FCC Quietly Expedites Soros-Backed Purchase of Over 200 Radio Stations
By Lawson Faulkner
Billionaire activist George Soros has been authorized to purchase Audacy, the second largest radio network within the United States, gaining access to the ears of as many as 150 million Americans on the eve of a consequential election cycle. On Monday, the FCC publicly acknowledged the deal, voting 3-2 to transfer over 200 radio stations across 40 markets to a Soros-backed group with unprecedented speed.
Given the group’s past flaunting of the FCC approval process, it is surprising that regulators would expedite Soros’s controversial purchase. However, given the many prominent conservative voices calling the Audacy network home, it is unsurprising that the Democrat-controlled FCC would make an exception for a major party donor on the cusp of a pivotal presidential election.
Following Audacy’s February bankruptcy filing, Soros Fund Management, LLC purchased $400 million in debt to become the network’s largest shareholder. Over the past few years, the 93-year-old Soros has acquired a taste for strategic media investments. In 2022, the Soros-backed Latino Media Network raised eyebrows with its purchase of 18 conservative Hispanic radio stations from TelevisaUnivision for $60 million. Last fall, a Soros-backed Dutch investment firm purchased a prominent Polish media company shortly before the conservative Law and Justice government was defeated. Now, with Audacy hosting popular conservative broadcasters like Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Dana Loesch, it appears that Soros is once again attempting to squeeze out his ideological foes.
Traditionally, Section 310(b) of the Federal Communications Act of 1934 has prohibited broadcast licenses for corporations exceeding 25 percent in foreign ownership. However, in 2016, the FCC introduced a petition procedure for declaratory ruling processes, creating a pathway for foreign-owned companies to circumvent this prohibition. Soros Fund Management, which exceeds the foreign ownership threshold, has subsequently flaunted multiple critical steps for this exemption, including failing to file a petition for a declaratory ruling, failing to obtain FCC permission for excessive foreign ownership, and failing to allow executive branch agencies to review the petition.
As FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr concluded in his dissenting opinion, “the applicants decided that they did not want to comply with any of those legal requirements.” While the timeline for a petition review process “historically could take in the neighborhood of six months,” Soros correctly predicted that his particular situation would be expedited with unprecedented speed. As Commissioner Carr aptly noted, “the Commission has never done this before. So why are we voting for a first-ever fast track today?” Instead of honoring established review procedures, the Democrat-controlled FCC has evidently decided to forge a new precedent of an ideological ally.
A review of Audacy stations conducted by Digital Liberty found that over150 million Americans live in the 40 media markets reached by the 200 radio stations under Soros’s imminent control. Within nearly half of the country’s ears within reach, the strategic implications of this purchase on the upcoming election cycle are obvious.
While the FCC has an explicit obligation to scrutinize questionable purchases of media networks, it has suspiciously fast-tracked a deal that could easily alter the landscape of national political discourse. As one source with knowledge of the deal told the New York Post, “the idea that George Soros is buying hundreds of local radio stations right before a national election and will keep broadcasting Sean Hannity and other conservative talk radio hosts on Audacy is not credible.”
Regulators should work to swiftly repeal this misguided decision. The FCC’s hasty approval of Soros’s acquisition sets a dangerous precedent, undermining both the regulatory transparency of the agency and the broader integrity of American media. A future Republican FCC would be well within its rights to give the same special treatment to Rupert Murdoch if he were to attempt something similar in the future.
As it stands, Soros is about to control a major media network on the eve of a critical election, and the FCC has shamelessly swung the rhetorical pendulum in favor of its ideological allies.