The owner of a silent AM serving an area of Southwestern Virginia some 40 miles from Bristol and Johnson City, Tenn., agreed to sell the station months ago.
However, a Petition for Reconsideration by another broadcaster operating in the region was filed with the FCC’s Media Bureau in an attempt to get another look at an Application for Review of the Commission’s license renewal and transfer OK — denied in November 2016.
An Order on Reconsideration has just been released by the Media Bureau on the matter.
The Petition for Reconsideration was filed June 7 by Holston Valley Broadcasting Corporation — the owner of four FMs and two TV stations serving the Tri-Cities, Tenn./Va. market.
The action sought further review of renewal, transfer of control, and license applications filed by Continental Media Group for dark WXMY-AM 1600 in Saltville, Va.
The Commission denied Holston’s Nov. 26, 2016 Application for Review (AFR) of the Bureau’s grant of the unopposed Renewal Application and Transfer Application, and the concurrent grant of the License Application, to which Holston had filed an Informal
Objection.
What’s the verdict? Holston’s petition has been dismissed.
On review, the Commission affirmed the Bureau’s prior determination that Holston’s
failure to file a petition to deny or otherwise oppose the Transfer Application and Renewal Application during their near five-year pendency precluded it from later seeking reconsideration of the staff’s grant of those applications.
The Commission also found that Holston failed to demonstrate “extraordinary
circumstances” which would justify revocation of the contested License Application.
In the subject Petition, Holston argues that Continental has not
existed as a Virginia LLC since at least December 31, 2013, and avers that all
Continental’s filings to the Commission since then “must be stricken as sham and false pursuant to Section 1.52 of the Rules.”
Holston also asserts that Continental’s “apparent failure to notify the FCC of consummation” of the Transfer Application necessitates a hearing to determine whether the Renewal Application could be granted.
Additionally, Holston alleges that Continental’s license may have expired pursuant to Section 312(g) of the Act because “it appears that [WXMY] may not have been
broadcasting any programming, as the [s]tation’s transmitter has been turned on, but no programming is being broadcast.”
WXMY is licensed to broadcast from 1 tower with 23kw during daylight hours and just 11 watts at night.
In its Opposition, Continental first argues that Holston did not did not contest the
Transfer Application or Renewal Application prior to grant and is procedurally barred by both prior Bureau and Commission actions from challenging either of those applications in its Petition.
It also claims that the Petition raises new matters, none of which pertain to any issues previously raised in this proceeding.
Further, Continental dismissed as “irrelevant” allegations that it broadcast “carrier only” at times in May and June in consideration of the Renewal Application and says Holston has presented no evidence that Continental ever presented information with an intent to deceive the Commission.
But, is WXMY silent?
On Nov. 29, 2017, the Bureau issued a Letter of Inquiry from Media Bureau Audio Division Chief Peter Doyle to Continental requesting that it clarify whether it aired programming between March 19 and March 21, 2017.
Continental filed a response on Tuesday (12/12) noting that WXMY indeed returned to the air on March 19 with a Classic Country format; it did not address its current on- or off-air status.
With that a decision was rendered, and the Media Bureau dismissed Holston’s petition for the following reasons: In this case, Continental’s corporate status at the time it filed the Applications is neither a new fact nor changed circumstance, and Holston provides no explanation for why it could not previously have raised this claim.
Additionally, on June 6 Continental informed the Commission that it had consummated the transfer of control from Jeffrey Raynor to Wendy Raynor as 100% owner of WXMY in February 2016, obviating any need for an evidentiary hearing to determine whether the transfer had occurred and renewal could be granted.
Not mentioned in the Ruling from the Media Bureau: Jeffrey Raynor transferred control of WXMY in July 2007 after he was arrested on charges of soliciting sex with a child and possessing child pornography, the Kingsport Times-News reports.
RBR+TVBR
