The Society of Broadcast Engineers has released the latest addition to the Broadcast Station Self-Inspection Guides. The new document covers low-power FM (LPFM) stations. The SBE released the AM, FM and TV Guides in 2024. The SBE partnered with the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) to produce the Guides. These Guides are designed to aid stations and Alternative Broadcast Inspection Program (ABIP) inspectors in evaluating a broadcast station’s compliance with FCC rules and regulations.
The Guides are being developed to replace the FCC Self-Inspection Checklists that were first released in the 1990s, but had not been updated for nearly 15 years. While the previous Checklists only provided references to rules, the new SBE Guides include recommended practices for stations to establish policies and procedures for their own stations to ensure overall regulatory compliance.
The project was announced at the SBE National Meeting held in September 2023, and received widespread support from state broadcaster associations, many of which are actively involved in their own ABIP programs.
The SBE Government Relations Committee, chaired by Charles “Ched” Keiler, CPBE, 8-VSB, ATSC3, CBNE, formed a working group of SBE members in April 2022 to begin reviewing and updating the Guides. Additional Guides for other broadcast services are under review and will be released later.
SBE President Ted Hand, CPBE, 8-VSB, AMD, ATSC3, DRB, said, “The committee has worked hard on this fourth installment in the Station Self-Inspection Guide series. The interest in the Guides continues, as does the work of the committee to develop additional editions.”
The Guides are available for download from the SBE website under the Legislative/Regulatory and Resources tabs. They are free to SBE members.
