Feds investigating Hagedorn appearances on Minnesota talk radio station

WASHINGTON — Federal investigators are probing a Minnesota news radio station’s financial relationship with Rep. Jim Hagedorn (R), questioning whether the station broke communications law by allowing a man paid by Hagedorn’s campaign to interview the congressman on air.

The investigation by the Federal Communications Commission began after the Reformer first reported in late September on business dealings between Hagedorn and Al Travis Thielfoldt. The Republican congressman had appeared on a show hosted by Thielfoldt on Mankato, Minn.-based radio station KTOE while the host was also in the Hagedorn campaign’s employ.

Neither revealed during the interviews that Hagedorn had entrusted Thielfoldt with more than $1.4 million between 2014 and 2020 to place digital ads and spots on local news stations, including on KTOE, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Now, the FCC is investigating whether Hagedorn’s campaign paid Thielfoldt or KTOE for the interviews, and whether the station violated communications law by failing to publicly disclose the financial relationship between the two men.

Read more: https://minnesotareformer.com/2021/03/04/feds-investigating-hagedorn-appearances-on-minnesota-talk-radio-station/