[4] While having carried a classic country format to the end of its existence, KQQZ also aired a controversial daily talk radio show hosted by Romanik, the content of which led to additional license challenges for having potentially violated federal law against broadcasting obscenities.
[7] KHAD was a 1,000-watt daytime-only station owned by the DeSoto Broadcasting Company,[8] a six-person partnership whose principals included Pinkney Cole.
[8] KHAD was sold in 1981 to the Jefferson County Broadcasting Company—a joint operation between Pinkney and Judy Cole and Erich and Arlene Schafermeyer.
[14] The company maintained the previous Mutual Broadcasting System affiliation, with talk shows and middle of the road music through the end of the decade.
[9] On January 27, 2000, the day before the sale was to have closed, an early-morning fire destroyed the studios and transmitter facilities, resulting in the deal being postponed, then called off entirely.
[18] Silenced in the wake of the arson attack, the Radio Free Texas Trust acquired the license to KHAD in April 2000 for $125,000,[22] changing the call sign to KRFT.
While KRFT was also capable of adding nighttime service, this required a separate array of towers to be constructed and additional authorization by the FCC, which was not deemed feasible at the time.
In part due to the aftereffects of the Great Recession locally, Big League Broadcasting began selling off all their assets, having lost more than $9 million in the market over five years.
[38] EMT had previously acquired WIL (1430 AM) from Bonneville International in early 2008, then the third oldest-surviving radio station in Greater St. Louis,[b] renaming it KZQZ.
[42] Under the name Insane Broadcasting Company, Entertainment Media Trust switched KRFT's format to classic country, branded "Kool Killer Kountry" and under the KQQZ call sign,[43] while WFFX was renamed WQQX upon that deal's closure.
[36] This program initially aired on WXOZ starting on September 4, 2006, when Insane assumed control of that station, billed by Romanik as a "verbal Jerry Springer" where listeners could "be able to get things off of their chest".
[50] During an on-air interview Romanik conducted with St. Louis Aldermanic President Lewis E. Reed over the city's attempt to prevent the St. Louis Rams from relocating to Los Angeles, Romanik began verbally attacking Alderman Megan Green after her criticism of the usage of public money to keep the team, making comments about her appearance and saying she should be "flushed down the toilet.
[43] Following his tenure as Washington Park police chief, Romanik pleaded guilty on March 3, 1997, to obstruction of justice for lying 150 times to a grand jury and was sentenced to a year's probation.
"[59] Throughout 2016, Romanik ran as the Republican nominee for the Illinois House of Representatives' open 114th district seat,[60] notably berating and verbally attacking his African-American opponent, East St. Louis council member LaToya Greenwood, during his radio shows.
[63] KQQZ reverted to classic country in February 2017 after representatives for the syndicated programming contacted the station regarding the content on Romanik's show,[64] this followed his repeated use of a racial slur on-air to refer to rapper Waka Flocka Flame that prompted the St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial board to advocate for an intervention by the FCC.
[68] This later was expanded to claims Romanik had gone so far as negotiate a local marketing agreement between Entertainment Media Trust and Emmis Communications in September 2016 for WQQX—itself renamed KFTK (1490 AM).
[63] This was not the first instance of a public figure openly questioning Romanik's involvement; former St. Louis radio personality Mike Anderson accused him of being in control of the group on his media blog as early as November 9, 2009,[71] and called for an invocation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act in a May 20, 2011, posting.
You might want to make sure the stations’ music royalties are up to date for “The Sound of Silence,” because that and a lot of static could be on Insane Broadcasting’s playlist in the not-so-distant future.
[78] In a brief filed before bankruptcy court that October 8, trustee Donald Samson claimed that several buyers had emerged for all four stations, and requested the FCC to end their investigations so the divestitures could proceed.
[79] In an interview with MetroSTL, bankruptcy attorney Andrew Magdy viewed the filing as both a delay tactic and possible legal maneuver for Romanik to have control over any possible sale of the assets and profit from them, while a license revocation would leave him with nothing but debt.
[82] Trustee Dennis J. Watkins, who was acting as EMT's legal representative,[82] failed to make a single appearance before Judge Halprin after multiple requests issued to do so, then submitted a pleading in January 2020 which was found to be "procedurally and substantively deficient".
[82] After Watkins failed to submit any rebuttal at that deadline, all four stations had their license renewals dismissed for failure to prosecute,[83] and were ultimately cancelled by the FCC on that March 20.
[3] Unlicensed transmissions also occurred on the 1430 AM frequency formerly occupied by KZQZ that promptly ceased following published newspaper reports about both now-illicit operations.
[68] Romanik's final broadcast that April 10 was characterized with the coarse and inflammatory language common with the history of that show;[88] Bob Burns, since term-limited from his Missouri State House seat, called into the program to express support.
"[4] The Riverfront Times critiqued, "now, it appears that a real reaper, in the form of the Federal Communications Commission, has finally done what complaints from politicians and editorials couldn't: End a the (sic) bafflingly long-lived racist radio call-in show.