Why on Earth would George Soros want 200 radio stations? There's no chance he can work at all of them at once, right? All jokes aside, it appears that the FCC may be creating a shortcut to fast track the sale of a few hundred radio stations to the Soros Management Fund, obviously funded by George Soros. Real Clear Politics posted a video about it and the transcript below.
The FCC Commissioner, Brendan Carr, is a Republican and he's concerned about this. The radio stations in question are owned by a company that went bankrupt. These concerns were spoken at a hearing with the House Oversight and Accountability Committee. Watch the video below, followed by the transcript provided by RCP.
Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr voiced concerns about a decision to fast-track the sale of hundreds of radio stations owned by bankrupt firm Audacyt to the Soros Management Fund -- before the 2024 election, during a hearing with the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.
REP. NICK LANGWORHTY: ...a letter that I sent to the FCC on April 8, 2024, urging the commission to thoroughly scrutinize the transfer of ownership of Audacy Incorporated to the Soros Management Fund. Commissioner Carr, are you aware of this letter?
FCC COMMISSIONER BRENDAN CARR: Yes, I am.
LANGWORHTY: Can you give me a status update on the proceedings as they relate to the transfer of ownership of Audacy Inc. to the Soros Fund Management Company?
CARR: As you've indicated, there is a transaction where a Soros-backed group would take ownership of over 200 radio stations across 40 different markets after the FCC originally indicated that that transaction could be reviewed and approved at the bureau level without a commission vote, it's now become clear that that is a decision for the full commission, and it's one that I would assume now or in the near future the commission would approve.
I think what's interesting about it is that the FCC here is not following its normal process for reviewing a transaction. We have established over a number of years, one way in which you can get approval from the FCC when you have in excess of 25% foreign ownership, which this transaction does. And it seems to me that the FCC is poised to create for the first time, an entirely new shortcut.
LANGWORTHY: You as you pointed out here and previously, these proceedings for transfer of ownership have been expedited. What exactly makes this case so deserving of an expedited proceeding so far from what you could tell?
CARR: There is nothing about this transaction that is out of the ordinary. It's the type of thing that we see all the time, and the FCC has a process for this.
The full commission itself has never signed off on a shortcut like this. What we usually do is we require people to file a petition with us. We bring in national security agencies, they can review the foreign ownership. It's probably no big deal here, but we review that foreign ownership. and then we vote. Here, they're trying to do something that's never been done before at the commission level.
LANGWORTHY: Yeah, I must say commissioner, I am extremely alarmed at what's happening with this transaction. This is very unprecedented. Looking at the facts, it seems that the administration is giving a left-wing billionaire, who is a major donor, a close ally, one of the chief funders of all of the efforts in their dark money, a free pass to take control of hundreds of local radio stations, flooding the airwaves with leftist propaganda, and I think it's blatant.
What would a normal proceeding look like commissioner here for the transfer of ownership in this nature?
CARR: If you follow the process that the FCC adopted back in 2016, there would be a petition ruling. We'd bring in national security agencies, they would review the excessive foreign ownership that's involved here. They would figure out if there's any issues -- again, probably not, but we don't know yet.
We haven't reviewed it. That could take 3 to 4 to 5 to 6 months. Then the full commission would step in and decide up or down on the merits of the transaction. It looks like we got the cart before the horse this time.
LANGWORTHY: It certainly appears that way from my perspective, local radio and local media are the lifeline of communities like those in my district, much as small-town America and they, offer a diversity of ideas and viewpoints that aren't available elsewhere.
And it's that diversity of ideas at the left, including, you know, partisan very activist billionaires, George Soros, like to stifle, and they like to silence, and I'm deeply disturbed that this administration has fast-tracked a process to hand over these stations to one of their most loyal funders and make no mistake, they know exactly what they're doing and they welcome the result.
The FCC Commissioner, Brendan Carr, is a Republican and he's concerned about this. The radio stations in question are owned by a company that went bankrupt. These concerns were spoken at a hearing with the House Oversight and Accountability Committee. Watch the video below, followed by the transcript provided by RCP.
Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr voiced concerns about a decision to fast-track the sale of hundreds of radio stations owned by bankrupt firm Audacyt to the Soros Management Fund -- before the 2024 election, during a hearing with the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.
REP. NICK LANGWORHTY: ...a letter that I sent to the FCC on April 8, 2024, urging the commission to thoroughly scrutinize the transfer of ownership of Audacy Incorporated to the Soros Management Fund. Commissioner Carr, are you aware of this letter?
FCC COMMISSIONER BRENDAN CARR: Yes, I am.
LANGWORHTY: Can you give me a status update on the proceedings as they relate to the transfer of ownership of Audacy Inc. to the Soros Fund Management Company?
CARR: As you've indicated, there is a transaction where a Soros-backed group would take ownership of over 200 radio stations across 40 different markets after the FCC originally indicated that that transaction could be reviewed and approved at the bureau level without a commission vote, it's now become clear that that is a decision for the full commission, and it's one that I would assume now or in the near future the commission would approve.
I think what's interesting about it is that the FCC here is not following its normal process for reviewing a transaction. We have established over a number of years, one way in which you can get approval from the FCC when you have in excess of 25% foreign ownership, which this transaction does. And it seems to me that the FCC is poised to create for the first time, an entirely new shortcut.
LANGWORTHY: You as you pointed out here and previously, these proceedings for transfer of ownership have been expedited. What exactly makes this case so deserving of an expedited proceeding so far from what you could tell?
CARR: There is nothing about this transaction that is out of the ordinary. It's the type of thing that we see all the time, and the FCC has a process for this.
The full commission itself has never signed off on a shortcut like this. What we usually do is we require people to file a petition with us. We bring in national security agencies, they can review the foreign ownership. It's probably no big deal here, but we review that foreign ownership. and then we vote. Here, they're trying to do something that's never been done before at the commission level.
LANGWORTHY: Yeah, I must say commissioner, I am extremely alarmed at what's happening with this transaction. This is very unprecedented. Looking at the facts, it seems that the administration is giving a left-wing billionaire, who is a major donor, a close ally, one of the chief funders of all of the efforts in their dark money, a free pass to take control of hundreds of local radio stations, flooding the airwaves with leftist propaganda, and I think it's blatant.
What would a normal proceeding look like commissioner here for the transfer of ownership in this nature?
CARR: If you follow the process that the FCC adopted back in 2016, there would be a petition ruling. We'd bring in national security agencies, they would review the excessive foreign ownership that's involved here. They would figure out if there's any issues -- again, probably not, but we don't know yet.
We haven't reviewed it. That could take 3 to 4 to 5 to 6 months. Then the full commission would step in and decide up or down on the merits of the transaction. It looks like we got the cart before the horse this time.
LANGWORTHY: It certainly appears that way from my perspective, local radio and local media are the lifeline of communities like those in my district, much as small-town America and they, offer a diversity of ideas and viewpoints that aren't available elsewhere.
And it's that diversity of ideas at the left, including, you know, partisan very activist billionaires, George Soros, like to stifle, and they like to silence, and I'm deeply disturbed that this administration has fast-tracked a process to hand over these stations to one of their most loyal funders and make no mistake, they know exactly what they're doing and they welcome the result.
