Broadcasting Controversies

Radio and television broadcast licenses, issued by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), are valuable business properties. Therefore, choosing the recipient for a new license or approving a license renewal or station sale sometimes becomes a major legal issue. Though most radio and television stations in the city have had smooth relationships with the FCC, some of the most controversial cases before the commission have involved Indianapolis.

In 1948, a 14-year battle began to determine who would operate the city’s last VHP television outlet, Channel 13. WIRE radio, owned at that time by Indianapolis Star publisher Eugene C. Pulliam, was the first applicant. When the FCC finally held hearings in 1954, other hopefuls included WIBC radio (operated by Richard Fairbanks, former owner of the Indianapolis News), Mid-West TV Corporation (headed by Union Federal president Charles Sadlier), and Crosley Broadcasting (owner of WLW radio and Channel 5 in Cincinnati). Pulliam and Fairbanks attacked each other’s qualifications, and, in 1955, an FCC hearing examiner awarded the license to Mid-West. The losers appealed to the full commission, which voted in March 1957, to give the license to Crosley. This ruling was controversial for a number of reasons. Not only did it give the last Indianapolis VHF station to a Cincinnati company, but the decision was leaked during a congressional hearing on a proposed bill to limit the authority of the FCC. In addition, the deciding vote was cast by a new commissioner who had not heard any arguments in the case. He also had worked for the engineering firm used by Pulliam.

WIBC took the FCC to court, but in the interim Crosley put Channel 13 on the air as WLW-I. In 1958 the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled the FCC decision was wrong and ordered the commission to reopen the case. Three years later the FCC gave the license to WIBC and ordered Crosley to shut down Channel 13. In the spring of 1962, though, Fairbanks and Crosley worked out their own settlement. Crosley agreed to sell Channel 11 in Atlanta to Fairbanks, and Fairbanks agreed to let Crosley keep Channel 13. The chief of the FCC’s Broadcast Bureau balked at the agreement, as did some commissioners. Newton Minow, who as FCC chairman described television as a “vast wasteland,” called this deal a “horse trade” that was an inappropriate way to choose a responsible licensee. However, the agreement was approved by the full commission. Fairbanks bought the Atlanta station for $2.2 million and sold it five years later for almost $13 million.

Another controversy occurred over the sale of WTTV. When Bloomington engineer Sarkes Tarzian put WTTV (Channel 10) on the air in 1949, Bloomington became the smallest city in the country with a television station. WTTV became Channel 4 a few years later and was given a dual city of license–Bloomington and Indianapolis. Tarzian sold Channel 4 in 1977 for more than $26 million, at that time the highest price for a TV station not affiliated with a major network. The new owners, based in Detroit, decided to concentrate their efforts on Indianapolis. Concerned that Bloomington would be abandoned, Indiana University telecommunications professor Herbert Terry filed a petition with the FCC to stop the sale. The Detroit group backed down. They agreed to keep Channel 4’s Bloomington studios and to originate some programs from there. Satisfied that Monroe County would keep its television service, Terry withdrew his petition, and the FCC approved the sale.

WIFE’s problems with the FCC started in 1964, just a few months after Don Burden’s Star Stations, owners of stations in Omaha and Vancouver, purchased the former WISH AM-FM. The FCC charged WIFE with misusing ratings information to boost its sales and gave the station a one-year renewal rather than the usual three years. Over the next 11 years, the FCC found evidence of false billings, fraudulent contests, and illegal political contributions, including giving free advertising time to Senator Vance Hartke. WIFE employees told the commission they had been ordered to destroy records, and the station’s news director testified that he had been told by management to slant the station’s news coverage to favor Hartke, who was seeking reelection in 1964. Still, the FCC continued to renew WIFE’s license. However, in the early 1970s a local group filed a competing application for the WIFE-AM license. In 1973 an FCC law judge ruled in favor of that group, so Burden appealed to the full commission. The FCC stripped Burden of all his licenses in 1975, giving WIFE-FM to the local group, Indianapolis Broadcasting, and ordering WIFE-FM and all other Burden stations off the air. On September 2, 1976, WIFE-FM shut down, saluting Burden with the playing of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” before signing off. The FCC rejected requests to allow interim operators because Burden owned WIFE-FM’s equipment. The station was off the air until 1984 when a new group, with its own studio and equipment, came on the air as WTPI.

Another broadcasting controversy concerned popular WFBQ’s morning show hosts Bob Kevoian and Tom Griswold. The “Bob and Tom Show” featured adult humor that proved controversial. Decency in Broadcasting, a group organized by Carmel attorney John Price in 1986, charged the station with broadcasting vulgar and pornographic material. Following an unsuccessful appeal to the station’s sponsors to withdraw their advertising, the group filed a complaint against WFBQ with the FCC. Although the FCC initially took no action, Decency in Broadcasting continued to monitor and document cases of alleged indecency on WFBQ. In 1990 the FCC levied a $10,000 fine against WFBQ (which the station chose not to contest) for broadcasting four questionable routines. Despite the penalty, WFBQ continued to grow in popularity becoming Rolling Stone magazine’s “Station of the Year” in 1990.

*Note: This entry is from the original print edition of the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis (1994). We are currently seeking an individual with knowledge of this topic to update this entry.