Missouri radio station defends broadcast of Russian propaganda as Free Speech

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A small, low-budget radio station based in a Kansas City suburb attracted controversy for broadcasting “Radio Sputnik,” a Russian state-sponsored program that many view as a propaganda tool for the Kremlin. 

Key Players

Peter Schartel owns Alpine Broadcasting Corp., a Liberty, Missouri-based company that runs KCXL-AM and FM, the radio station that broadcasts “Sputnik.”

RM Broadcasting, a Florida-based radio firm owned by Arnold Ferolito, sold U.S. airtime to Rossiya Segodnya, the Russian state media agency that operates “Sputnik.” 

Further Details

Since 2009, Ferolito has worked with the Russian government on broadcast deals, according to the Chicago Tribune. In 2019, he sued the U.S. Department of Justice over orders it gave him to register his firm as a foreign government agent. 

U.S. District Judge Robin L. Rosenberg, nominated by former President Barack Obama, sided with the Justice Department, ruling that Ferolito acted under the direction of Rossiya Segodnya and thus had to register RM as an agent of a foreign principal under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 (FARA). 

According to The Associated Press, FARA was adopted during World War II to protect national security. Under the act, companies that engage in propaganda or other activities on behalf of foreign governments must register so that Americans could consider “statements and actions in the light of their associations.”

Rosenberg’s decision left Ferolito angry. “They are paying for airtime, and I make a percentage,” he told the Tribune. “I am not being paid to represent the Russian government.”

In January 2020, Schartel began broadcasting “Sputnik” on KCXL in Liberty, a northeastern suburb of Kansas City that leans conservative. Per the Tribune, U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded “Sputnik” and other Russian-controlled media outlets were part of the Kremlin’s efforts to influence the 2016 presidential election.

Ferolito and RM brokered the deal between Schartel and Rossiya Segodnya at a fee of $49.27 per hour of air time, per the Tribune. 

Before KCXL began hosting the show, the Russian government had paid over $2 million since 2017 to air programming in the Washington, D.C., area. In 2020, “Sputnik” produced eight hours of programming per day in Washington, D.C. and aired six hours of it in Kansas City.

On March 26, 2022, The Associated Press reported that KCXL and WZHF-AM, a station in Capitol Heights, Maryland, just outside of Washington, were the only stations in the country paid by the Russian government to broadcast “Sputnik.” Schartel receives $5,000 a month to air “Sputnik” programming in two three-hour blocks each day.

KCXL airs at least two “Sputnik” shows, “The Critical Hour” and “Fault Lines.” On one episode of “The Critical Hour,” the hosts discussed unfounded claims about the Ukraininan government, Russian state media falsehoods regarding Russian military attacks on civilians, and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s baseless claim that his enemies in Ukraine are Nazis, the AP reported.  

“Fault Lines” echoed similar sentiments. Iowa Public Radio reported that one episode spent three hours depicting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as the aggressor in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

KCXL also airs shows that are strongly religious and promote conspiracy theories, the AP reported. One such show, “TruNews,” has been criticized by the Anti-Defamation League for antisemitic, homophobic, and Islamophobic content.

KCXL also airs content made by Alex Jones, a prominent conspiracy theorist and owner of Infowars, a far-right conspiracy theory news organization. In 2018, parents of children who were killed in the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, filed a defamation lawsuit against Jones after he declared on his show that the shooting was a hoax, ABC News reported. 

Outcomes

Broadcasters disapprove 

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, KCXL has come under renewed scrutiny. Several organizations, including the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and The Kansas City Star, have condemned the programming, arguing Schartel has platformed Russian propaganda.

Curtis LeGeyt, the president and CEO of the NAB, acknowledged the First Amendment protected Free Speech, but stated it did not “prevent private actors from exercising sound, moral judgment,” referring to Russia’s invasion as “unprovoked aggression” against “the free and sovereign people of Ukraine.” 

“NAB calls on broadcasters to cease carrying any state-sponsored programming with ties to the Russian government or its agents,” LeGeyt said. “While we know that airings of such programs are extremely limited, we believe that our nation must stand fully united against misinformation and for freedom and democracy across the globe.”

The Star also criticized Schartel in an unsigned editorial. “Much like the National Association of Broadcasters, we advise KCXL to drop all programming that paints Putin in a positive light. The Russian president is no victim; he is for sure no war hero. If Schartel had ethics, the show’s run would end here,” The Star wrote. 

“A lucrative, multi-year six-figure deal with foreign nationals may be in the best interest of Schartel’s brand. But supporting Radio Sputnik, especially during a time of war in Europe, is unpatriotic, if not un-American,” the editorial continued.

Schartel unbothered by criticism, cites Free Speech

Schartel said he initially accepted the deal to keep his struggling station from closing, but had also aired Russian content to provide a platform for alternative perspectives.

“Some will talk to me, but others will still call me a piece of whatever,” he told the AP. “What I am thankful for is we are still living in a country where they can call me up. Even if they aren’t thinking about free speech they’re exercising that right.”

KCXL’s homepage enforces Schartel’s view on Free Speech. “At KCXL 102.9fm and 1140am, we bring you the truth,” the homepage reads. “We tell you the things that the liberal media wont tell you. We make it our goal to inform our listeners on the issues that matter. We are your information station!”

The website lists “Remove Radio Sputnik,” “Shut Down KCXL,” and “Cancel Free Speech” as examples of comments that people had sent to the station. 

“Most comments come from people who have never listened themselves,” the website reads. “They don’t know that the programs we run during the week are produced in Washington DC by American journalists who jumped at the chance to not be told what to report on by big media and big corporations.”

Roy Gutterman, director of the Tully Center for Free Speech at Syracuse University, told the AP that the First Amendment allows U.S. radio stations to air whatever content they like, adding that if KCXL believes “it’s going to make a mark in Missouri by playing Radio Sputnik, they have the right to do so.” 

According to the AP, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which has jurisdiction over radio and television broadcast licensing, “does not censor content unless it intentionally endangers public safety or is found to be obscene, indecent or profane.”

Schartel believes the controversy will die down soon. He said his contract would likely not be renewed because of the closing of the U.S. branch of RT America, the Russian state-owned television counterpart to “Sputnik”.