The FCC has dismissed Vivian Huo and Julian Sant’s H&H USA’s Chinese “URadio 690” XEWW Tijuana MX long pending application to operate from studios in Irwindale CA and ordered the station to cease operations within 48 hours.
XEWW falls under FCC oversight because its programming was originating from studios in California. The agency stated it dismissed the application because the parties failed to include that Phoenix Radio produced the programming and owned the Irwindale CA studios. Phoenix Radio is partially owned by two entities with Chinese government ownership, Extra Steps Investment Limited and China Wise International Limited. The FCC stated, “Phoenix Radio’s known activities at this broadcast programming studio are such that, without reviewing its role as an applicant, the FCC could not evaluate the proposed service. Specifically, the broadcast programming subject to this application is supplied, created, and produced in a studio used, owned, and maintained by Phoenix Radio.”
Previously operating via STA, the group sought “to deliver a full range of Mandarin Chinese language programming that includes music, entertainment, weather reports, local (Los Angeles) traffic reports and local Chinese community news” via XEWW. The FCC noted that the studio is used and maintained by Phoenix Radio, LLC (Phoenix Radio), and the broadcast programming subject to this section 325(c) request is supplied, created, or produced in the Studio, with the intent that such programming will be transmitted to the Station in Mexico and be broadcast back into the United States but Phoenix Radio is not listed as an applicant.
Huo and Sant, the owners of H&H USA, previously acquired former XEWW operator GLR Southern California and entered into a programming and sales agreement with Phoenix Radio in April 2018. The FCC states that “(1) as the owner of the Studio in California, including the equipment, and the employer of all technical and creative personnel that work within the Studio, Phoenix Radio uses and maintains the Studio relevant to the pending section 325(c) permit application to convert sound waves into electrical energy; (2) pursuant to the terms of the Station Programming and Sale Agreement, the programming (i.e., sound waves converted into electrical energy) is delivered to the Station in Mexico and from there is transmitted into and consistently received in the United States; and (3) the Applicants’ actual studio use and maintenance is minimal,” making Phoenix Radio the defacto operator.
The full order can be read here. Senator Ted Cruz had announced in April his intent to introduce legislation intended to block the operation of XEWW by Phoenix, by forcing the FCC to reject any application that included a language change of a cross-border station.
The FCC’s International Bureau today dismissed an application to deliver Mandarin Chinese programming from a studio located in Irwindale, California to XEWW-AM in Mexico for rebroadcast back into the United States. The application was dismissed because the parties failed to include in their application a key participant, Phoenix Radio, which produces the Mandarin programming in its studio. Phoenix Radio is partially owned by two entities with Chinese government ownership, Extra Steps Investment Limited and China Wise International Limited. The parties have 48 hours to cease broadcast operations related to this application.
The Bureau formally dismissed the Permit to Deliver Programs to Foreign Broadcast Stations (section 325(c)) application of GLR Southern California and H&H Group USA as deficient as the application failed to include Phoenix Radio, LLC, as an applicant. Phoenix Radio’s known activities at this broadcast programming studio are such that, without reviewing its role as an applicant, the FCC could not evaluate the proposed service. Specifically, the broadcast programming subject to this application is supplied, created, and produced in a studio used, owned, and maintained by Phoenix Radio. The Bureau also dismissed an associated request to renew Special Temporary Authority to operate pending Commission action on the underlying section 325(c) application.
The intent of the application was that the programming would be transmitted from the studio to XEWW-AM in Rosarito, Baja California Norte, Mexico and then broadcast back into the United States. If such a revised application is filed that includes Phoenix Radio as an applicant, the Commission would review it under applicable law, including determining whether the grant of the application would serve the public interest under Section 309 of the Communications Act.
