Media Contact: Will Wiquist, (202) 418-0509 will.wiquist@fcc.gov For Immediate Release FCC FINES KENTUCKY LOW-POWER TV STATION OPERATORS FOR OPERATING WITHOUT A VALID LICENSE Station Failed to Renew License and Ignored FCC Warnings -- WASHINGTON, January 29, 2019—The Federal Communications Commission today fined the operators of a Kentucky unlicensed low-power television station $144,344. An FCC investigation found that the individuals operating the station, Vearl Pennington and Michael Williamson, continued to operate years after the FCC license for their station was cancelled after they failed to file a valid renewal application. In 1990, Mr. Pennington was granted an FCC license to operate low-power television station W10BM in Morehead, Kentucky. Mr. Pennington renewed the station’s license in 1993 but failed to do so again in 1998. In 2004, the FCC’s Media Bureau wrote to Mr. Pennington to inquire if he had submitted a renewal request in 1998. Receiving no response, the Media Bureau canceled the station’s license in 2004. Mr. Pennington, joined by Mr. Williamson, continued to operate the station despite their lack of an FCC-issued license. After learning of the continued, unlicensed operation of the station, the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau field agents personally warned Messrs. Pennington and Williamson that their unlicensed broadcasts violated FCC rules and the Communications Act. Despite the warning, the duo continued to operate the station. In May 2017, the Commission adopted a Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture proposing a fine of $144,344. A copy of today’s fine, formally called a Forfeiture Order, is available at: https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-19-2A1.pdf ### Office of Media Relations: (202) 418-0500 ASL Videophone: (844) 432-2275 TTY: (888) 835-5322 Twitter: @FCC www.fcc.gov/media-relations This is an unofficial announcement of Commission action. Release of the full text of a Commission order constitutes official action. See MCI v. FCC, 515 F.2d 385 (D.C. Cir. 1974).