FCC Actions

The FCC has restored two licenses previously deleted for unpaid regulatory fees but will be initiating proceedings to revoke the station’s licenses.

Shelley Broadcasting Company’s Conservative Talk 1150 WGEA Geneva AL was deleted in April 2017 and Metropolitan Management Corporation of Tennessee’s Gospel 1580 WNPZ Knoxville TN was deleted in June 2017 each owing multiple years of fees.

WNPZ currently owes $34,071.62 in fees from 2005 through 2017. The station claims that their then-lawyer was notified in June 2015 and they entered into an agreement with the agency for payment and made the first few payments by then stopped when financially unable to do so due to “economic conditions”. They claim they then stopped receiving notifications from the FCC and if they went to their lawyer, who had lost his license and then died, they never received them. They claim they have agreed to a new payment plan with the FCC.

WGEA commented that it was willing but unable to pay its $9973.80 owed for 2008-2016 due to a decades-long dispute with the IRS over a refund they claim it is owed. The company made eight payments of $42.97 and then stopped in February 2015. In a blog post on the station’s website station owner Jack Mizell claims that the IRS owes him $2 million.

The FCC determined that in both circumstances it will restore the station’s licenses and pending renewal applications. However WNPZ once again defaulted on its payment plan in July 2017.

The FCC noted that they will be initiating proceedings to revoke the station’s licenses for failure to pay delinquent regulatory fees owed to the FCC but in order to give due process rights they a restoring the station’s licenses and provisionally reinstating their license renewal applications to pending status until permanent decisions are made.

The FCC has amended the table of allotments to add a new Class A FM on 100.7 in Caliente NV following a petition from SSR Communications.

Dennis Wallace, Court-Appointed Receiver of AAA “101.7 K-Wolf” KWUL Elsberry MO was issued a Notice of Violation for failing to monitor either of the local EAS sources during an FCC inspection.

The FCC has dismissed an Informal Objection by Sound of Hope Radio NFP and granted a Construction Permit for Edgewater Broadcasting’s 99.1 W256CL Park Forest IL to move to the Willis Tower in Chicago with a directional 250w/448m. Sound of Hope contested that Edgewater used a series of applications to hop the translator 40 miles to Chicago over a period of three years to circumvent making a major change. The FCC determined that because Edgewater built all of the modifications on permanent facilities and did not take the translators silent at any time does not support a finding that Edgewater deliberately and abusively attempted to evade the major change rule and grant the Construction Permit. W256CL will rebroadcast an HD subchannel of Hubbard’s 101.9 WTMX Skokie.