Liberty University will shutter the over-the-air facility associated with its campus station WQLU after an FCC Media Bureau inquiry into its operation. The Lynchburg, Virginia-based private evangelical Christian university filed for license renewal in 2019, which was granted as no concerns were raised. However, an inquiry was initiated by the Media Bureau when Liberty University applied for new special temporary authority in August 2020.
During the investigation, discrepancies were noted in the geographical coordinates of the station’s operational site, contrary to what was specified in the station’s license.
Liberty University had initially obtained special temporary authority to operate WQLU from a site different from its licensed location. This authority, however, lapsed in 2015, to which the school admitted its continued operation.
Now the FCC and Liberty have agreed to a Consent Decree that will terminate WQLU’s license and see the school pay a civil penalty of $10,000 within 30 days of the Effective Date.
