The $20,000 payment is part of a consent order, which specifies a "voluntary contribution to the U.S. Treasury" (not a fine) that helps resolve the violations from 2006 and 2007. Clear Channel also agrees to adopt a compliance plan that includes training about the FCC's policies on putting people on the air, and the appointment of a compliance officer. It agrees to continue that special compliance program at WHTZ, Newark (100.3) for three years. The Commission says "on March 27, 2006 and February 21, 2007, it received similar complaints regarding broadcasts of a recorded telephone conversation without notification to one of the parities to the conversation." This consent order resolves the matter. But the FCC also intends the $20,000 settlement and the compliance plan to signal to other licensees that it remains serious about the "phone rule." That regulation says people must be notified that they're about to be put on the air live or recorded for later possible broadcast. The rule is why some stations have turned to outside services to provide phone-scam-like actors, who are in on the bit from the beginning. Read the FCC's letter to Clear Channel (as "AMFM Radio Licenses LLC") and the consent order, here.