By Jan. 10, 2012, all radio and television broadcast stations, both commercial and noncommercial, must prepare and place in their public inspection files a list of important issues facing their communities, and the programs aired in the months of October, November, and December dealing with those issues.

Currently, these reports comprise the only legally required documents that demonstrate how a station has met its public service obligations to its community of license and service area. However, the FCC has commenced a new rule making proceeding to consider adopting a standardized form for television stations to report their quarterly issues/programs lists, which could significantly increase the recordkeeping and reporting requirements facing television stations, as noted below.

The failure to have a complete set of Quarterly/Issues Programs lists that were prepared and placed in the station's public file at the proper time can lead to significant fines at license renewal time. Moreover, the failure to produce and document programs responsive to community needs could cause even greater problems for a broadcast licensee.