Audacy may have a real problem on its hands, and so may minority shareholder George Soros. The FCC has begun an investigation into the license of KCBS in San Francisco after one of its hosts began broadcasting the locations and descriptions of undercover ICE agents looking for violent illegal aliens. 

Is this a First Amendment issue? Or is it an obstruction of federal law enforcement? 

A group backed Soros, a far-left kingmaker, purchased a stake in more than 200 Audacy radio stations across America last year. Among them was the San Francisco-based KCBS 740 AM, which has come under fire for revealing live locations of undercover ICE vehicles and agents that were conducting deportation operations in the San Jose area.

The FCC's Enforcement Bureau has already sent a formal Letter of Inquiry to the radio station as part of the FCC investigation. The Enforcement Bureau proceeding is inquiring whether the radio station--which is licensed to operate by the FCC--is violating the terms of their FCC license, which requires that they operate in the "public interest." The formal Enforcement Bureau Letter notes that the ICE agents were operating at the time in an area known for violent gang activity.

If the station had aired commentary opposing the raids, the matter would fall under the First Amendment and the FCC would have never bothered to look into it. If they had reported arrests as they happened in public view, that also would not be a problem. One would be opinion and the other would be news reporting, both of which would fall under constitutionally protected speech.

That, however, is not what KCBS allegedly did. They attempted to blow open an undercover raid and put the agents at higher risk of being targeted for violence:

"The Santa Clara County Rapid Response Network, which is a community defense projecting system for immigrant communities against deportation threats, first report the activity on its platforms," the host told listeners. 

The "KCBS Radio Weekend News" host then revealed the specific make, color and model of several unmarked vehicles used in the operation. The station also revealed the exact locations of several ICE agents working in the area.

Presumably, KCBS will argue that this falls into the news reporting category. The declaration that they were operating as "a community defense projecting system" would undercut that claim. The host openly declared his/her intent to obstruct federal law enforcement operating under proper jurisdiction. That's neither news nor opinion, but could in fact have been a criminal act.

But even accepting the "news" claim for argument's sake, let's mull over for a moment how irresponsible this broadcast was. If the information broadcast was accurate, it put the lives of ICE agents in further jeopardy. If the station got the details wrong, it would have put innocent civilians unconnected to ICE operations at risk by misidentifying their vehicles as part of a law-enforcement sweep. How did KCBS get this information? Did they attempt to vet it for accuracy? Did they check with ICE to confirm before 'reporting' it on air?

Granted, media orgs rarely do any of these tasks when it comes to "reporting" "news" as they see it. But the lack of care over the information and the presumed lack of any attempts to responsibly confirm information before the broadcast makes it very difficult to sell this as news reporting, and it certainly doesn't qualify as opinion either. That means the FCC has the jurisdiction to determine whether the broadcaster has violated the terms of the license under which it operates -- and given the circumstances, it's tough to argue otherwise. 

Will KCBS lose its license to broadcast, and will Audacy and Soros pay any other price for this? The answers are at best maybe and no, not really. The FCC won't go after the whole network, although Audacy may now rethink some of their programming choices elsewhere in light of the FCC's decision to police this kind of activity more robustly than in the past. KCBS may try to throw in the towel early and negotiate for fines, plus a promise to remove the host and excise "The Santa Clara County Rapid Response Network" from its programming in the future. The FCC has only rarely imposed revocation, although they moved to do so in January with a Texas FM radio station over unpaid fees stretching back a decade. Even that will take 60 days to take effect, unless KBRA coughs up $7500.

In the meantime, though, we can expect the Protection Racket Media to howl over the dark night of Trump's Nazifasciststinkybottom regime, blah blah blah. This demonstration of the effects that the infusion of Soros' influence at Audacy will amplify proves the necessity of independent platforms that won't get shut down by advertising boycotts and mainstream-media propaganda campaigns. Join us in the fight. Become a HotAir VIP member today and use promo code FAKENEWS to receive a 50% discount on your membership.

My overall impression is that KCBS' host may have watched The Warriors once too often, or not often enough. They don't have the late, great Lynne Thigpen's sense of subtlety or style. I'm disappointed that no one has put together a compilation of her narrations as a radio DJ, but this is a great example from probably the best performance of the film.