Licensee qualifications

[A Joseph Ross]

I remembered the ex parte contact, but I thought that was the reason for 
the re-opening of the license proceeding.  They held a whole new 
proceeding to award the license as a new station application, rather 
than as a renewal, and WHDH was allowed to apply.  It's my memory that 
when the Commission awarded the license to Boston Broadcasters, they 
acknowledged WHDH's excellent record as a broadcaster, but said that 
since this was an original proceeding, not a renewal, WHDH got no credit 
for its record, and the things Boston Broadcasters promised to do made 
it the better applicant.

The whole thing was simply political, I've always thought.  A Democratic 
administration taking the license away from a major Republican 
newspaper, to benefit the Democratic-oriented Globe.


On 8/11/2015 7:22 AM, Sidney Schweiger wrote:
> "I'm probably missing something, but I don't recall an issue of lying on an application regarding Channel 5."
>
> The Herald-Traveler Corporation failed to disclose an illegal ex-parte communication between an officer of the applicant and an FCC commissioner...the title of Sterling Quinlan's book about the Channel 5 case, "The Hundred Million Dollar Lunch."  Supposedly the commissioner refused to discuss the case at that lunch, but the appearance of impropriety was enough to eventually deny the H-T the license.
>
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A. Joseph Ross, J.D.| 92 State Street| Suite 700 | Boston, MA 02109-2004
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