For the last several years, a Texas licensee has been seeking to operate a Class A radio station at 92.7 on the FM dial. However, that hasn’t happened because another licensee, led by Roy Henderson, has been authorized to do so but never followed through with a shift to that frequency for a Class A FM at 106.1 MHz.
This led the FCC’s Media Bureau to open a Comment and Reply Comment period to help come to a resolution on the matter.
Now, Henderson is making headlines for another matter involving the Bureau: “DKHTZ” no longer has a “D” in its call letters, as a license renewal submitted March 31, 2021 with the Commission has been granted.
The saga of the former KHTZ-FM at 94.9 MHz in Ganado, Tex., involves the erroneous addition of Channel 235 to the FM Table of Allotments for the Texas municipality, to the northeast of Victoria, Tex.
The addition of 94.9 MHz was made because the Bureau failed to take into consideration “DKHTZ.”
This would be KHTZ-FM, licensed to Roy Henderson-led S Content Marketing.
Reconsideration of the station’s license cancellation by the Commission, filed in October 2019 by Henderson, was still pending.
Now, Henderson has won his case, as KHTZ has been reinstated and the station’s application has been brought back to pending status.
Then, there’s a dispute between Henderson and Victoria Radio Works, licensee of KVIC-FM in Victoria, Tex., involving unpaid reimbursement of costs associated with a facility change it made in order to accommodate an upgrade of KHTZ.
Al Shuldiner, the Audio Division Chief, ruled that Henderson has 30 days from February 11 to pay Victoria a total of $96,566.58.
That’s a major chunk of cash for Henderson, and it is imperative that he pay up.
Why? Shuldiner writes, “We will hold in abeyance further action on the Application pending notification by Henderson that full payment of $96,566.58 to Victoria has been made.”
Victoria incurred the costs years ago and submitted a reimbursement request to his attorney, John C. Trent, in May 2013. This triggered a long-running feud over what Henderson thought he should cover the costs for, resulting in additional legal and engineering costs that pushed the amount of funds Henderson was liable for skyward from approximately $57,387.
In December 2017, the Division directed Henderson and Victoria to engage in good faith
negotiations to determine the reasonable and prudent expenses incurred in implementing the KVIC channel change.
To avoid payment, Henderson attempted to move forward with a supposed 2018 agreement that would see an alternative plan: in lieu of a cash reimbursement payment, Victoria, Tex., would become the new city of license for KJAZ-FM in Port Comfort, Texas. Victoria refuted this purported agreement.
Henderson didn’t respond to Victoria’s renewed reimbursement request. This inaction led the Media Bureau to delete KHTZ and cancel its call sign.
Fast-forward to today: S Content Marketing argues that the Media Bureau is restricted from
taking adverse action on the Application until after notice and an opportunity for a full hearing; the dispute over the reimbursement amount is not grounds to dismiss the Application for failure to prosecute under section 73.3568(a)(1) of the Rules; and the decision to terminate the operations of KHTZ-FM, along with deletion of its call sign, is contrary to the Act, the Rules, and the Administrative Procedure Act.
“For these reasons, SCM maintains that the Dismissal Letter must be reversed, the Application must be granted, and the KHTZ-FM call sign and operating authority must be reinstated,” Shuldiner explained.
That’s happening. But, the FCC’s Media Bureau Audio Division determined that
“the majority of Victoria’s claimed expenses for changing channels are legitimate and prudent and therefore reimbursable.” This includes the legal expenses, given Henderson’s actions over the years.
Thus, Henderson can have KHTZ back. But, he’ll need to settle his debt with Victoria before that can happen.
Whether that happens is now anyone’s guess.
Between March 2008 and October 2017, Henderson, in his personal capacity, held the license for KHTZ-FM (formerly KULF-FM) before transferring the station’s license to S Content Marketing in October 2017.
