WOLY was a radio station

Radio station

Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

 broadcasting a religious format. Licensed to Battle Creek, Michigan

Battle Creek, Michigan

Battle Creek is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek Rivers. It is the principal city of the Battle Creek, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area , which encompasses all of Calhoun county...

, USA, the station was owned by the Christian Family Network. The station was on the air without a license from 2004 to 2009.

Recent history

In 2004, WOLY's last license was set to expire on October 1 of that year; however, the station failed to file the proper paperwork by the due date, which was June 1, 2004—according to Federal Communications Commission

Federal Communications Commission

The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...

 regulations, renewals for broadcast license

Broadcast license

A broadcast license or broadcast license is a specific type of spectrum license that grants the licensee the privilege to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses are generally straddled with additional restrictions that...

s are due four months prior to the current license's expiration. According to the FCC, the station's owners failed to file any paperwork for renewal, resulting in the station's license expiration, and the station's legal calls were deleted from the database, appended as "DWOLY".

On June 13, 2006, the FCC sent the owners a letter, stating that the station was on the air illegally, and must cease broadcasting; the owners never responded to that letter. It wasn't until January 15, 2009 that the owners filed paperwork to the FCC for a renewal of license and a "special temporary authority

Special temporary authority

In U.S. broadcast law, a special temporary authorization or special temporary authority is a type of broadcast license which temporarily allows a broadcast station to operate outside of its normal technical or legal parameters...

". The owners explained that they did attempt to file the renewal in a timely manner before the 2004 expiration, but, according to the FCC:

"...its president could not electronically file a renewal application because he was “completely befuddled by the electronic filing requirements of the FCC... [and that his] Internet Service Provider was not compatible with the FCC’s electronic filing system.” Christian Family Network also claims that despite numerous telephone calls to Commission staff, “no staff member advised [the president] that a paper renewal application could be filed if accompanied by a request for waiver of the mandatory electronic filing requirement.”"

The FCC refused to accept the owner's reason. On May 27, 2009, the FCC denied WOLY's renewal and petition, and mandated that the station leave the air immediately. WOLY complied with the order and is no longer on the air.