WASHINGTON D.C. (2UrbanGirls) – A petition has been filed with the Federal Communications Commission to stop the sale of KBLA 1580AM to Tavis Smiley.
The law firm of Smithwick & Belendiuk filed the petition for denial on behalf of The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) calling Smiley a “sexual predator” who violated the morals clause of his contract after hearing accounts of six women, who testified that he had sexually harassed them when they worked for him.
The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America or UCCA is a non-partisan non-profit national umbrella organization uniting over 20 national Ukrainian American organizations in advocating for over 1,000,000 Americans of Ukrainian descent.
Smithwick & Belendiuk specializes in assisting owners (and potential owners) of radio and television stations, cable systems, and other telecommunications companies with completing purchase and sale transactions, litigation, regulatory matters before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and other state and federal agencies, according to its website.
The petition for the denial of the sale hinges on Smiley’s dispute with the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) which is still not resolved.
In 2020, Smiley Audio Group, who owned Smiley’s show, was ordered to pay $2.6 million to PBS, but as of today, Smiley has failed to do so.
In March of this year, a judge ordered Smiley to turn over financial records to PBS, to determine why he hasn’t paid them but has entered into an agreement to pay upwards of $7 million for 1580AM to broadcast his new talk radio station, KBLA.
After the judge’s ruling, Smiley filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.
The matter is currently before the FCC who may decide to have a hearing or it can issue a letter of inquiry asking for more information before deciding if a hearing is necessary
2UrbanGIrls was provided with a copy of the petition which you can read here.