FCC Cancels License For WWNH In NH

The FCC has cancelled the license for New England owner Brian Dodge’s sole remaining AM station plus a half dozen FM translators. It’s the latest slap against the broadcaster who last November agreed to pay a $100,000 fine and surrender several full- and low-power stations as part of a consent decree with the FCC.

According to InsideRadio, the cancelled full-power station is the 250-watt WWNH 1340 AM , Madbury, NH in the Portsmouth-Dover-Rochester, NH market. It has been essentially off the air since 2010.

The FCC disclosed that it cancelled the licenses for six translators, all of which had not been on the air due to what Dodge had told the agency were “technical difficulties” at each of the stations.

Brian Dodge last year admitted to using pseudonyms and a variety of addresses—including fake ones—to hide his involvement in the companies dating back to 1982. All the while, he collected a portfolio of three AMs, 10 FM translators and two low-power FMs.

The FCC’s suspicions arose in 2014 when, while processing LPFM applications, the Media Bureau concluded that Dodge was using various personas, most often “Tim Allen,” to hide his identity. When it blocked his filings and turned off access to the FCC’s electronic filing system, agency staffers began receiving telephone calls from Dodge. The plot thickened when he identified himself to staff as “Tim Allen” while the FCC’s phone system caller ID showed “Brian Dodge” on its display.

As part of the consent decree Dodge agreed to pay a $100,000 fine and sell two translators in Vermont and New Hampshire in a pair of deals worth $225,000. Dodge also agreed to surrender the license for WCKL 560 AM , Catskill, NY and two Springfield, MA market low-power FMs as well as a construction permit for a second LPFM. Federal regulations prohibit an existing station owner from also holding a low-power FM license.

Last November’s agreement gave Dodge a conditional one-year license renewal for his remaining AM and six FM translators. Among those conditions was that within six months he file paperwork cleaning up the ownership details of his company to the FCC, such as refiling paperwork with Dodge’s real name.

In a letter to the broadcaster, Audio Division chief Peter Doyle says because Dodge failed to comply with the terms of the consent decree and its provisional renewals, the Commission is cancelling all of his remaining licenses.