1190 KQQZ Fairview Heights IL, 1430 KZQZ St. Louis, 1490 KFTK East St. Louis IL, and 1510 WQQW Highland IL were acquired by the company between 2006 and 2012. A petition to deny was filed for their 2012 license renewals in which local resident Mark Kern stated that the company was being run by Robert Romanik, despite he being ineligible to hold an FCC license as a convicted felon (obstruction of justice and bank fraud).
The FCC concluded in an investigation that Romanik provided all of the funds for the acquisition of the stations, but while not listed as a party in any FCC filing they supported Kern’s claim that Romanik held de facto control over the stations including negotiating the LMA agreement for 1490 KFTK with Emmis Communications. The FCC states that Entertainment Media Trust, which also operates as Insane Broadcasting Company, failed or was inable to provide responsive information to the agency and is setting up the hearing to establish whether there has been an undisclosed de facto transfer of control of the Stations to Romanik, EMT engaged in misrepresentation and/or lack of candor in its applications and other communications with the Commission, or if the Trust shields Romanik or the Trust’s beneficiaries from holding attributable interests in the Stations under the Commission’s ownership attribution policies.
