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FCC License Revocations?

95.9 WTCU Fife Lake, MI never made it to air as its owner built an unlicensed facility to get it on the air before its CP expired and was caught by a rival broadcaster (note: 95.9 Fife Lake would eventually come on several years after this with a new license and with more power than WTCU was proposed to run). This same owner had a license yanked in Texas for being silent for over a year. He still has several licenses in Texas and Michigan, but a few of those should have had their licenses cancelled due to being silent over a year among other issues.
 
I can remember in a thread something about a radio station that lost its license for a rigged contest but it had been sold and the FCC revoked the license of the new owner. I posted a comment that I didn't understand why this happened, unless it was sold to someone where the original owner still had control. I tried to find the thread but haven't been able to, and this may have already been mentioned in this thread, but does anyone know what station this might have been? Thanks.
 
anotherguy said:
I can remember in a thread something about a radio station that lost its license for a rigged contest but it had been sold and the FCC revoked the license of the new owner. I posted a comment that I didn't understand why this happened, unless it was sold to someone where the original owner still had control. I tried to find the thread but haven't been able to, and this may have already been mentioned in this thread, but does anyone know what station this might have been? Thanks.
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That was WMJX Miami(posted above). I do believe the rigged contest occurred during ownership of Bartell Broadcasting. They sold, and the new owner was stuck with the mess.

Stuart Elliot was a semi-frequent poster on here. He was the PD (I think), and was there throughout the license revocation stuff. Signed the station off in 82, and was the first voice on the “new” 96X in 1985 (under new ownership and new calls — WCJX). He recently passed, but his posts are a treasure trove of 70’s-80’s Miami radio!
 
ftballfan said:
95.9 WTCU Fife Lake, MI never made it to air as its owner built an unlicensed facility to get it on the air before its CP expired and was caught by a rival broadcaster (note: 95.9 Fife Lake would eventually come on several years after this with a new license and with more power than WTCU was proposed to run). This same owner had a license yanked in Texas for being silent for over a year. He still has several licenses in Texas and Michigan, but a few of those should have had their licenses cancelled due to being silent over a year among other issues.
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The lovely Roy Henderson! He's been in trouble recently for 100.1? is it.. Beulah, MI being 25 miles from its licensed site.

I heard 95.9 FM Fife Lake in Wisconsin this summer/
 
SomeRadioGuy said:
The lovely Roy Henderson! He's been in trouble recently for 100.1? is it.. Beulah, MI being 25 miles from its licensed site.

I heard 95.9 FM Fife Lake in Wisconsin this summer/
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Roy Henderson sounds familiar...

Is he related to all the stuff that went on over at the Houston board a couple of years ago? With The Guy Who Swears He’s Not A Pirate?

If so, Mr Henderson sounds like the type of owner that lets the “lunatics run the asylum”. Which would explain a lot of the reason why his stations (former or current) seem to play loose with the rules.
 
seattlesarchiebunker said:
Roy Henderson sounds familiar...

Is he related to all the stuff that went on over at the Houston board a couple of years ago? With The Guy Who Swears He’s Not A Pirate?

If so, Mr Henderson sounds like the type of owner that lets the “lunatics run the asylum”. Which would explain a lot of the reason why his stations (former or current) seem to play loose with the rules.
Click to expand...


That guy who swears hes not a pirate has "issues" and is the one obsessed with knocking down Henderson's door and nailing him to the wall for his transgressions.
 
There's KFCC 1270. Don Werlinger was the licensee. I knew Don. The best way to put things, Don believed it was easier to ask forgiveness than permission.

The lengthy story in short form: Don was leasing 1070 and subletting time by the hour. He was doing pretty good in the billing department. It seems he had a first right of refusal if the station came up for sale while he was leasing it (something that was pretty typical in these instances). It seems the licensee 'forgot' that and sold the station to Salem. I doubt Don could have bought it anyway.

I gather Don knew that was about to happen.He had already purchased 1270 out of Bay City and had filed to move it to Stafford. That application had not been approved when the 1070 sale happened. Don had checked with the FCC and had word it was a good application due to be granted.

Don, now faced with the loss of 1070 had to find a home for his clients. He figured he'd just build out the station in hopes the FCC would not catch on. He might have to run a few weeks before approval at most. By doing so he kept his billing and clients. In other words he'd save his business. The FCC did catch on.

