The FCC Media Bureau has terminated an FM translator license and proposed a $16,200 fine against Southern Media Interactive LLC.
The case involves 790 WSFN(AM) and its translator, 103.7 W279BC(FM), in Brunswick, Ga. The commission said the translator had operated from an unauthorized location for at least a year and carried original programming. It said Southern Media admitted to unauthorized transfer of control of the station to Shanks Broadcasting and that the AM had committed multiple engineering violations, including failure to notify the commission of multiple periods of being off the air and broadcasting from a temporary facility after an STA had expired.
The commission said the WSFN saga began when the station lost access to its Blythe Island Highway AM transmitter site on Sept. 1, 2022. At the time, Shanks apparently took control of the station, running its Georgia-based “Sports Superstations” network. Shanks announced the acquisition on social media but the deal had not been filed with the FCC.
Based on the commission’s findings, WSFN’s AM signal was silent after Sept. 1 but the translator remained on the air until Oct. 28. It was not until Oct. 31 that Southern Media filed an STA to account for the signals being off.
In January of 2023, Southern Media Interactive filed for an STA to resume operation of the AM from a temporary site and said its FM translator would return to the air from its original site. The commission granted the STA.
But a month later, the Media Bureau received a complaint that while the translator was on the air, its AM signal was silent. The commission said an Enforcement Bureau agent verified the complaint and found “no tower or antenna” at WSFN’s antenna site nor its STA site. The agent also observed no tower at the translator’s licensed site but determined its 103.7 FM signal was originating from a tower 3.3 miles to the north.
The bureau sent multiple letters of inquiry to Southern Media Interactive. The company told the FCC it had been unaware the AM station was off the air, saying it was unable to monitor the station remotely from the location specified in its STA. SMI subsequently acknowledged that the AM had been off the air for most of 2023. The commission said SMI also had ceded financial control of the station to Shanks, including accepting payment of $15,000 for a “temporary building” at the engineering site listed in WSFN’s STA.
The FCC said Southern Media Interactive never sought authorization to operate the translator from a different location.
Now it has ruled that the translator license had automatically expired because more than a year had elapsed since it operated from the authorized site. “The record in this case contains no evidence that the translator’s unauthorized operations were caused by factors beyond SMI’s control. Rather, it appears SMI chose to operate the translator from a location more than 3 miles from its licensed transmitter site, and chose not to seek commission authorization to do so.”
The silence and STA violations of the AM signal, as well as the unauthorized control to Shanks, resulted in a $16,200 forfeiture being proposed against Southern Media Interactive. The licensee has 30 days to appeal the fine or seek reduction.
