“Please donate to us to
save a grief-stricken family by donating to Las Vegas Public Radio…” begins the news-ticker-like
crawl on the website of KIOF-LP [link]. Visitors are urged to contribute using
PayPal. If you do contribute, Las Vegas
Public Radio promises to send you a receipt and the name of the family you
are helping.
 |
| Screen Shot of LVPR News-Ticker |
The
pitch ends reminding visitors that the recent mass shooting is the Worst tragedy in Las Vegas history. No
information is provided explaining how or why a donation to the station is
helping grief stricken families.
It
appears that Las Vegas Public Radio
is using the tragedy as a way to get people to contribute to the station. I
hope I am wrong but this appears to be a scam.
We
reached out to Greg LaPorta, founder and manager of KIOF-LP, for more
information. He had not replied when this story was published. If/when LaPorta
does reply we will publish his response.
KIOF,
licensed to Las Vegas Public Radio (LVPR), is a low-power FM station that went
on the air in 2016. It serves Las Vegas at 97.9 FM with a power of 250-watts.
KIOF is not affiliated with Nevada Public Radio (KNPR), National Public Radio
or any other public radio organization. Spark
News did an extensive report on LaPorta and LVPR in October 2016 [LINK].
KIOF
might be called a family business. According to an article in the Las Vegas Review Journal [link], Greg LaPorta
is the President and CEO of LVPR. Greg’s son, Andy LaPorta is credited on the
station’s website as the station's manager. Plus, Greg’s wife, Joanna LaPorta, is
Secretary/Treasurer of LVPR.
BATTLING Weak-Kneed Yes-Men
 |
| Greg LaPorta |
Greg LaPorta
is no stranger to controversy. Last week Dru Sefron from Current first reported [link] that LaPorta filed a lawsuit against
the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and the FCC after being rejected
for a Community Service Grant from CPB.
In
the complaint, LaPorta alleges that CPB "impermissibly erected a
barrier" to its grant program because it is "extremely bias (sic)
towards LVPR.
The
suit, filed in US District Court alleges that CPB denied LVPR’s request for a waiver of CPB’s rules. CPB requires that new
applicants provide evidence of minimum financial support and minimum audience
size. After CPB rejected LVPR’s waiver
request, they denied the application.
At
that point, LaPorta and LVPR filed suit
against CPB and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
A GRAB BAG OF COMPLAINTS
In
the suit, LVPR cites a long list of
grievances:
•
LVPR claims that CPB had a duty under
the First Amendment to "make
appropriate correction in LVPR's application."
•
LVPR asserts that "there is no creditable proven
scientific evidence or data to support Nielsen’s claims" of audience
size.
•
LVPR feels that CPB’s decision
violates federal equal protection and due process standards.
 |
| Image from LVPR website |
•
LVPR alleges that “CPB and FCC boards are full of weak-kneed
yes-men who won't rock the taxpayer funded gravy train that everyone on the
inside benefits from.”
•
LVPR further alleges that a
conspiracy exists by officials from CPB and the FCC to deny LVPR funding:
"LVPR recognizes
that one of two possibilities exists: The board members [of CPB and the FCC]
act in concert, individualluy (sic), privately and outside of LVPR's public
application process..”
“Both CPB and FCC
discussed killing LVPR's applications before the carefully orchestrated show
and denial of CSG benefits by CPB and power increases by the FCC... because
moving forward it will open doors for other LPFM applicants to enter the CSG
program."
No
evidence to support these allegations is provided.
 |
| Station Manager Andy Laporta |
•
LVPR claims that “…the addition of the letters "LP" to the station's call sign
is "discriminatory, exclusionary and confiscatory," because it is a
‘turn off’ to underwriters.”
•
LVPR asked the court to subpoena
information “for bias comparison
purposes” on “stimulus funds”
that LVPR claims CPB gave to several
public radio stations.
•
LVPR wants the court to appoint a
pro-bono attorney because it claims to be operating with a $90,000 deficit.
In
compensation, LVPR seeks $1,742,364 in punitive damages plus $56,000 from CPB's
Radio Program Fund and other monetary damages. Also, LVPR wants the FCC to give
LVPR a power increase, wants the FCC to stop making the station from having to
use "-LP" call letters, wants to be able to sell advertising, and wants
the FCC to reassign one of the other
stations in the market among those in multiple-station clusters to LVPR.
I
am NOT making this up. These are LVPR’s
actual demands.
REALITY HAS A WAY OF
GETTING YOUR ATTENTION
Apparently
LaPorta is acting as his own attorney. The lawsuit was filed against CPB and
the FCC. They are entities, not people. Law and precedent require that a suit
be filed against the individual (or individuals) who are in charge of an
entity.
Because
of the errors, last week a District Court judge gave LVPR and LaPorta until
October 27th to file the correct paperwork.
It's unfortunate that such a valid complaint is being brought by such an obvious lunatic.
ReplyDeleteThere is much to be said about how CPB's system of funding, while nowhere near as "out of whack" as LaPorta likes to think, is nevertheless structurally set up in a way that biases in favor of over-funding bigger stations and under-funding smaller stations.
I would agree that the bar for CPB providing funding to an LPFM should be fairly high, as there's often little justification from the LPFM that they're truly providing content that is serving its community sufficiently enough to warrant government support. But right now it is functionally impossible for an LPFM to receive any Community Service Grant funding, and that I would agree is not appropriate.
(side note: one has to admit that a community radio station running a fundraising scam...DOES kind of keep with the custom of the country if it's broadcasting in Las Vegas, eh? :)