Marion radio station WWGH facing possibility of losing its FCC license

Marion County radio station WWGH-LP is facing the possibility of losing its license to operate, according to a document issued last week by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

WWGH is a low power FM radio station whose license was issued July 2, 2014, to Marion Midget Football (MMF), according to the FCC database. Marion Midget Football is still listed as the licensee on the FCC website although the license has since been transferred to the Marion Education Exchange (MEE).

According to an order the FCC sent to the Marion Education Exchange on May 31, 2022, the organization has 20 days from the issue date of the FCC order to comply with the federal agency's order or its license will not be renewed. The order was issued by Administrative Law Judge Jane Hinckley Halprin.

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The FCC's Enforcement Bureau served a request to the Marion Education Exchange on April 29, 2022, asking for documents related to 44 different topics detailed in the letter. Some of the items the FCC requested include the following: articles of incorporation, bylaws, and documents identifying board members for both the Marion Education Exchange and Marion Midget Football, all board meeting notes or minutes, all documents filed with the Ohio Secretary of State, and any documents identifying or discussing ownership of WWGH-LP since the FCC license was transferred to MEE. A set of interrogatories was also requested.

The FCC ordered MEE to submit the requested documents by May 9 and to submit the interrogatories by May 13. According to the order the FCC sent to MEE on May 31, the organization failed to respond in any form.

At that point, the FCC's Enforcement Bureau contacted MEE's legal counsel George Wolfe of Wolfe Legal Services in Columbus. He then submitted a motion to withdraw as counsel citing a lack of communication by representatives of MEE and failure to pay the retainer owed to Wolfe. The FCC did not oppose Wolfe's request.

According to the FCC order issued by Judge Halprin on May 31, the "proceeding was initiated by the FCC’s Media Bureau on February 23, 2022, to determine whether it is in the public interest to grant MEE’s application for renewal of its license for Station WWGH-LP."

"Among the issues designated for hearing are whether MEE violated the Commission’s rules when it repeatedly failed to respond to inquiries from Commission staff, and when it consummated a pro forma transfer of control of its license without notifying the Commission," Halprin stated in the order. "It is also alleged that MEE has made misrepresentations to and/or lacked candor with the Commission. MEE’s failure to respond in any way to any discovery deadlines in this proceeding, and its apparent lack of communication with its attorney of record are not the actions of a party that genuinely intends to fulfill its burden of proof in this hearing."

Judge Halprin further stated that "this proceeding will be dismissed, which will result in denial of MEE’s renewal application, unless MEE takes the following actions within 20 days of the release date of this Order."

The Marion Education Exchange is ordered to comply with the following orders, per the document issued by Judge Halprin:

"MEE shall produce the documents requested by the Enforcement Bureau on April 29, 2022, or shall raise legally supportable objections to production of individual documents, if appropriate;

"MEE shall respond to the interrogatories posed by the Enforcement Bureau on April 29, 2022, or shall raise legally supportable objections to individual questions, if appropriate;

"and A legal representative of MEE shall file a Notice of Appearance in this proceeding pursuant to section 1.221(c) of the Commission’s rules."

WWGH Program Director Scott Spears said Wolfe was handling all correspondence with the FCC and no one with MEE ever received any information from the agency.

"The lawyer we had consulted on this case was receiving all of our correspondence with the FCC. We were not," Spears said Monday. "He was emailing these correspondence to us. We never got the emails, and nobody from his office ever called to see why we were not answering the emails. Because of not getting his emails and receiving no calls we were not even aware he resigned as our lawyer. We found out from a website that we had not answered questions and our lawyer had resigned on May 31."

Spears also noted that WWGH is compiling information to comply with FCC's request for documentation.

"We have half of the information ready to go now, and will definitely respond before the 20th (day)," he said. "This is all about a complaint by a former (low power FM radio station) manager in town that we put a dead person on the board. In regard to having a deceased person on the board. The person was put on the board in 2014, they died unexpectedly on vacation in November of 2016, The board decided not to fill that position and go to a four person board. The FCC was asked how to handle this in January of 2017. The FCC said if the change did not effect a voting quorum, and we were not filling that spot with anyone new that nothing needed to be done, and that's what we did."

The current board of directors is composed of Shawn Craft, Glenn Coble, Linda Sims, and Terry Tackett. Spears is not a board member.

Spears noted that if the FCC does not renew WWGH's license to operate as an over-the-air radio station, it would still stream live on its website wwgh1071.com and the Tune In app.

"I think internet is the future no matter what happens. The station will not change at all, it will just be broadcast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week over the streaming platforms that I have mentioned," he said. "This was/has been talked about long before this FCC issue came up because there are so many advantages to doing that way, and getting away from the FCC. Look at newspapers online versus in hand, cable and over-the-air TV versus smart TV and apps. Podcasts are the biggest craze. All of our shows, our podcasts are available on our website. We have regular listeners in Columbus, West Virginia, Arizona, Florida, and Baltimore. I don't think they are listening over the air. This could be the best thing that has ever happened to us."

In February 2021, the FCC revoked WWGH's license, but then rescinded that order and allowed the radio station to resume operations and retain its call letters.

In 2019, Spears, on-air personality for WWGH and former president of Marion Midget Football, agreed to pay $12,500 in restitution and penalties following an investigation into the charity and its radio station by the Ohio Attorney General. The Ohio Attorney General's office said it found reason to believe that Marion Midget Football, Spears, and its ex-treasurer Patsy Worcester broke Ohio charity laws.

Email: ecarter@gannett.com | Twitter: @AndrewACCarter

This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Marion radio station WWGH faces possibility of losing its FCC license