FCC will conduct formal probe into KROQ murder hoax.FCC (1) (Federal Communications Commission, Washington, DC, www.fcc.gov) The U.S. government agency that regulates interstate and international communications including wire, cable, radio, TV and satellite. The FCC was created under the U.S. will conduct formal probe into KROQ murder hoax The Federal Communications Commission Federal Communications Commission (FCC), independent executive agency of the U.S. government established in 1934 to regulate interstate and foreign communications in the public interest. , which controls the granting of radio station licenses, has decided to launch a full-scale, formal investigation into the circumstances surrounding the hoax murder confession broadcast in June 1990 on Burbank-based KROQ-FM (106.7). KROQ disc jockeys Kevin Ryder, Gene "Bean" Baxter and Doug "The Slug" Roberts teamed up on the hoax, in which Roberts (then with a Mesa, Ariz., station) called a KROQ's "confessions" segment and said he had killed his girlfriend. The confession received widespread publicity, including being featured on the "Unsolved Mysteries" television program, and was investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department This article is about the Los Angeles County Sherriff's Department, not to be confused with the smaller Los Angeles County Police The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) is a local law enforcement agency that serves Los Angeles County, California. for 10 months before the hoax was uncovered. Chuck Kelley, chief of the enforcement division of the FCC's mass media bureau, said the investigation will include an examination into whether the station owner and license holder, Infinity Broadcasting Inc. of New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , has sufficient control over station operations at KROQ. "I think, by Infinity, they mean us in management," said station General Manager Trip Reeb. "I think we do exert sufficient control. . . . What kind of controls can you put in place to keep someone from lying to you?" The commission's order, released July 17, said that initial information gathered by staff investigations "raises substantial questions of fact requiring further and more formal investigation." The FCC gave authority to its chief administrative law judge administrative law judge n. a professional hearing officer who works for the government to preside over hearings and appeals involving governmental agencies. They are generally experienced in the particular subject matter of the agency involved or of several agencies. to subpoena subpoena (səpē`nə) [Lat.,=under penalty], in law, an order to a witness to appear before a court. A subpoena ad testificandum [Lat. witnesses and documents and to appoint a commission judge to preside over the investigation, which won't be public. When it is completed, the designated judge will forward the case to the FCC for action. The FCC has the power to revoke the station's license or impose fines or other disciplinary penalties. KROQ employees have been subpoenaed to testify at an FCC closed hearing in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. on July 30. Reeb said he wasn't surprised by last week's news and saw it as merely a continuation of the informal FCC inquiry that began in the spring. |
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