By KENNETH LIPP/YachatsNews
The owner of six radio stations in Lincoln County faces an uncertain future with the cancellation of a key federal broadcast license and an imminent bank foreclosure on three properties he owns, including his radio headquarters in downtown Newport.
Dave Miller of Newport owns Yaquina Bay Communications, which operates six radio stations on the central coast – KYTE-FM, KNPT-AM and KNCU-FM in Newport, KBCH-AM and KCRF-FM in Lincoln City, and KWDP-AM in Waldport – and operates out of a main office and studio on Alder Street in Newport’s Deco district.
Oregon Coast Bank says Miller owes it more than $400,000 from two loans — $755,000 in 2009 and $110,000 in 2016 — and did not pay off the balance 14 months ago as agreed. Both loans carried an interest rate of 8.25 percent.
Miller has also not paid Lincoln County property taxes in four years and owes more than $43,000 in back taxes, according to county records. The Oregon Department of Revenue and the Oregon Employment Department also have liens on Miller’s properties, according to the bank’s lawsuit.
KYTE and KNPT broadcast music, news and weather reports from a tower at Otter Crest. But technically, KYTE was licensed to serve Independence, a city in Polk County with roughly the same population as Newport, from a tower on Bald Mountain about 25 miles east of there.
Miller successfully applied to the Federal Communication Commission nine years ago for permission to change his “community of license” for KYTE from Newport to Independence.
But the FCC notified Miller in a letter Jan. 6 that it was cancelling the KYTE license because he was not broadcasting to the area assigned by his license.
It took Miller several years to get the off-the-grid Bald Mountain site up and running, and it wasn’t operational for long. In May 2018, Miller asked the FCC for a temporary authorization to broadcast KYTE from a tower at Otter Crest, citing malfunctioning generators at Bald Mountain and inability to find replacements. The FCC granted the authorization – but only until December 2018.
When Miller applied to renew his license three years later, a low-power radio station in Washington and rival Newport station KPPT filed objections on the basis that KYTE was not broadcasting to its community of license – Independence – and was causing interference to their stations with its antenna at Otter Crest.
The FCC told Miller it was denying his license application because he failed to broadcast to his community of license for more than one year, which results in a license’s expiration. The letter acknowledged Miller’s hardships moving to the new site, but said it must balance that with the fact that Miller broadcast from Otter Crest for three years without authorization.
The letter said the FCC updated its database to reflect that the license is expired and deleted the KYTE call sign.
It’s not clear how the move affects KNPT or other stations Miller owns. KYTE was still on the air at 102.7 FM as of Tuesday.
An FCC spokesperson said Miller had 30 days to file an appeal, and the agency has the authority to issue fines and seize equipment for unauthorized operation.
Miller told YachatsNews in an email Monday he was “a little shocked” by the FCC’s letter, “as we had requested the FCC to consider the situation we have been in.”
Miller said the Bald Mountain operation was delayed when the Oregon Department of Transportation backed out of providing power to the site, and he said he spent $100,000 on construction and generators that failed within a month.
“We were then forced to return to Otter Crest and applied for a special temporary authorization to operate there,” Miller said. “At this point Covid hit and we have struggled to find advertising revenue as well as employees. The special temporary authorization was granted but later expired, and we did not, with the pandemic and business slowdowns, realize that.”
Miller said he has contacted an FCC attorney and hopes to keep his license.
Bank wants its money
Even if Miller prevails in an appeal, there’s a bigger, more imminent threat to his operations. A bank that loaned him the money using the building on Alder Street as collateral says he hasn’t paid them and has sued to foreclose.
The civil complaint filed in Lincoln County Circuit Court last August by Oregon Coast Bank names Miller, his wife, Linda, Yaquina Bay Communications, Pacific West Broadcasting (another company he controls), and five of his radio stations as defendants. It also names the state revenue and employment departments and the Lincoln County tax collector as holders of tax liens against Miller’s property.
The complaint says Oregon Coast Bank loaned Miller $755,000 in 2009 and another $110,000 in December 2016. He apparently negotiated several extensions or additions to the loan by putting up properties he owns in Lincoln City and Toledo. Miller still owes the bank more than $400,000, and the bank said he did not pay the required balance in October 2021. It asked the court to order the foreclosure and sale of all three properties.
Miller asked for a continuance in October, saying he could not find an attorney. He also said he had his radio stations listed for sale with a brokerage.
Lincoln County Circuit Judge Marcia Buckley granted an additional 20 days, but Miller did not respond to further summonses, and the court is in the process of declaring him in default.
Miller did not reply to an email from YachatsNews regarding the foreclosure.
- Kenneth Lipp is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at KenLipp@YachatsNews.com