[BC] LMAs - How Far Can They Go?

[Mike McCarthy]

How in the !@#$%^&* hell did YOU get fined?  The FCC holds the 
licensee responsible for all compliance issues. Not the LMA holder.

You receiving the fine makes no sense what-so-ever.

MM

> >You really do need a communications lawyer to draw the LMA, and you
> >must have one. If the station is LMA'd you must have a copy of the
> >agreement in the public file (commercial terms redacted).
> 
> As one who has been involved in several small-market LMAs, both as 
the
> licensee LMAing the station to someone else, and as the LMA operator 
of
> another licensee's station, my best advice is to steer clear of 
LMAs.  I can
> tell you several horror stories...  I LMAed a station from a rather
> unscrupulous operator who essentially walked away from the station 
and
> abdicated control to me, even though the LMA contract required him 
to do
> certain things as the licensee.  He just didn't care.  Later, when 
we got
> into a dispute over something, he ordered me to take the station off 
the
> air.  Because I had money invested in new staff and new equipment, I
> refused.  I got fined for premature transfer of control, even though 
he was
> the guilty party.  In another case, I LMAed a station to a guy who 
allowed
> the tower fence to fall-in and never told me.  He also didn't hook 
up the
> EAS equipment after moving the station to a new location.  Again, I 
was the
> one who got fined.
> 
> In LMAs involving big companies, perhaps everything is done 
correctly, but
> it doesn't happen that way in small markets.
> 
> LF