The sale of WDAY in Fargo, North Dakota will continue after an objection from a private citizen was made to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
A citizen had raised an issue with statements made by the incoming owner — Flag Family’s Scott Hennen — about the state of the news media. He had made a social media comment stating that “journalism is dead.” The concerned party raised questions about whether or not Hennen was fit to own a broadcast company.
However, the FCC ruled that Hennen was entitled to his opinion and that the comments were “not a ground for the FCC to deny or withhold consent to the instant assignment.”
“We reject the assertion that Hennen’s social media comments justify a denial of the proposed assignment applications,” the ruling from the FCC continued. “The Objection does not cite to any provision under the Act or the rules, any cases, or any Commission policy for its argument that Hennen’s social media comments are pertinent to our review of the Applications. We disagree with Wolff’s argument that Hennen’s viewpoint on the state of journalism, as expressed in his social media comments, is in any way relevant to our determination of BBM’s qualifications to hold a license or whether the proposed assignment would serve the public interest.
“As the Commission has stated, licensees have broad discretion based on their First Amendment right to free speech to choose, in good faith, the programming they believe serves the needs and interests of their communities. Indeed, the Commission does not interfere with the programming decisions of licensees, nor does it consider issues of programming choice when reviewing an application for the assignment or transfer of a broadcast license.”
A deal between Flag Family, which has operated the station since 2020 as part of a five-year agreement, and Forum Communications was announced last year. The purchase price for WDAY — North Dakota’s oldest radio station — was $600,000.
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