A university must pay a fine for operating an FM translator several years after its license expired, but the university was able to convince the FCC to reduce the amount.

Carolina University is the licensee of the translator on 94.7 MHz in Chattanooga, Tennessee, which is affiliated with AM station WDYN in Rossville, Georgia, just across the state line.

The school was supposed to apply for an extension by April 1, 2020, but did not do so, so the license automatically expired four months later.

The university finally filed an application for an extension in February of this year. It told the FCC that it had intended to file the application along with the extensions for the AM and second translator, but failed to do so. The university said the error was discovered by FCC Media Bureau staff working on its pending application to transfer control to WDYN Inc.

The university requested a waiver of the original deadline but did not apply for a special temporary operating permit.

In July, the FCC issued a Notice of Apparent Liability, stating that the base penalty would normally be $13,000, but that it had been reduced to $6,500 due to the circumstances and because a translator is a secondary service.

The school did not contest the violation but asked for a further reduction, saying the error was unintentional and that it had consistently complied with FCC rules in the past.

The commission said the fact that an error was unintentional was irrelevant, but it reduced the penalty based on the university’s compliance history. It now confirmed a forfeiture of $4,875.

(Sign up for Radio World’s SmartBrief newsletter)