Sec. 73.561  Operating schedule; time sharing.

    (a) All noncommercial educational FM stations will be licensed for 
unlimited time operation except those stations operating under a time 
sharing arrangement. All noncommercial educational FM stations are 
required to operate at least 36 hours per week, consisting of at least 5 
hours of operation per day on at least 6 days of the week; however, 
stations licensed to educational institutions are not required to 
operate on Saturday or Sunday or to observe the minimum operating 
requirements during those days designated on the official school 
calendar as vacation or recess periods.
    (b) All stations, including those meeting the requirements of 
paragraph (a) of this section, but which do not operate 12 hours per day 
each day of the year, will be required to share use of the frequency 
upon the grant of an appropriate application proposing such share time 
arrangement. Such applications shall set forth the intent to share time 
and shall be filed in the same manner as are applications for new 
stations. They may be filed at any time, but in cases where the parties 
are unable to agree on time sharing, action on the application will be 
taken only in connection with the renewal of application for the 
existing station. In order to be considered for this purpose, such an 
application to share time must be filed no later than the deadline for 
filing petitions to deny the renewal application of the existing 
licensee, or, in the case of renewal applications filed by the existing 
licensee on or before May 1, 1995, no later than the deadline for filing 
applications in conflict with the such renewal applications.
    (1) The licensee and the prospective licensee(s) shall endeavor to 
reach an

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agreement for a definite schedule of periods of time to be used by each. 
Such agreement shall be in writing and shall set forth which licensee is 
to operate on each of the hours of the day throughout the year. Such 
agreement shall not include simultaneous operation of the stations. Each 
licensee shall file the same in triplicate with each application to the 
Commission for initial construction permit or renewal of license. Such 
written agreements shall become part of the terms of each station's 
license.
    (2) The Commission desires to facilitate the reaching of agreements 
on time sharing. However, if the licensees of stations authorized to 
share time are unable to agree on a division of time, the Commission 
shall be so notified by statement to that effect filed with the 
application proposing time sharing. Thereafter the Commission will 
designate the application for hearing on any qualification issues 
arising regarding the renewal or new applicants. If no such issues 
pertain, the Commission will set the matter for expedited hearing 
limited solely to the issue of the sharing of time. In the event the 
stations have been operating under a time sharing agreement but cannot 
agree on its continuation, a hearing will be held, and pending such 
hearing, the operating schedule previously adhered to shall remain in 
full force and effect.
    (c) A departure from the regular schedule set forth in a time-
sharing agreement will be permitted only in cases where an agreement to 
that effect is reduced to writing, is signed by the licensees of the 
stations affected thereby and filed in triplicate by each licensee with 
the Commission prior to the time of the proposed change. If time is of 
the essence, the actual departure in operating schedule may precede the 
actual filing of written agreement, provided appropriate notice is sent 
to the Commission in Washington, DC.
    (d) In the event that causes beyond the control of a permittee or 
licensee make it impossible to adhere to the operating schedule in 
paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section or to continue operating, the 
station may limit or discontinue operation for a period of not more than 
30 days without further authority from the Commission, Provided, That 
notification is sent to the Commission in Washington, DC no later than 
the 10th day of limited or discontinued operation. During such period, 
the permittee or licensee shall continue to adhere to the requirements 
of the station license pertaining to the lighting of antenna structures. 
In the event normal operation is restored prior to the expiration of the 
30-day period, the permittee or licensee will so notify the Commission 
in Washington, DC, of this date. If the causes beyond the control of the 
permittee or licensee make it impossible to comply within the allowed 
period, informal written request shall be made to the Commission in 
Washington, DC, no later than the 30th day for such additional time as 
may be deemed necessary. The license of a broadcasting station that 
fails to transmit broadcast signals for any consecutive 12-month period 
expires as a matter of law at the end of that period, notwithstanding 
any provision, term, or condition of the license to the contrary.

    Note 1: For allocations purposes, both (all) stations sharing time 
will be treated as unlimited time stations.

    Note 2: See Secs. 73.1705, 73.1715, and 73.1740.

(Secs. 4, 5, 303, 48 Stat., as amended, 1066, 1068, 1082 (47 U.S.C. 154, 
155, ))

[43 303 FR 39717 , Sept. 6, 1978, as amended at  43 FR 45845 , Oct. 4, 1978;  44 FR 3416 , Jan. 19, 1979;  44 FR 65764 , Nov. 15, 1979;  47 FR 54448 , Dec. 3, 
1982;  50 FR 13974 , Apr. 9, 1985;  61 FR 18291 , Apr. 25, 1996;  61 FR 28767 , June 6, 1996]