LICENSE FOR HORNELL RADIO STATION REVOKED

WHHO-AM no longer on the air

The Federal Communicatons Commission has revoked the license of BILBAT radio, operators of Radio Station WHHO.  The station was taken off the air permanently Tuesday.

In 2007, the station was fined $10,000 by the FCC for several violations cited in an inspection of the facility.  According to the FCC website, the owners made an agreement to pay off the $10,000 fine in ten equal installments but failed to make any payments.  In late January, the license was revoked.

WHHO was first founded by The Evening Tribune as WWHG in 1946 as a high quality FM operation.  That was at a time when it appeared that FM would replace AM radio. However, it wasn’t until the late 60s that FM broadcasting came into its own.  

When WLEA-AM was founded in 1949 by a group of Hornell businessmen, the Tribune added WWHG-AM and later purchased both the frequency and license of WLEA, signing the latter off the air. In 1951, a Pennsylvania chain opened a second WLEA operating at 1480 on the dial. That station is now owned by Hornellian Kevin Doran.

WHHG was sold to a Newburgh group in the mid-50s and re-sold again several times with BILBAT radio taking control in the 1980s.

WKPQ-FM was also owned by BILBAT until last year when another group purchased it.  That station is not affected by the license revocation of WHHO which shared the same facilities in South Hornell