The FCC’s Administrative Law Judge Jane Hinckley Halprin has ruled to not revoke the license of Arm & Rage LLC Hip Hop/R&B “Jammin 99.7” 1040 WJBE Powell/Knoxville TN following the felony conviction of its sole owner Joseph Armstrong.
The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau opened a license revocation hearing against the station in March 2022. Armstrong was convicted on August 8, 2016 on one felony count of fraud and false statements for filing a false federal income tax return. Armstrong, a member of Tennessee’s House of Representatives from 1988 until just after his conviction, had purchased cigarette tax stamps in 2007 and sold them at a profit of approximately $330,000 following the legislature’s increase in the state’s cigarette tax, but did not include the profit on his federal 2008 individual income tax return. He was sentenced to three years probation, six months house arrest, 300 hours community service, pay $99,943 in restitution and a $40,000 fine. The FCC stated at the time that Arm & Rage was required to report the conviction as an adverse finding by April 1, 2017 but did not do so until April 14. It also submitted the same document on its 2020 license renewal to explain its answer of no to the question of whether there had been no adverse findings bearing on the character qualifications of A&R and its principal. The agency states it also responded no to whether it had timely uploaded its biennial ownership reports or issues/programs lists as required.
Armstrong argued that because his felony took place 15 years prior to he acquiring the station and cited the FCC’s 1986 Character Policy Statement for the principle that a ten-year limitation applies to character inquiries and argues that the time calculation should run from the date of the misconduct (2008) and not the date of conviction (2016) and that he was acquitted of the more serious felonies of conspiracy to defraud the United States and of tax evasion.
In her ruling, Judge Hinckley Halprin writes, “The Arm & Rage HDO designated for hearing a determination of (1) the effects, if any, of Joseph Armstrong’s felony conviction on his qualifications and thus the qualifications of Arm & Rage, LLC to be a Commission licensee; (2) the effects, if any, of Arm & Rage, LLC’s failure to report the conviction to the Commission by the April 1, 2017, due date, to upload required information to an online public inspection file, and to file timely ownership reports on its qualifications to be a Commission licensee; and (3) whether, pursuant to section 312 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, the license of Arm & Rage, LLC for WJBE(AM), Powell, Tennessee should be revoked. Based on the foregoing, the Presiding Judge concludes that the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau has not proved by a preponderance of the evidence that the felony of which Joseph Armstrong was convicted on August 8, 2016, specifically, violating 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1), disqualifies him and, by extension, Arm & Rage, LLC, from being a Commission licensee. The Presiding Judge also concludes that the Enforcement Bureau has not proved by a preponderance of the evidence that Arm & Rage’s violations of the Commission’s rules identified in the Arm & Rage HDO, as well as the additional violations alleged by the Enforcement Bureau, considered alone or in tandem with Joseph Armstrong’s felony, disqualify Arm & Rage from being a Commission licensee. As a result, the Presiding Judge concludes that, pursuant to section 312 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, the license of Arm & Rage, LLC, for WJBE(AM) should not be revoked.”
The full ruling can be read here.
