"Why did George Soros want to buy 225 stations nationwide in 47 media markets? To silence conservatives …. The FCC has broken the law to give [Soros] the green light to censor conservatives right before this election." "This is about the government participating in this effort to silence conservatives – and of course, they're taking their first scalp: Mark Levin is now off of the new George Soros network in Philadelphia." Dan Schneider, vice president |
The 3-2 vote by FCC commissioners was first reported by The New York Post last week. The split vote, between Democrats and Republicans, bypassed several rules to give the notorious billionaire a 200-station network after owner Audacy, Inc. had declared bankruptcy.
The radio network purchase ignored an FCC rule about foreign ownership and dropped a mandatory national security review, AFN reported last week.
On the eve of the FCC vote, Soros’ interest was concerning Republicans and conservatives since Audacy, the nation’s second-largest radio network, gives air time to conservative talk show hosts such as Sean Hannity.
In 2022, a Soro-backed media network purchased numerous Spanish-language radio stations from TelevisaUnivision in a $60 million deal. That deal got public attention because a famous Miami station, Mambi, was known for its anti-Communist message from Miami’s Cuban exile community.
Radio and the talk show format is one of the few remaining strongholds with a conservative and Christian conservative message, conservative activist Gary Bauer tells AFN.
"This rule, on how many radio stations can be under the control of one individual, is there for a purpose," he argues. "It's to prevent the concentration of power in a particular interest or a particular ideology."
In a written dissenting opinion, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr called the vote “unprecedented” for ignoring FCC rules that are part of federal law.
“Never before,” Carr wrote, “has the Commission voted to approve the transfer of a broadcast license—let alone the transfer of broadcast licenses for over 200 radio stations across more than 40 markets—without following the requirements and procedures codified in federal law. Not once.”
In a related dissenting opinion, FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington pointed out a secretive money trail begins with a corporation, Laurel Tree. It leads back to a Soros-funded group, Fund for Policy Reform.
“LTOC will own and control a majority of the voting stock of the reorganized Audacy,” Simington writes. “Who controls LTOC? It’s not a particularly complicated structure: Fund for Policy Reform.”
According to Influence Watch, a non-profit watchdog, Funding for Policy Reform is a lobbying group founded and funded by Soros and his Open Society Foundation.
10/3/2024 - Dan Schneider's comments added.
