New FCC chair orders investigation into station underwriting announcements at NPR and PBS

The move has implications for other community radio stations around the country

On January 29, the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr, sent a letter to the presidents of National Public Radio and PBS, telling them that he has ordered an investigation into their networks of about 1,500 member stations.

Carr said, specifically, that he is concerned that station underwriting announcements have crossed the line into commercials. The letter did not cite specific examples of violations or whether there were listener or viewer complaints. In a news story in The New York Times, leaders of both NPR and PBS said that they were confident they were following the law. Carr’s letter includes a broader statement that suggests other non-commercial stations should be examining their practices.

In other words, low-power FM stations and other full-power non-commercial stations could be subject to the same scrutiny.

The FCC has written standards that prohibit statements that could be considered a call to action, an inducement to buy, price information, or qualitative claims. Stations can acknowledge underwriters by naming them, providing a general description of their business and where they are located. These acknowledgements can include a phone number as long as it is NOT a call to action such as: “Call them at 123-456-7890.”

More information on the REC Networks Substack page.

In addition, the Broadcast Law Blog posted a longer analysis of the letter and its implications on January 31, with links to additional discussions and analyses.

This FCC Action Alerts is produced by the volunteers at the Community Media Assistance Project. We monitor many sources of information about the Federal Communications Commission, federal communications law and community developments important to your station and your community. If you have a news tip, please email us at betty@c-map.org.

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