FCC investigators are probing an Eagle Lake, Minnesota news radio station’s financial relationship with Rep. Jim Hagedorn, questioning whether the station broke communications law by allowing a man paid by Hagedorn’s campaign to interview the congressman on air.
The investigation began after The Reformer first reported in late September on business dealings between Hagedorn and Al Travis Thielfoldt. The Republican congressman had appeared on a show hosted by Thielfoldt on KTOE 1420 AM / 102.7 FM while the host was also in the Hagedorn campaign’s employ.
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| Al Travis Thielfoldt |
Now, the FCC is investigating whether Hagedorn’s campaign paid Thielfoldt or KTOE for the interviews, and whether the station violated communications law by failing to publicly disclose the financial relationship between the two men.
Citing the Reformer’s reporting, FCC official Robert Baker sent a letter on Oct. 2 to a lawyer representing KTOE’s license holder, Subarctic Media. The letter, obtained by the Reformer through a Freedom of Information Act request, includes three pages of questions, including inquiries about whether Subarctic Media representatives were aware of Thielfoldt’s company, Innovative Marketing Techniques, and the business it had done with Hagedorn.
The letter asked whether Hagedorn’s appearance on the station “related in any manner…to the payment or promise of payment of any money or other consideration by or on behalf of Rep. Jim Hagedorn to Innovative Marketing Techniques and/or Al Travis Thielfoldt and/or the station.”
When reached by phone on Wednesday, John Neely, a Washington, D.C.-area attorney representing Subarctic Media in the matter, declined to comment. KTOE general manager Matt Ketelsen also declined to comment when reached by phone.
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