JACKSON HOLE, WYO – The ongoing dispute between Rich Broadcasting and American Tower Corporation (ATC) over unpaid tower rental fees now has a new twist. The deadline granted ATC by a judge to shut off the signals of four local radio stations operating in Jackson Hole was last month. ATC chose not to make the radio stations—KMTN, KZ95, KJAX, and KSGT—dark on March 8.
The latest, according to a news story by trade journal Inside Radio, is that Rich Broadcasting owner Richard Mecham went to Utah Senator Orrin Hatch for assistance in working out a settlement. Rich filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last fall. Mecham reportedly emailed the Utah senator’s office (Rich Broadcasting is based in Salt Lake City) requesting Hatch intervene in the matter since ATC towers are on US Forest Service property.
In mid-March, Inside Radio reports that Hatch did send letter to Thomas Tidwell, chief of the USFS, as well as regional forester Nora Rasure in Ogden, requesting answers.
“Representative government is alive and well in Utah,” Mecham told Inside Radio. “It would have been extremely helpful to have received similar support from both Sen. [Mike] Enzi and Sen. [John] Barrasso, being that the radio stations are located in Wyoming.”
