The Democrat-controlled Federal Communications Commission has officially given leftist billionaire George Soros what he wanted: effective control and foreign ownership of over 200+ American radio stations ahead of the 2024 election — including stations that presently run shows from Glenn Beck, Mark Levin, Erick Erickson, Sean Hannity, and Dana Loesch.
While some initially cast doubt on whether Audacy will be actually controlled by Soros, the FCC's Monday memo reveals a Soros entity will hold a "controlling, attributable interest in the reorganized company, holding 57% or greater" of Audacy.
All three Democratic appointees on the FCC supported the final decision both to approve the assignment of licenses previously under the control of a Texas bankruptcy court to the reorganized Audacy and to spare the company from having to comply with Section 310(b)(4) of the Communications Act, which prohibits foreign owners from having a stake in a radio station license exceeding 25%.
Trump-appointed FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr said in his dissenting statement, "The Commission’s decision today is unprecedented."
"Never before 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," continued Carr. "Not once."
Carr previously told nationally syndicated radio host and Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck, "Foreign company ownership of U.S. radio stations is not supposed to exceed 25%. But Soros took foreign investment to make his bid, and then he asked the FCC to make an exception to the usual review process."
'Who controls FPR? Well, Google it.'
"We have a very clear process at the FCC that we set up — it could take six months, it could take a year — to go through to [the national security] review the foreign ownership at issue here," Carr told Beck. "But for reasons that are not sort of plain to me, the FCC ... for the very first time ever, has skipped that process for the benefit of this Soros-backed group."
Carr noted in his statement of dissent Monday that the applicants have provided the FCC with "virtually no information at all about their plans to wall off the unvetted foreign interests."
Commissioner Nathan Simington, the other Republican appointee on the FCC, like Carr, was shocked by his Democratic peers' willingness to fast-track the deal without bothering to investigate which foreign interests are involved, writing:
A Commission eager to fast-track a billion dollar broadcast media reorganization, disregarding foreign ownership concerns, is the same Commission that has gone back to the well several times to impose and re-impose foreign sponsorship identification rules on our smallest independent broadcast license holders every time they place local church content on the air. Just saying.
Despite years of concern-mongering about foreign interference, Democrats do not appear the slightest bit bothered.
Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, among the three commissioners who green-lit the takeover, suggested that everything was above board and business as usual, adding that "to suggest otherwise is cynical and wrong."
Simington, apparently in the cynical minority who still value longstanding laws and FCC conventions, pointed out that the reorganized Audacy will be controlled by Laurel Tree Opportunities Corporation and that LTOC will own and control a majority (57% or more) of the voting stock of the reorganized company.
"Who controls LTOC? It's not a particularly complicated structure: Fund for Policy Reform. And who controls FPR? Well, Google it," wrote Simington.
'This reckless, unprecedented move will impact radio stations reaching millions of listeners across the U.S.'
Fund for Policy Reform is governed by a four-member board of trustees: Alexander Soros, the apparent heir to the Soros empire and chair of Open Society Foundations; Leonard Banchon; Maryann Canfield, asset manager for OSF; and Michael Vachon of Soros Fund Management, a longtime mouthpiece for the leftist billionaire.
A week ahead of securing the power of greater narrative control over American airwaves, Alexander Soros hosted Kamala Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, at his New York City apartment.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) office said of the news, "This reckless, unprecedented move will impact radio stations reaching millions of listeners across the U.S. — handing off our airwaves to foreign interests."
Roy, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-N.Y.) were among the only lawmakers in the nation's capital who actually spoke out in recent months about Soros' apparent strategic play for narrative dominance.
Roy personally noted that this FCC action underscores why the November election "matters so much. We need [President Donald Trump] to put the right people on FCC and stop this takeover!"
Dana Loesch, among the conservative voices whose voice on the radio might soon be silenced, wrote, "Being a rich Democrat means Democrats will exempt you from laws regulating sales to foreign entities. Marxists never follow the laws they demand others follow."
Mike Davis of the Article III Project suggested, "The federal courts must immediately enjoin this illegal fiat."
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