Deleted Battle Creek MI station WOLY-AM will stay deleted after the FCC turned down requests from former licensee Christian Family Network Inc. to bring it back to life. The FCC used the occasion to underscore the importance of getting license renewal paperwork in on time. In the case of WOLY, deadlines not met and the FCC said no effort was made to demonstrate extraordinary circumstances that led to the failure.
The station was actually being operated after the station was “deleted,” resulting in a $10K fine for unauthorized broadcast (the same regulatory club dragged out for broadcast piracy cases). The fine was eventually reduced to $5K due to the licensee’s inability to pay. The FCC says the renewal application should have arrived at the Commission no later than 6/1/04; the station was considered a goner by 2006 and a 2009 application for an STA to operate the station was dismissed as untimely.
RBR/TVBR observation: All of which goes to show that the FCC takes its paperwork seriously. Every station should have one person and a backup who make sure all FCC matters are dispatched in a timely manner.
