Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws > Chapter 18-4.1 - The Public Radio Conversions Act

• Acquiree: means the person or persons that lose(s) any ownership or control, including programming control, of a public radio station, as the terms "public radio station" and "person(s)" are defined within this chapter;

  (2)  "Acquirer" means the person or persons which gain(s) an ownership or control, including programming control, in a public radio station, as the terms "public radio station" and "person(s)" are defined within this chapter;

  (3)  "Affected community" means any city or town within the state from which an existing public radio station produces, records or otherwise originates programming or broadcasts its signal, and/or those cities and towns whose inhabitants are regularly served by the existing public radio station;

  (4)  "Community benefit" means:

  (i)  Whether the conversion furthers the findings and purposes of § 18-4. See Rhode Island General Laws 18-4.1-4

• Amortization: Paying off a loan by regular installments.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Charity: An agency, institution, or organization in existence and operating for the benefit of an indefinite number of persons and conducted for educational, religious, scientific, medical, or other beneficent purposes.
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Conversion: means any:

  (i)  Transfer or assignment by a person or persons of an ownership or membership interest or authority in a public radio station, or the assets of a public radio station, whether by purchase, merger, consolidation, lease, gift, joint venture, sale, or otherwise;

  (ii)  Agreement, such as a local management agreement or programming agreement, the implementation of which would require a change in the public radio station's broadcast license to permit commercial operations;

  (iii)  Transfer, assignment or issuance of twenty percent (20%) or greater of the membership or voting rights or interests of the public radio station or of the assets of the public radio station or pursuant to which, by virtue of the transfer, a person, together with all persons affiliated with the person, holds or owns, in the aggregate, twenty percent (20%) or greater of the membership or voting rights or interests of the public radio station or of the assets of the public radio station;

  (iv)  The removal, addition or substitution of a partner that results in a new partner gaining or acquiring a controlling interest in the public radio station; or

  (v)  Any change in membership that results in a new person gaining or acquiring a controlling vote in the public radio station. See Rhode Island General Laws 18-4.1-4

• Conversion Fee: means the amount the department of attorney general orders an acquirer to pay pursuant to subsection 18-4. See Rhode Island General Laws 18-4.1-4
• Existing public radio station: means a public radio station as it exists prior to the conversion;

  (8)  "Public radio station" means a radio station possessing a United States Federal Communications Commission noncommercial license, to broadcast on a frequency that is not reserved by the FCC for noncommercial use, assigned to a community of license located in Rhode Island and which is operated by an entity that may not lawfully distribute operating surpluses or other retained earnings to individual persons or which would cease to qualify as an organization described in Section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code were the organization to do so;

  (9)  "New radio station" means the radio station as it exists after the completion of a conversion;

  (10)  "Person" means any individual, trust or estate, partnership, corporation (including associations, joint stock companies and insurance companies,) state or political subdivision or instrumentality of the state; and

  (11)  "Transacting parties" means any person or persons who seeks either to transfer or acquire ownership or a controlling interest or controlling authority, including programming authority, in a public radio station which would result in a change of ownership, control or authority of twenty percent (20%) or greater. See Rhode Island General Laws 18-4.1-4

• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• in writing: include printing, engraving, lithographing, and photo-lithographing, and all other representations of words in letters of the usual form. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
• person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• town: may be construed to include city; the words "town council" include city council; the words "town clerk" include city clerk; the words "ward clerk" include clerk of election district; the words "town treasurer" include city treasurer; and the words "town sergeant" include city sergeant. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-9
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• United States: include the several states and the territories of the United States. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-8