The result was Don was found to not be worthy of.being a licensee. He immediately transferred it to a company that would lease the station back to him. It was actually a legit company and Don had to answer to them. The FCC knew this but I suppose they figured there was enough there to keep Don on a short leash.

1270 continued to operate until the license expired and the allocation was deleted. The FCC supposedly would not allow it to be sold or transferred.

Don Werlinger passed away in 2018.

There are many details omitted for the sake of brevity. For example, Don did all the engineering work but anything filed with the FCC had Bob Morrow's name. Bob, an engineer himself, literally checked Don's work and once it was to Bob's liking (and a fee paid to Bob), he'd sign the application and submit it to the FCC. If Don filed himself, Don felt the FCC would never approve it.

Don left lots of enemies behind but a few of us can say he knew directional AM exceptionally well and had a huge wealth of knowledge. When others said it couldn't be done, chances were Don would think outside the box and find a legit way to do it. You could mention a town and off the top of his mind he could tell you if something could fit right down to the general terrain of the area. I marveled at that.
 
SomeRadioGuy said:
The lovely Roy Henderson! He's been in trouble recently for 100.1? is it.. Beulah, MI being 25 miles from its licensed site.

I heard 95.9 FM Fife Lake in Wisconsin this summer/
Click to expand...

It was actually 99.3. He does have a 100.1 in nearby Bear Lake with a CP to move to 100.7, but it's been mostly off the air for years.
 
Another one from Michigan:
http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=14601 (2009 cancellation of 10+ CPs)
http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=34383 (2012 cancellation of two licenses)

Jim McCluskey, through two companies, held CPs for several full-power FMs and translators in Michigan in the early to mid 2000s. He built several of them at sites other than their licensed coordinates and eventually ended up getting all of his licenses and CPs cancelled.
 
rfburns said:
What about Willis Broadcasting?

https://transition.fcc.gov/eb/Orders/2004/DA-04-1694A1.html

Can't believe I forgot about this one!
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I can’t believe I forgot to mention that one as well. Granted, I do believe the only licenses revoked were some of his AMs that had gone dark. That being said, the Willis stations were well known for being in various states of disrepair.

For those of you who dare to go back to the past, an old website shows the transmitter site of WURB-FM in Windsor, NC circa 2001-02. This is basically how all Willis stations operated, from what I understand.

http://e92fm.tripod.com/wurb.html
 
seattlesarchiebunker said:
I can’t believe I forgot to mention that one as well. Granted, I do believe the only licenses revoked were some of his AMs that had gone dark. That being said, the Willis stations were well known for being in various states of disrepair.

For those of you who dare to go back to the past, an old website shows the transmitter site of WURB-FM in Windsor, NC circa 2001-02. This is basically how all Willis stations operated, from what I understand.

http://e92fm.tripod.com/wurb.html
Click to expand...

The good Bishop bought several stations in Mississippi, including one in Jackson. He turned down more than one offer for the Jackson station and let the license be deleted. I never understood his reasoning on keeping the licenses instead of selling them.
 
SomeRadioGuy said:
Man do I have some stories about Brian Dodge that have never been publicized
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Don’t leave us hanging like that :)

In all seriousness, reading the documents mentioned above, he sounds like a fascinating individual. I would normally say his actions were due to the felony on his record in the late 80’s, but it appears he was doing greasy radio stuff under the nose of the Commission for years before that.

The fact that they let him sell a few translators plus give him time to straighten his stations out shows just how much patience the FCC exercises these days. Granted, he never straightened things out, so his AM and it’s translator network was deleted.
 
seattlesarchiebunker said:
I can’t believe I forgot to mention that one as well. Granted, I do believe the only licenses revoked were some of his AMs that had gone dark. That being said, the Willis stations were well known for being in various states of disrepair.

For those of you who dare to go back to the past, an old website shows the transmitter site of WURB-FM in Windsor, NC circa 2001-02. This is basically how all Willis stations operated, from what I understand.

http://e92fm.tripod.com/wurb.html
Click to expand...

The good/bad news: 97.7 WURB is now a K-Love station and has moved to Elizabeth City
 
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