The FCC won’t penalize a Kentucky broadcaster for a string of compliance failures as it prepares to sell its stations. Morgan County Industries entered a Consent Decree resolving violations at its four eastern Kentucky FM stations, going to Ridgeline Communications.
Morgan County Industries owns WLKS in West Liberty, WRLV in Salyersville, WCBJ in Campton, and WMOR in Morehead. The company has an application pending with the FCC to sell all four stations to Ridgeline Communications Inc., a deal first filed with the Commission in March 2024.
The Media Bureau’s Audio Division found that renewal applications for the four stations, due April 1, 2020, were filed a month late without a COVID-19-era waiver. The Bureau also found that Morgan County Industries failed to obtain Special Temporary Authority for stations that had gone off the air or, in WLKS’s case, operated at reduced power for more than 30 days, and that issues/programs lists were missing or uploaded late to the stations’ online public inspection files.
An informal objection to WMOR’s renewal application alleged the station had been dark since March 29, 2021, except for a period of less than 24 hours in January 2022, and that a certification in its renewal application was false. Morgan County Industries also acknowledged that a local programming and marketing agreement covering WLKS, WRLV, and WCBJ, tied to Hindman Broadcasting Corporation, was missing from those stations’ public files, and that Online Public File and Minimum Operating Schedule certifications in its renewal applications were incorrect.
The company has since uploaded most of the missing issues/programs lists and the Hindman agreement to its public files and amended its renewal applications to correct the certifications. The Consent Decree carries no monetary penalty, and the Media Bureau found the violations did not warrant denying the renewals, noting that had the stations not had a sale pending, the violations could have justified shorter renewal terms instead.
