The Media Research Center’s meltdowns over George Soros for doing things that right-wing billionaires also do have regularly continued since the last time we checked in. Tom Olohan reprised his employer’s earlier “Soros radio” freakout — when a Soros-backed fund invested in a group of Hispanic radio stations — in a Feb. 16 post:
Leftist billionaire George Soros has reportedly acquired a massive stake in America’s second-largest radio company, igniting concerns about potential influence ahead of the 2024 election.
Soros Fund Management purchased $400 million of bankrupt radio company Audacy’s debt or about a 40% stake in the company, the New York Post reporters Josh Kosman and Ariel Zilber unveiled on Wednesday. According to the Post, citing bankruptcy filings, Audacy is “the No. 2 US radio broadcaster behind iHeartMedia with stations including New York’s WFAN and 1010 WINS, as well as Los Angeles-based KROQ.” Notably, Audacy features or streams at least 16 powerful 50,000-watt radio stations, which means that their coverage is especially widespread.
The Soros purchase may implicate the following 50,000-watt radio stations, as described by RadioStation.info: WVEE Atlanta, WZRH New Orleans, WFUN St. Louis, 1010 WINS New York, 1020 KDKA Pittsburgh, 830 WCCO Minneapolis, KCBS 740 San Francisco, WWL New Orleans, KYW Philadelphia, 1120 KMOX St. Louis, KNX News Los Angeles, WCBS New York, Talk Radio 1210 WPHT Philadelphia, 92-9 The Game Atlanta, 105.3 The Fan Dallas and 670 The Score Chicago. Additionally, Audacy has a deal with CBS News Radio that greatly expands Audacy’s reach.
A source described the Soros purchase as “scary” in statements to the Post. “One insider close to the situation, noting that he was a Republican, said he believed it was possible Soros was buying the stake to exert influence on public opinion in the months leading up to the 2024 presidential election,” the Post reported.
Olohan didn’t explain why the word of an obviously partisan anonymous commentator should be trusted on anything, nor did he offer any evidence whatsoever that the formats of these stations would be changed. By contrast, the MRC defended the right-wing owner of one of the largest group of TV stations in the country — Sinclair Broadcast Group, known for right-wing bias in its local newscasts — when he expanded his partisan empire by buying the Baltimore Sun. And if these radio stations are apparently so unprofitable that they can be bought out of bankruptcy, why does the MRC care that Soros is sinking money into an apparent rathole?
Still, MRC chief Brent Bozell whined that Soros Fund Management wanted to fast-track federal approval of the purchase, as detailed in an anonymously written April 22 post:
The Media Research Center wants the Federal Communications Commission to know: “The Communications Act does not contain a special Soros shortcut.”
Today, the Media Research Center (MRC) and its president, Brent Bozell, filed a formal petition to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) requesting that the agency not fast-track George Soros’ scheme to take over radio behemoth Audacy, which owns the second largest number of broadcast radio stations in the country.
Leftist activist billionaire George Soros and his company Soros Fund Management have pushed for the FCC to approve their assignment applications to become the largest shareholder in Audacy. The Communications Act, however, requires the FCC first perform a “public interest” analysis before approving such an acquisition, particularly in a case like this one, where foreign ownership interests are involved. However, Soros has asked the FCC to disregard this congressionally-mandated procedure, saying the commission should use its byzantine “special warrant” process to sidestep proper review.
Soros Fund Management, made a move to spend $400 million to acquire 40 percent of Audacy’s shares, insisting that the “special warrant” process is necessary as Audacy has recently filed for bankruptcy. However, as Bozell stated succinctly on behalf of the MRC in the FCC petition, “The Soros filings fail to demonstrate that in this case any interest in the reasonably efficient emergence from bankruptcy cannot be accommodated while also assessing the foreign ownership interests at the same time.”
[…]MRC Vice President for Free Speech America Dan Schneider cautioned that FCC commissioners sympathetic to Soros’ agenda might try to disregard the law to fast-track the Audacy acquisition. Schneider warned: “Right now, the Democrats on the Commission are trying to grease the skids to allow George Soros and his son Alex to buy skads of radio stations all across America…right before the election. I don’t think that’s coincidental.”
Neither Bozell nor Schneider offered any evidence to back up their anti-Soros conspiracy theory that Soros will change programming on all of these stations to his favored political content — and they will never apply the same standard to the owner of Sinclair Broadcast Group.