Membership Newsletter
May 16, 2019
PRESIDENT'S COLUMN
Chris Winkle
KBA President & CEO

Brad Odil Resigns,
Julie Schmidt Appointed Chair-Elect
KBA'S 2019 Chairman-Elect, Brad Odil, has resigned as General Manager of WBKO-TV and also from KBA's Board of Directors.

"It has been a very tough decision to leave the broadcast industry after working for WBKO and Gray Television for over 32 years. I have simply been given the opportunity to run another company that will also provide future ownership opportunities. WBKO is one of the best small market television stations in the country and Gray Television is the best ownership group to be a part of. I am very proud of our work to provide local news and community service to Southern Kentucky. I will always be connected to WBKO and the wonderful employees continuing our great work. My time spent on the KBA board has been very fulfilling. The board members from around the state are a great group of people committed to making sure the association is run well, providing services to benefit all broadcasters and supporting programs that attract young people into the industry. I will forever be grateful for my time with KBA. Special thanks to the leadership and staff for all your hard work." -Brad Odil
As a result of Odil's resignation, KBA Chairman David Brinkley has appointed Julie Schmidt of KET to fill the vacated Chair-Elect seat for 2019. The decision was unanimously supported by the Executive Committee.

"I am honored to serve as chairman-elect of the Kentucky Broadcasters Association (KBA). Across the commonwealth, our radio and television stations play an important role in their communities. Kentuckians depend on us every day to provide local content, communications that strengthen our economies and serve as a vital link in times of emergency." -Julie Schmidt

In a lateral move, Chairman Brinkley has appointed Shae Hopkins, Executive Director & CEO of KET, to fill the remainder of Julie Schmidt's term as Public Television Director on KBA's Board of Directors.
FCC ADOPTS NEW RULES ON FM TRANSLATOR INTERFERENCE
By David Oxenford
At its open meeting last week, the FCC largely adopted the draft order on changes to its processes for resolving complaints about interference from FM translators to existing FM stations. Its  final Report and Order  adopting the new rules was released after the meeting. The general guidelines that we detailed in  our summary of the draft order  were adopted – so that complaints will generally be considered only when they are from within a primary station’s 45 dBu contour (with a potential for consideration of complaints from outside that contour through a waiver process, where the complaining station shows that there is a significant pocket of listeners outside that contour), and only when a threshold number of bona fide listener complaints have been filed. When a sufficient number of complaints have been filed, the FCC will ask the operator of the translator to either resolve all complaints by resolving the interference complaints of each of the complaining listeners or by working with the operator of the pre-existing station. If no resolution can be worked out, the parties to the dispute are to engage a third party consulting engineer. FCC will make the final determination whether the interference has been resolved based on information provided by the third-party engineer. If the interference is not resolved to the satisfaction of FCC staff, a translator can be ordered off the air.

The biggest change from the draft order is in the number of complaints necessary to sustain a complaint in bigger markets. In the draft order, the Commission proposed that a station with millions of people in its protected service area might need as many as 65 listener complaints to sustain an interference objection. The Order adopted yesterday changed that tentative decision and instead capped the number of listener complaints that were needed to support an interference claim at 25 for stations with over 2 million people in their protected contour. The FCC also made clear that listeners cannot be offered payment or other inducement for submitting a complaint. Finally, the Commission decided that it would resolve all complaints in 90 days unless there was a compelling reason for more time. Once the FCC has determined that an appropriate number of interference complaints have been filed, it will notify the parties of that fact, and provide intermediate deadlines for submission of a remediation plan or other benchmarks as appropriate. If nothing is resolved in 90 days, and there are no unusual circumstances warranting more time, the FCC may order the offending translator off the air at the end of that period.

These rules become effective 60 days after Federal Register publication, except for information collection requirements, which seemingly include most of the requirements for filing complaints. These portions of the order do not become effective until approved by the Office of Management and Budget after a Paperwork Reduction Act review. So it may be several months before this new resolution process becomes fully effective. Nevertheless, it appears that the FCC has taken action to try to bring order to a process that, at the current time, can seemingly drag on forever.
MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS SPOTLIGHT
CONTINUING EDUCATION REIMBURSMENT
KBA offers members up to a $1,000 reimbursement for attending the annual NAB/RAB Radio Show.

The 2019 Radio Show will be held in Dallas, TX, September 24-27
Thanks in part to your kind participation in the PEP program, KBA is able to over a wide variety of FREE member benefits back to you.

The KBA offers numerous continuing education reimbursement opportunities throughout the year.

Click on the link below to learn more or to request reimbursement.
TOUR120 LAUNCHES SATURDAY
Preservation Kentucky , a non-profit group that seeks to preserve and connect Kentuckians to their heritage, is launching Tour120 this weekend. The program is a statewide heritage tourism effort that will provide tours of historic residential, commercial and public buildings throughout the Commonwealth.

Preservation Kentucky would appreciate any help our member stations can provide to promote the event. The group shared a script for a :15 PSA that stations can use to promote the event:
 
If these Kentucky walls could talk, they’d tell you the story of a ride more important than Paul Revere’s, a cannonball that claimed a Civil War victory, and a town Mark Twain called “pretty on a handsome hill.” Special tours of historic Kentucky this weekend only at  Tour120.org .   
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2019
Columbus, Ohio

Details and registration information coming soon!
THIS ECAST IS SPONSORED BY
This eCast is sponsored by "Wedding Planning with Pem"
A sweet fit for your advertisers

DATES TO REMEMBER
KBA | Upcoming Events

Click the link to see our online calendar, view webinar dates from RAB, LBS and more!

Read more
kba.org

SEPTEMBER 12-14
Small Market Television Exchange (Austin, TX)

SEPTEMBER 24-27
NAB/RAB Radio Show (Dallas, TX)

OCTOBER 13
Broadcasters Cup Golf Scramble
OCTOBER 14-15
KBA's Annual Membership Conference (Belterra Casino Resort)

NOVEMBER 14
Midwest Broadcast & Multimedia Technology Conference (Columbus, OH)
HOTLINES
ENGINEERING HOTLINE
KBA’s new Engineering Hotline is up and running. If you have a question for Scott, please call (866) 4KBAHELP.



KBA ENGINEERING HOTLINE
(866) 4KBAHELP
LEGAL HOTLINE
Get answers to your everyday regulatory questions – political, EEO, public file and Kentucky legal concerns. No charges for any questions that can be answered by phone without research.

Call Dawn: 202-256-9551
Call Monica: 513-651-6783
EAS
The next required monthly test will be Thursday, May 16 @ 10:07AM (EDT) and will originate from KYEOC.
Print the 2019 KY EAS Schedule by clicking here.
eCast
Did you know you can add all team
members at your station to the eCast distribution list? Simply send a list of all email addresses that need to be added to  kba@kba.org
2019 PEP SPONSORS
KENTUCKY BROADCASTERS ASSOCIATION STAFF:
Chris Winkle, President & CEO

Karen Mucci, Director of Member Services
Liza Livers, Executive Assistant
Lisa Gross, PEP Coordinator
pep@kba.org
Scott Cason, Director of Engineering & Technology
@engineeringKBA
Chris Winkle
KBA President & CEO
David Brinkley
KBA 2019 Chairman
Kentucky Broadcasters Association
101 Enterprise Dr
Frankfort KY 40601
888-843-5221