According to The Columbus Dispatch, The case involves the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals’ ruling in 2008 to deny the station’s property-tax exemption. In that ruling, the tax commissioner found that WCVO’s property is used exclusively as a radio station and not for public worship.
WCVO appealed the decision, claiming that the commissioner was too limited in defining a house of worship and that, because the station’s previous property had been exempted, its new property in Gahanna should be exempted, too.
During oral arguments before the court a few weeks ago, Assistant Attorney General Daniel Kim asserted that the station changed its business model around the time it moved to Gahanna from New Albany.
When WCVO first signed on in 1972, it was funded by donors and featured talk programming — “ preaching and teaching” — in Christian radio jargon. Over the years, the format began to include music and, by early 2004, the station had completely changed to an adult-contemporary, Christian-music format.
The station’s funding also changed, he said. Today, two-thirds of WCVO’s support comes from advertising and one-third comes from contributions.
“What we have here is a commercial enterprise, where the advertising funds the business,” Kim said.
In his brief, WCVO’s attorney, Brian Zets, argued that “Christian radio is public worship” and that the station’s music “encourages a vertical relationship to God and serves as a ministry to 60 percent of its 55,000 daily listeners.”
Zets also argued that on-air advertising was “no different than a traditional church selling advertising space in the weekly bulletin.”
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| WCVO 104.9 FM (6 Kw) Red=Local Coverage |
The Ohio Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments about the case. The court usually takes from three to six months before a decision is announced.
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