "Copy link address".
- Then you can paste (ctrl-V) that link into your page.
<a href="https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/api/download/draftcopy/FL/25076f916adca429016ae518d45d0c68">this link</a>