Following the cancellation of the license of 102.7 KYTE Independence OR last week, YachatsNews reports that the remainder of Yaquina Bay Communications is facing foreclosure after defaulting on two loans and liens placed upon their assets by two government agencies.
The report states that Dave and Linda Miller’s Yaquina Bay Communications and Pacific West Broadcasting have defaulted on over $400,000 owed on loans that were due in October 2021. Oregon Coast Bank issues loans for $755,000 in 2009 and $110,000 in 2016 with the bank going to court last fall to order a foreclosure. Miller asked for a continuance stating he could not find an attorney and that he had the station listed for sale with a broker. He was granted an additional 20 days but hasn’t responded to further summonses with the court in the process of declaring him in default. The report states that both the Oregon Department of Revenue and Oregon Employment Department have liens on the company’s properties as they owe $43,000 in back taxes.
The FCC cancelled the license of KYTE last week as following KYTE’s license renewal application in September 2021, the licensees of 100.7 KPPT-FM Depoe Bay and 102.7 KIEV-LP Camas WA filed objections stating that KYTE was operating from an unauthorized transmitter site that did not provide coverage of Independence and was causing interference to their stations. KYTE had completed a move from Newport OR to Independence in September 2017, but filed an STA in May 2018 stating it was unable to operate from the new site on Bald Mountain “until generator is sent and returned from manufacturer for warranty replacement”. The STA sought to return to its former site on Otter Crest Mountain, which was granted until December 1, 2018. The objectors included spectrum analyzer readings noting that KYTE had continued to operate from Otter Crest beyond the expiration of the STA, which no renewal was ever filed. In a response to a letter of inquiry sent by the FCC, KYTE stated, “due to budget constraints the State of Oregon did not provide power to the site, forcing Licensee to purchase two generators with which to operate its transmitter. However, Licensee mistakenly purchased generators designed as backup and not primary generators, one of which failed and was returned to the manufacturer. The manufacturer advised Licensee that the generator was not designed for primary use, and further advised that it had failed due to the use of bad propane fuel. Licensee’s efforts to rectify the situation with the generator manufacturer, the propane supplier, and its insurer were unsuccessful. Because of the pandemic, Licensee was unable to afford to purchase a new generator, and it further lost its lease to the Bald Mountain Site.” The station claims it has been unable to find another site to provide coverage to Independence and asked for a short-term license renewal so it could find a buyer to reestablish service from Bald Mountain.
The YachatsNews report notes that KYTE was still broadcasting on Tuesday, January 10 despite the FCC order cancelling the station’s license.
In addition to KYTE, Yacquina Bay owns News/Talk 1310 KNPT Newport/98.3 K252EQ Depoe Bay and Standards 820 KWDP Waldport OR. The related Pacific West Broadcasting owns Country “U92” 92.7 KNCU Newport, Talk/Standards 1400 KBCH Lincoln City and Classic Rock 96.7 KCRF-FM Lincoln City.
