The FCC has proposed a $32,000 fine against Cumulus Media for EEO Violations at its since sold Albany GA cluster.
The FCC states that Cumulus failed to upload its 2018 annual EEO public file report in their online public files or station websites and analyze its EEO program. In a response to the FCC’s letter of inquiry, Cumulus confirmed it has not uploaded the report until September 2011, nine months after its December 3, 2018 deadline to do explaining that it was due to “routine administrative change” and the loss of a former employee. Cumulus Albany also failed to analyze its EEO program to ensure that it is effective in achieving broad outreach to potential applicants, and to address any problems found as a result of such analysis. Cumulus claimed that following the exit of its Assistant Business Manager in December 2018, the Business Manager “simply overlooked this requirement and, as a result, the 2018 EEO report was not uploaded in a timely fashion” and did not realize until September 2019 that the reports had not been uploaded.
Cumulus sold the Albany cluster to First Media Services in April 2020 for $450,000.