#i could also be missing some - i dont have every single fcc guideline fully memorized lol

[despite-everything]

I came from your post about being a station manager and the call number for the radio station : welcome to night vale, and I was curious to what FFC guidelines Cecil has broken in your opinion. -Kai

This is such a cool question to receive. Overall, I’d say that Cecil isn’t doing badly in terms of FCC violations, but there are definitely some red flags. Some can be dismissed, however, due to typical Night Vale weirdness.

Station Identification

In order to be compliant with FCC standards, a terrestrial radio station must identify itself when signing on and off for the day (24-hour stations do not have to do this), and must broadcast identifications as close to the start of each hour of operation as possible. We could suggest that the station is 24-hour, or that Cecil broadcasts for less than an hour at a time, but neither of those things really solve the matter. If we interpret Cecil’s “goodnight” at the end of each episode as the station signing off for the night, then he should be identifying the station’s call letters, followed by “Night Vale”. He could also add the station’s channel number, frequency, the name of the licensee, or other communities it reaches (as long as the licensed community is listed first). Even if Cecil isn’t really the last thing being broadcast, we know that he has to be on air for hours at a time, and we never hear call letters. Plus, it’s generally standard practice for hosts to include identifying information during their show, even if it isn’t occurring exactly on the hour. I suppose you could also argue that while he’s on air for long stretches of time, there’s some time dilation in-universe or through the format of the podcast which gives us shorter episodes, and you could argue that in that “missing time” between what is lived in Night Vale and what we hear in the podcast there are instances of station identification, but I don’t buy it. 

2. Programming Inciting Imminent Lawless Action

This violates FCC regulations, but would be prosecuted by law enforcement agencies, rather than the FCC. Would it result in fines? I’m sure. But still. The government can regulate speech if it’s intended to incite what is considered to be “imminent lawless action” and likely to produce such action. “Kill your double”, people. Though this is Night Vale, and instances like that may not really be a lawful concern. But if we’re assuming the FCC has jurisdiction in Night Vale, so too does federal law, which outlaws murder (18 USC Ch. 51: Homicide).

3. News Distortion

Let’s be honest with ourselves here. Cecil frequently misrepresents the facts. Broadcast licensees are prohibited from intentionally distorting the news, which Cecil has been known to do. This is something that would require extensive documentation to pursue, but it would be doable. That being said, in Night Vale? Yeah. He’s fine. Cecil sometimes has to distort the news in order to appease The Powers That Be and keep himself safe, and he’s also a bitchy guy who will happily present falsehoods on air if need be. But if we’re taking this thought exercise seriously, I’d add this as a violation.

But other than those? I can’t think of any outright violations on the top of my head! Some things came to mind, but Cecil stayed within the legal exceptions. For example, it is not permissible to broadcast advertisements for or information surrounding lotteries except in special cases. One such exception is if the lottery is hosted by the same community/government to which the broadcasting license is assigned, meaning the Lottery in Night Vale, which is mandatory for all citizens and occurs at City Hall, is an event Cecil can broadcast about if the station license is assigned to Night Vale as a locality. The nature of the Night Vale Lottery might also prove to be an exemption, but still, I think it makes a good example for barely skating by the rules.

I’ll admit that I work at a station that has a pretty unique licensing status (once described to me as a “unicorn” scenario: we are a non-commercial station with licensing that nearly mimics a commercial station. It’s weird.), and some regulations that impact non-commercial stations like mine wouldn’t apply for Cecil’s station, so when I listen to the show I notice stuff that wouldn’t fly at my station, but is totally okay at his. Additionally, I may have missed some things! These were just what came to mind when replying, and the only thing I looked up was confirmation that murder was a federal crime (since I knew that it's only prosecuted as a federal crime in certain cases, I almost tripped myself up. But like. Duh.) lol.

I'd say the biggest issue for me (beyond not identifying the station) is the incitement of murder. Yes, this regulation requires that whatever incitement being broadcast must be likely to occur, but like... with the way Cecil functions on air? It counts. Look at what happened to Telly. He can make things happen, y'all, and even if he couldn't, him advocating murder on-air being followed by people committing murder would be pretty damning.

Thanks for asking!!