Free public file check
Type a call sign to see, quarter by quarter, which Issues/Programs Lists the FCC’s Online Public Inspection File shows for your station this license term, and when each was uploaded.
What you’ll see
- Your station’s facts from the FCC: community of license, licensee, license expiration, the current license term and the renewal filing date.
- Every Quarterly Issues/Programs List due this term, with its due date, whether the FCC’s folder shows it on time, late (and by how many days) or not at all, and links to the files.
- Your next deadline.
Results are private: they aren’t listed in search engines and we don’t publish pages about stations. See a sample check.
How the check works, and its limits
- We read the station’s Issues and Programs Lists folder in the FCC’s Online Public Inspection File, including its subfolders, and match each file to a calendar quarter from its name (for example “Q3 2025”, “3rd Quarter”, “July–September”) and the folder it’s in.
- If a name has no quarter, we match it by upload date only when it was uploaded between the start of a quarter’s last month and that quarter’s due date. Anything less certain is marked Needs a look.
- Due dates are the 10th of the month after each quarter. When the 10th falls on a weekend or federal holiday we show the next business day (47 CFR 1.4(j)). Upload times are the FCC’s timestamps, compared in Eastern time against 11:59:59 PM on the due date. When several files cover one quarter, the earliest upload counts.
- The license term is the license expiration date minus 8 years. The renewal filing date follows 47 CFR 73.3539(a): the first day of the fourth full calendar month before expiration. Confirm both with your counsel.
- What it can miss: lists uploaded to a different folder; lists for a station acquired or newly licensed during the term (earlier quarters may belong to a previous licensee or not apply); files renamed or moved after upload; one file covering several quarters; and stations that changed call signs. The FCC’s data can also change or be briefly unavailable.
- This is a description of what the FCC’s public data shows, not a finding about any station. The station is responsible for its own public file.
Data: FCC Online Public Inspection File (publicfiles.fcc.gov).