Station Compliance›Done For You

What the session looks like

Mark Shannon does every session himself. He has 43 years in radio and does his own rack work, so the boxes are familiar ones. Plan on two to three hours for one station. It runs in this order:

1. Before the session. When you book, you tell us your call letters and what is in your rack. On the scheduling call we agree a time and who will be at the keyboard. That person needs a computer on the station network and the router's admin login.
2. The inventory. Together we find every device in the program chain: the EAS unit, the STL, codecs, audio processing, remote control, automation. For each one we list every way in: web, Telnet, SSH, SNMP, a vendor app, a front-panel PIN. Most stations find more than they expected.
3. The router. We go through the port-forwarding list line by line and close what should not be open. At most small stations this is where the real exposure is, rather than in the passwords.
4. Passwords and firmware. On each device, every access method gets a strong password, not just the web page. Firmware is checked against what the manufacturer currently ships.
5. The devices that cannot comply. Gear that cannot take a strong password gets a decision: another sign-in method the device supports, replacement, or a waiver request. That decision gets written down either way.
6. The walk-through. Before we hang up, we go over what changed and why with whoever will be running the station afterwards, so it does not depend on one person remembering.

What you get afterwards

Within two business days of the session, a written report of what was found and what was changed, plus the kit's worksheets, filled in for your station:

• Program chain inventory. Every device, where it is, and every way into it.
• Port-forwarding audit. What was open, what was closed, and what stays open and why.
• Short-password device records. The route taken for each device that could not take a strong password.
• Patch log. Firmware as found and as left.
• Compliance memo. A one-document summary for your files, written for whoever asks next: an inspector, a new general manager, a buyer doing due diligence.

Questions by email are answered for 90 days after the session.

Price and booking

Two stations in one building come to $1,290. Three come to $1,685. Stations that share a building usually share a router and a network, so the extra station adds a few devices, not a second audit. That is why it costs less.

Sessions happen within two business days of booking, and usually sooner.

Questions stations ask

Do you install anything on our computers?

No. You share your screen and hand over control of your browser for the session, using a meeting tool you already have. Nothing is installed, and when the session ends the access ends with it.

Who keeps the new passwords?

You do. When a password goes in, control of the screen goes back to your staff and they type it themselves. It goes into your own password records, not ours. We never keep them.

Would the kit be enough?

For a lot of stations, yes. The kit is the same work written down, at $149, for a station with someone who has an afternoon and does not mind a router's admin page. The session is for the station where that person does not exist, or does not have the afternoon.

Can I get a refund?

A session that has not yet been delivered is refundable in full. Once it has been delivered it is not, because the work has been done. See the terms.

Is this a certification?

No. Nobody can certify a station compliant with § 11.35(d), and anyone offering to is selling something that does not exist. This is the work, done with you, and a written record of it. It is not legal advice or a formal security audit, and your station remains responsible for its own compliance. For contested questions, talk to communications counsel or an SBE-certified broadcast engineer.