According to the Federal Communications Commission, the AM radio station atop Lawton's Hill in Pottsville, The Phoenix 1450 WPAM-AM, is closed for repairs.
Meanwhile, the owner of the radio station, Curran Communications Inc., based at Suite 512, 101 N. Centre St., Pottsville, still hasn't paid a $10,000 fine the FCC imposed in February, stating the firm failed to keep proper records at WPAM, a spokesman at the FCC Media Bureau in Washington, D.C., said Thursday.
On March 22, Curran Communications filed a response to the FCC's notice of liability asking for a reduction of the fine. The FCC Enforcement Bureau's Philadelphia office is currently evaluating it, the spokesman said.
During an Aug. 10, 2011, investigation agents from the FCC Enforcement Bureau's Philadelphia office determined the station "willfully and repeatedly" failed to maintain for public inspection any of its quarterly issues/program lists since its license was renewed in 2006.
WPAM did not have 20 such lists when agents were on scene, according to a report on the matter released by the FCC on Feb. 14.
"Curran Communications Inc. ... apparently willfully and repeatedly violated ... the commission's rules by failing to maintain and make available the quarterly issues/program lists in the local public inspection file," FCC Acting District Director David Dombrowski wrote in the six-page notice of the violation by the station.
Dombrowski also directed Curran Communications to submit to the FCC a signed written statement that it will keep quarterly issues/program lists in the public inspection file.
He wrote that every station must maintain such an issues/program list, which details the programs on community issues that the station has broadcast since its license was last renewed.
"The description of the programs must include, but shall not be limited to, the time, date, duration and title of each program in which the issue was treated," Dombrowski wrote.
On March 26, Curran Communications notified the FCC it would be suspending its operations, according to the radio station's application, which is viewable online at fcc.gov/mb/audio.
"Upon installing replacement parts, the station went off the air. The licensee is currently attempting to identify the problem and resolve it," station representative Nathan Armstrong said in the application form.
The station did not list a date when it would resume operations. However, according to FCC rules, if the station is not back on the air within a year, its license will automatically be canceled.
Representatives of the radio station could not be reached for comment this week.