OMB Control Number: 3060-0208 September 2020
47 CFR Section 73.1870, Chief Operators
A. Justification:
1. 47 CFR Section 73.1870 requires that the licensee of an AM, FM, or TV broadcast station designate a chief operator of the station. 47 CFR Section 73.1870(b)(3) requires that this designation must be in writing and posted with the station license. A copy of written agreements with contract chief operators must be kept in the station files.
47 CFR Section 73.1870(c)(3) requires that the chief operator, or personnel delegated and supervised by the chief operator, review the station records at least once each week to determine if required entries are being made correctly. Additionally, verification must be made that the station has been operated in accordance with FCC rules and the station authorization. Upon completion of the review, the chief operator must date and sign the log, initiate any corrective action, which may be necessary and advise the station licensee of any condition that is repetitive.
The Commission is requesting an extension of this information collection in order to receive the full three year clearance/approval from OMB.
This information collection does not affect individuals or households; thus, there are no impacts under the Privacy Act.
Statutory authority for this collection of information is contained in Section 154(i) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended.
2. The posted designation of the chief operator is for the convenience of interested persons. The chief operator and FCC staff in investigations review station records to ensure the station is operating in accordance with its station authorization and the FCC rules and regulations.
3. This requirement is a monitoring function of a broadcast station. We do not believe the use of information technology is feasible in this situation.
4. This agency does not impose a similar information collection on the respondents. There is no similar data available.
5. In conformance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Commission is making an effort to minimize the burden on all respondents. Therefore, this information collection will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities/businesses.
6. The review of the station records by the chief operator is a monitoring function of a broadcast station. If this review is not completed on a weekly basis, corrective actions to ensure that the station operates in accordance with its authorization could be untimely.
7. This collection of information requires that the designation of the chief operator be retained until another chief operator is designated. This is necessary to ensure that the chief operator can be readily identified.
8. The Commission published a Notice (85 FR 41976) in the Federal Register on July 13, 2020 seeking comments for the public on the information collection requirements contained in this collection. No comments were received from the public.
9. No payment or gift was provided to the respondents.
10. There is no need for confidentiality with this collection of information.
11. This collection of information does not address any private matters of a sensitive nature.
12. We estimate that 18,498 broadcast station licensees will designate and post the designation of a chief operator. The average burden on licensee for the designation and the posting of the chief operator is 0.166 hour (10 minutes) per year.
The chief operator of each broadcast station must review, sign and date the station records. The average burden on licensee is 0.5 hours per week (52 weeks/year x 0.5/week = 26 hours per year). Thus, the yearly burden for the chief operator is 26 hours per year.1
Total number of respondents: 18,498 broadcast station licensees
Total annual number of responses: 18,498 designation postings
18,498 station records
36,996 responses
Total annual hour burden:
18,498 postings of designation of chief operator x 0.166 hrs./year = 3,071 hours
18,498 station records x 26 hours/year = 480,948 hours
484,019 hours
Annual “In-house cost”:
We assume that the licensee of each station will designate and post the designation of a chief operator. We estimate that the licensee of broadcast stations will have an average salary of $100,000/year ($48.08/hour). We also estimate that the chief operator will have an average salary of $22/hour.
18,498 designation postings x 0.166/hours x $48.08 = $ 147,637.71
18,498 station records x 26 hours/year x $22/hour = $10,580,856.00
Total “In-House” Cost = $10,728,493.71
13. Annual Cost Burden:
Total annualized capital/startup costs: None
Total annual costs (O&M): None
Total annualized cost requested: None
14. There is no cost to the Federal Government.
15. There are no program changes or adjustments to this collection.
16. The data will not be published.
17. OMB approval of the expiration date of the information collection will be displayed at 47 CFR Section 0.408.
18. The Commission published a Notice (82 FR 38691) in the Federal Register on August 15, 2017 seeking comments for the public on the information collection requirements contained in this collection. In the notice, weekly reporting was inadvertently omitted from the notice. Weekly reporting is a requirement to this collection. There are no other exceptions to the Certification Statement.
B. Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods:
No statistical methods are employed.
1 This time accounts the yearly burden for all of the recordkeeping requirements for this collection of information.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | JSWANK |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2021-01-13 |