With the retirement of our long-time D.C. counselor, Dick Zaragoza, as of Jan. 1, David Oxenford of the Washington D.C. law firm of Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP will be our new “hotline” attorney for FCC issues. Feel free to call or email David with general questions about FCC legal issues, and David or someone from his firm will try to help you – at no charge to the station. Keep the questions general, as the hotline is not meant to review specific copy for ads or other broadcast material, and David and his firm will not be acting as your attorneys, so don’t give away confidential business plans as there is no attorney client privilege that will cover any communications you have. But if you have general questions about what FCC forms are used to get approval for a change at your station; general questions about political broadcasting, EEO or whether certain types of advertising is permissible under FCC rules; questions about what a particular FCC proceeding is all about and how it might affect stations like yours; and other general compliance questions that should be able to be answered in a quick call could be addressed by David.
Contact the WBA office to reach him. – 608-255-2600
Many of you may be familiar with David, as he has conducted many of the legal webinars that the WBA has made available to members in the last few years, and he has attended a few WBA conventions in the past, most recently conducting a seminar on legal issues for digital media at our winter convention two years ago. David has over 30 years of experience in Washington dealing with FCC issues for broadcasters, and he works with many commercial and noncommercial radio and television stations and other state broadcast associations across the country. He has also been active in counseling broadcasters and other media companies on digital media issues, including many music licensing issues. He writes a blog addressing these legal issues that is read by many broadcasters on a regular basis, and is often quoted in the trade press – the broadcast law blog: www.broadcastlawblog.com.
Expect to see David at many WBA events in the coming year.
For state issues, the legal hotline remains the same (with Godfrey Kahn) – 800-362-2664.
