FCC Unable To Find 'Ghost Station'

Play 'Spooky' For Me

We're still over a month out from HALLOWEEN, but radio is already getting haunted -- apparently by a ghost station in OMAHA, NE. THE OMAHA WORLD-HERALD reports that 1490 KOMJ-A has been playing Oldies without commercials, air personalities and as the FCC has discovered, owners or a studio. In papers filed last month, the COMMISION admitted that it has yet to find who is broadcasting the station and where they're broadcasting from.

According to the paperwork, the station is owned by COCHISE BROADCASTING in JACKSON, WY. But there is no phone number for the company, let alone a website. About the only human voice heard on-air is a liner stating, "MAGIC 1490 ... The height of relaxation." There is the occasional promo of "someone who sounds like a listener who called in with a message of praise. 'Just keep playing those hit records!' says a woman with great enthusiasm. What number she called is a mystery."

The FCC investigation continues: "On AUGUST 1st, 2013, an agent from the KANSAS CITY Office attempted to inspect station KOMJ's main studio, while the station was on the air ... The station's web-page contains no main studio address and only lists a local phone number, which transfers to voice mail for stations located in the state of ARIZONA. The station's address of record is a mail box in the state of WYOMING.”

The agency finally got a lead -- said an unnamed attorney who served as contact person for the station. The attorney said the main studio is at 10714 Mockingbird Dr. in OMAHA. "This location is the main studio for the JOURNAL BROADCAST GROUP stations in OMAHA,” the report says. “The staff for the JOURNAL BROADCAST GROUP stations stated that KOMJ's main studio was not located at 10714 Mockingbird Dr. and that no one associated with station KOMJ worked at the location." Apparently KOMJ leases space at the JOURNAL BROADCAST studios, but doesn't broadcast from there.

The report concluded, "The agent from the KANSAS CITY Office was unable to locate any main studio for station KOMJ," which of course is a FCC violation. While the agency continuies its investigation, the station continues to broadcast ... from somewhere.

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