After four years of unpaid fees to the FCC, the commission has now issued an ultimatum to the licensee of a southwestern Montana FM to pay up.
The FCC’s Media Bureau initiated a proceeding to revoke the license of Class A 100.9 KBOQ(FM) for failure to pay delinquent regulatory fees, administrative costs and penalties owed to the commission by its licensee, Southwest Montana Media, which is owned by Ted Austin.
(Read the commission’s order to pay or show cause.)
According to the commission, Southwest Montana Media also owes unpaid regulatory fees for the surrendered license of 580 KANA(AM) in Anaconda and a cancelled construction permit for K264CZ, a translator in Butte. The broadcaster surrendered those licenses to the FCC in 2023.
Southwest Montana Media has unpaid regulatory fees from 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023 across the three licenses, totaling about $6,750, the Media Bureau said.
It must pay the fees or show cause as to why payment is inapplicable, waived or deferred within 60 days.
Failure to respond within that time, the bureau said, may result in license revocation.
The 100-watt KBOQ is licensed to Lima, a community in Beaverhead County along Interstate 15 in southwest Montana.
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