Commissioners Reject Appeal From Station That Didn't Disclose Deceased Licensee
FCC commissioners rejected an application for review of a Media Bureau decision nixing appeal of MB rejection of a former station’s license renewal application because it was filed without informing the FCC that the licensee had died, said an order…
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Wednesday. Frank Rackley, licensee of DWNBN(AM) Meridian, Mississippi, died in 2011, but the station’s license renewal application was filed in 2012 without disclosing his death. Under FCC rules, “an application for involuntary assignment of license must be filed with the Commission within thirty days after the date of death.” Six years later, station administrator Eddie Rackley filed the correct application and the bureau approved the transfer of the station to Jimmie Hopson, but documents reflecting the consummation of the sale and seeking approval of Hopson as a licensee were never filed, the order said. In June 2018, staff dismissed the renewal application and ruled that the station’s license expired in 2012. Arguments from Rackley and Hopson they were unfamiliar with the rules and weren’t represented by counsel are new and inapplicable to an appeal, and wouldn’t be a defense anyway, the order said. “It is well settled that parties that act pro se assume the responsibility of complying with the Rules,” said a footnote.