FCC Report 2/27: Ohio LPFM To Get License Renewal Hearing
FCC Actions
A hearing will be held to determine whether The Marion Education Exchange’s 107.1 WWGH-LP Marion OH’s license renewal should be granted and whether a financial penalty will be assessed against the station.
The FCC is investigating whether Marion Education Exchange willfully and repeatedly violated section 73.1015 of the Rules by failing to respond fully to letters of inquiry, made misrepresentations to and/or lacked candor with the Commission in violation of section 1.17(a)(1) of the Rules, or violated section 1.17(a)(2) of the Rules by providing incorrect material factual information or omitting material information necessary to prevent a material factual statement from being incorrect or misleading, and doing so without a reasonable basis for believing the information to be correct and not misleading, and willfully violated section 73.865 of the Rules by failing to notify the Commission that a pro forma transfer of control of MEE had occurred.
Marion Education Exchange was registered in Ohio as a non-profit on May 2, 2019 with an application to transfer the station’s license from Marion Midget Football made a week later. In the application, the filing stated that there were no changes in the board members only the name of the licensee listing five people each holding 20 percent voting rights. During the course of its investigation, the FCC learned that one of the board members listed had died in November 2016.
After the transfer was approved, an informal objection to the station’s license renewal application was filed by the former president of another LPFM in the town alleging that MEE had misrepresented its board composition with different people than those approved in the license transfer submitting copies of materials filed with the state that listed four people, none of which were on the FCC approved application.
The first FCC letter of inquiry simply asked for a list of all board members, past and present and the dates they served with MEE only replying with its current board members and officers. A second inquiry was replied with “oblique and unclear language regarding its board composition”. The third inquiry asked why the deceased board member was listed as being in the original license transfer with MEE stating she has passed away prior to the meeting approving the transfer, but not confirming when she had died.
The FCC is seeking to prove whether Marion Education Exchange misrepresented its board composition by offering different, and at times inconsistent explanations, knowingly submitted false information, and in an attempt to cover-up made additional misrepresentations. The FCC also states that an apparent false statement regarding its programming being unique in Marion further bolsters its concern that MEE is capable of honesty in future dealings. MEE had stated that WWGH-LP is the “last station” in the city-of-license providing local news and weather every hour, while the original objector noted that iHeartMedia’s 1490 WMRN and 94.3 WMRN-FM and Marion Community Radio’s 104.7 WZMO-LP did so as well, while Marion Makes Music’s 97.5 WDIF-LP also provided hourly weather.
La Casa de la Raza’s 96.5 KZAA-LP Santa Barbara CA has been issued a Notice of Apparent Liability For Forfeiture proposing a $1500 fine for failing to timely file its license renewal application. KZAA-LP was due to file its renewal by August 2, 2021, but did not do so until October 1 claiming it was not aware of the filing deadline due to staff changes.
OpenSkyRadio Corp’s 91.5 KVYA Cedarville CA and Aaniiih Nakoda College’s 88.1 KGVA Fort Belknap Agency MT have entered into Consent Decrees for failing to maintain their online public files.
FM Changes
Radio Training Network files to move “The Joy FM” 93.5 WPHH Hope Hull AL applies to move to the Montgomery tower… […]
