Opinion ID: 308173
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: brandywine's program representations

Text: This aspect of the case, while not the most troublesome, is clearly the most disturbing to the court. The facts in this area, as with the other areas of this case, were clearly set out by the Commission. 158 Brandywine made extensive representations to the Commission about the types of programs to be broadcast, as well as providing specific titles. Variation from the typical program schedule presented would not have been fatal if the changes had proven relatively minor or had they been implemented in good faith. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, neither was the case. The changes which took place on WXUR within the very first days following the transfer show a common design on the part of the licensee to engage in deceit and trickery in obtaining a broadcast license. Within nine days a totally unexpected group of seven programs, each of a nature different than those on the typical program schedule, were on the air. These programs, which Norris characterized as the Hate Clubs of the Air, replaced programs which were predominantly entertainment oriented. The speed with which these changes took place can lead the court to one conclusion and one conclusion only-Brandywine intended to place these controversial programs on the air from the first but feared to so inform the Commission lest the transfer application be denied. This approach was foolish. As the Commission stated in the Borst Decision and as we stated earlier in this opinion, [t]he Commission is wisely forbidden from choosing among applicants on the basis of their political, economic or social views. 159 The initial representation to the Commission was obviously a best foot forward effort by the licensee. The licensee feared that the truth would keep the license from being granted to it. Therefore, Brandywine sought through subterfuge to gain its license and then proceed to broadcast the type of material it believed to be most suitable-the type of material which would forward the ends of the fundamentalist movement-in utter disregard for either the public or their earlier representations to the Commission. The second misrepresentation concerns Interfaith Forum. We have previously described the show at length 160 and need not reiterate here. The facts are simple-when it appeared from Commission inquiry that a more balanced approach to the question of religion was necessary the principal parties at Brandywine devised this program. The record shows that only after being censured by the local government did the licensee make any effort for this program to be broadcast, and even when it finally found its way to the airwaves its content was without resemblance to those representations made to the Commission. This was never an interfaith dialogue but rather an interview program of students and faculty at the Faith Theological Seminary. We find no fault with such a program but we fail to see how it complies with Brandywine's representations for dialogue between the faiths. The applicable legal standard here was laid down by the Supreme Court over twenty-five years ago. In another communications case the Court said: The fact of concealment may be more significant than the facts concealed. The willingness to deceive a regulatory body may be disclosed by immaterial and useless deceptions as well as by material and persuasive ones. 161 This is dispositive of this issue. This is a case in which the blind need for a radio outlet in the Philadelphia market has led men experienced in the broadcast industry to misrepresent the facts and to attempt to deceive a regulatory body all to a single end-propagation on the media of their philosophic dogma. These men may have possessed the highest aims for their cause but these aims were blind to the needs of the general public. Misrepresentations conceived to win a soap-box from which to shout one's views are the basest over-exaggeration of the liberties guaranteed in the first amendment. Since the airwaves are a scarce commodity and have been deemed a public trust it is easy for us to see that Dr. McIntire and his followers have every right for their views to be broadcast. Their right to operate a radio station is no different than the rights of any other group in America. Their rights are neither superior nor inferior. In seeking a broadcast station they had to meet the same requirements as anyone else seeking a license. The first of these requirements is candor and honesty in representations to the Commission. Their dismal failure in this regard is evidenced by this 8,000 page record. These men, with their hearts bent toward deliberate and premeditated deception, cannot be said to have dealt fairly with the Commission or the people in the Philadelphia area. Their statements constitute a series of heinous misrepresentations which, even without the other factors in this case, would be ample justification for the Commission to refuse to renew the broadcast license.