“I put 103.1 on the air, May 7, 1979,” Gerald Hunt Sr. said in a Jackson Sun article article a little more than a decade ago. “I sold 103.1, which was WJHR at the time… April 1, 1983 and bought it back 10 years to the day.”
Today, that station is WMXX-FM in Jackson, Tenn., and it is a sibling to three other radio stations and an FM translator in Tennessee that are being involuntary transferred, as Hunt has passed away.
Joe Chautin III, the communications attorney with Hardy, Carey, Chautin & Balkin, has submitted paperwork with the Commission that will see WMXX, along with WORM-AM & FM in Savannah, Tenn.; and WDXL-AM and W278CL in Jackson, Tenn., transfer from the late “Jerry” Hunt to his son, Gerald Hunt Jr.
Professionally, the younger Hunt is known as “J Nelson,” and he’s the administrator of his father’s estate.
Gerald Hunt Sr. passed away on May 24, and while the involuntary transfer of control request is standard in such situations, a “red light acknowledgment” is being made, along with a request for a request to grant the involuntary transfer despite this red light status.
At issue is a FY 2022 annual regulatory fee that was not paid for WXOQ in Selmer, Tenn., which saw its license cancelled in April 2022 and had been owned by Mr. Hunt.
As Chautin writes to the Commission, “The transfer of the debt to the U.S. Treasury, followed by the death of the debt-holder licensee, has created substantial difficulties for remitting payment of the amount due, and there is no ability to estimate any time table on which payment can be made and then followed by a U.S. Treasury communication to the FCC that the debt has been resolved so that the red light status can be lifted.”
As such, Chautin believes, “A grant of this involuntary assignment application is specially requested despite the red light issue so that accurate control of the subject stations is properly reflected in the FCC’s records, and so that the Administrator of the Estate can take necessary actions to not only make payment of the debt due but take other actions commensurate with the Administrator’s duties.”
WDXI was acquired by Mr. Hunt in 1993.
