In the United States, there’s a “public” element to all broadcasting over the federally regulated airwaves. Audiences have the right to speak up about the changes we expect on the air. That’s why a commercial broadcast license challenge — launched decades ago, yet still within living memory — intrigued Viewers Like Us’s investigative reporter Akintunde Ahmad. Special thanks to Randall Pinkston for this interview. Learn more about his life and career: https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/randall-pinkston

Correction: An earlier version of this bonus interview excerpt misidentified the party that assumed control of WLBT’s broadcast license in 1980 as Communications Improvement Inc. CCI was the interim operator of the station for nine years after the FCC ordered the original owner to vacate the license. The excerpt has been updated for accuracy.