ALJ Rejects Enforcement Bureau Request in AM Proceeding
FCC Administrative Law Judge Jane Halprin rejected an Enforcement Bureau motion seeking to limit radio broadcaster Arm & Rage from mentioning its principal Joseph Armstrong’s good behavior since his felony conviction in the company’s license hearing proceeding, said an order…
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posted Tuesday in docket 22-122. Arm & Rage’s license to own WJBE(AM) Powell, Tennessee, was designated for hearing in March 2022 (see 2203210047). Halprin ruled earlier this month that EB inquiries into Armstrong’s tax filings and on whether he had violated other FCC rules were outside the scope of the hearing proceeding, which concerns Armstrong’s fitness to hold a license after being convicted of making a false statement on a 2008 tax form. After that ruling, the EB asked Halprin to bar Armstrong from claiming the conviction was an aberration or that Arm &Rage had a good record of FCC compliance. “The fact that it is acceptable to consider whether Mr. Armstrong has been rehabilitated does not open up discovery as to whether he may have engaged in other, unadjudicated criminal activity,” ruled Halprin. “It would have been acceptable to ask whether Mr. Armstrong had ever been convicted of other felonies, but the Bureau’s inquiry is about matters far outside that.”