Al Wynn has had what many might consider an unusual house guest for the past few years: his AM radio station. Wynn has been operating KODL-AM The Dalles OR from his home, about a half mile from its licensed transmitter location. What makes the situation doubly unique is that the station did do that legally at first, as licensee Larson-Wynn Inc. requested and received an STA allowing the move on a temporary basis. Then the fun begins. KODL requested an extension of the STA on 8/31/04, and about three weeks later the FCC returned it on grounds that the applicable fee was not included with it. Eau contraire said the station, we did send the fee, and had the cancelled check to prove it. In a just society, you’d think that would let the station off the hook, but there remains one last twist to this tale. The original STA expired 2/25/04, about six months before KODL applied for the extension. The assessed fine for this infraction was 4K, but given errors on both sides of the table and KODL’s good-faith efforts to handle the matter according to the book, the FCC decided to split the difference and knock the assessment down to 2K.
