U.S.

Knoxville has only one Black-owned radio station. The FCC is threatening its license.

BY JONATHAN MILLER

UPDATED ON: JUNE 20, 2023 / 11:15 AM / CBS NEWS



Joe Armstrong, owner of radio station WJBE in Knoxville
INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE

Joseph Armstrong has a criminal record, but he can vote. A former longtime Tennessee state legislator, he can receive his public pension. What he may not be able to do, a federal agency is saying, is run the radio station he's owned for more than a decade. ... A cornerstone of the local Black community, WJBE, 1040AM, is Knoxville's only Black-owned radio station. The station's call sign pays homage to the original station, also bearing the same name, that was once owned by "The Godfather of Soul," James Brown. ... The station's rich history is actually entwined with Armstrong's own. He worked there as a salesman in the 1970s to pay his way through college at the University of Tennessee. After Brown sold WJBE in 1979, it went through multiple owners and call letters and eventually went off air in the late 1980s, leaving Knoxville without a Black-owned and -focused station. That is, until Armstrong came in. ... In 2012, Armstrong, who is Black, took "virtually all" his life savings to buy a local radio station and resurrect the WJBE name.

"I saw that there was a need," Armstrong said to CBS News. The latest census figures show the city is home to slightly less than 200,000 people, roughly 16% of whom are Black. "It was almost embarrassing when people asked, 'Where's your Black station?'" ... The Federal Communications Commission, however, has said that his felony conviction raises questions under the Commission's Character Policy. That's because of Armstrong's criminal record — and some late paperwork.

In 2007, while still serving in the Tennessee House, Armstrong and a partner legally purchased cigarette tax stamps and sold them at a profit of approximately $330,000 following the legislature's increase in the state's cigarette tax. But he did not include the profit on his federal 2008 individual income tax return, which led to a conviction for filing a false statement on a tax return. In 2017, he was sentenced to three years' probation, which included six months of house arrest, ordered to pay nearly $100,000 in restitution to the federal government and a $40,000 fine, and required to perform 300 hours of community service.

At his sentencing, the presiding judge said Armstrong "led an exemplary life until this occurrence," calling his profiting off legislation "unethical and immoral, but not illegal." ... Tony Anderson, the retired U.S. chief probations officer who oversaw Anderson's probation, noted in a letter of support that Armstrong "complied with each and every condition as ordered by the Court" and "continues to be a very responsible, reliable, forthright, and well-respected individual in Knoxville, Tennessee, and the surrounding area." ... But the FCC says it is concerned about whether Armstrong, as the licensee, "is likely to be forthright" in his dealings with the commission. ... In 2022, five years after his sentencing, Armstrong received notice that the FCC would commence proceedings to determine whether to revoke the broadcast license under which the station operates. The commission claims this is due to his criminal past and some filing deadlines he missed, citing its character qualification policy from 1990, which says a licensee must have "the requisite propensity to obey the law."

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