An early investor and director on the Soul of the South board resigned his position last week.
Mac Hogan, who invested $375,000 in the fledgling television network, submitted a brief letter to Secretary Bill Campbell and board Chairman Ladly Abraham on Tuesday. The letter stated that Hogan was resigning from the board and all related entities.
“There has been no communication from you or anyone else for months,” Hogan wrote. “I assume the company has ceased operations. In any event my resignation stands.”
You might recall that Soul of the South received nearly $2 million in investment from the state, cobbled together by the Arkansas Development Finance Authority and the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. The company’s CEO, Doug McHenry, said in March that the company was struggling to pay its bills and he was working to raise money just to get through the next three to four months. Weeks later, the board considered “winding down” operations, but no decision was made.
The company is also the subject of a pending lawsuit arguing that Soul of the South, its owners and related entities breached a contract to lease broadcasting time from a Chicago television station. KM LPTV of Chicago-13 LLC, the licensee of WOCK-CD, claims the company owes $1.89 million.
Soul of the South has said that the contract terms cited by KM LPTV are not the terms it agreed to.
Campbell said that Hogan’s claim that the company had ceased operations was not true. He said that sales have improved, but didn’t respond to requests for financial information.
“I think Mac has been busy on other issues. [Soul of the South] is active and we are very busy,” Campbell said in an email.
Brad Henry, the vice president for development finance at the Arkansas Development Finance Authority, who serves on the board, said it was true that the board had not been provided with recent information about the company’s finances. He said the board hasn’t had a meeting in several months.
“It’s a little concerning that they haven’t had one in some time,” Henry said.
McHenry, the company’s CEO, has not returned phone or email messages seeking comment in recent weeks.
