The FCC is investigating a San Francisco-based radio station to determine if it violated the terms of its license by broadcasting updates on the whereabouts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and the vehicles they were driving, Chairman Brendan Carr confirmed on Newsmax.
"There are lots of reports and actually complaints to the FCC about this conduct, so what we've done is we've started an investigation," Carr told Newsmax's "Finnerty" on Thursday night.
"We've sent a formal letter of inquiry from our enforcement bureau, and we've given them a week to comply and respond to us and explain how this conduct is consistent with their public interest obligation, which is what all broadcasters have to comply with, and we're going to be tracking this," he added.
KCBS is owned by a parent company, Audacy, which has been backed by liberal billionaire donor George Soros, show host Rob Finnerty pointed out.
Carr said that "every single option is on the table" about the radio station, so the FCC needs to get more information, with an investigation that could lead to the agency revoking the stations' license.
"A lot of people are concerned, and we want to keep an eye out to see if this is happening nationwide as well," said Carr.
The station retained its name after being bought by Audacy, and Carr said there are some pieces of the Soros-backed transaction that are still pending with the FCC.
"With respect to this particular station, the focus is the revealing of the specific locations and make and model of these vehicles," said Carr.
KCBS at one time was owned by CBS, the same network that has come under fire on allegations that it selectively edited an interview last fall with then-Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
Carr pointed out that the station no longer is owned by CBS, but kept the call sign after it and others were bought out by Audacity.
The FCC, meanwhile, on Thursday released transcripts it was provided by CBS News, after complaints that the network was engaged in election interference after the then-vice president's answers were edited for a "60 Minutes" interview to make her sound more concise.
President Donald Trump has filed a $10 billion lawsuit against the network.
CBS has defended its editing, calling it a standard practice that is used for "time, space, or clarity."
Carr told Finnerty that the Biden-era FCC dismissed the complaint about news distortion "without even getting a copy of the transcript. I'm not sure how you do that. I'm don't know how you can adjudicate this without seeing it."
The FCC has opened an inquiry, he added, so the matter will remain transparent.
"People can make their views known to the FCC, and we're going to take this step by step," Carr said. "But look, there's no question that CBS has engaged in some conduct here that raises red flags. They took an interview, for instance, with Vice President [J.D.] Vance, and they immediately disclosed the full, unedited transcript. And yet it took until after the election for them to disclose the transcript here with [former] Vice President Harris."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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