Company paid millions to broadcast CCP propaganda took $100,000 PPP loan

A Virginia company registered as a foreign agent of a Chinese Communist Party media outlet and that owns a radio station paid millions to broadcast CCP propaganda got $100,000 from the U.S. government last year.

Potomac Radio Group, which registered this month under the Foreign Agents Registration Act for its work for Chinese state-run China Global Television Network, received a loan for $106,228 through the Small Business Administration in April 2020, according to ProPublica, with the loan forgiven last year. Potomac reportedly spent $79,673 on payroll, $17,835 on utilities, and $8,720 on rent.

Potomac owns WCRW AM 1190, which is heard in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. The company said it has been paid close to $4.4 million by CGTN and CCP-affiliated China Radio International throughout 2019, 2020, and 2021. WCRW launched The Bridge podcast in August 2020, with the show co-hosted by Chicago-based John St. Augustine and CRI’s Zhou Heyang.

Read more at the Washington Examiner.