It’s unclear why KQQB-FM and KAZZ-FM (Z-107), both owned by Pro-Active Communications, went silent June 5, staff writer Jim Kershner reported earlier this week (station numbers had been disconnected). But the coffee shop and studio, 505 W. Riverside Ave., were locked, empty and devoid of equipment this afternoon, and apparently have been so for days.

Opened in spring 2006, the business allowed jockeys to operate in full view of passing vehicles and pedestrians.

“We’re taking the station back to the streets, so to speak,” Dave Donahue, a partner in Pro-Active, said at the time.

Here’s the rest of what Kershner reported:

Meanwhile, the news got worse for KQQB last Monday, when the FCC fined it $4,000 for broadcasting a telephone call without informing the caller.
It happened in 2006, when one of the station’s DJs said on the air that 50 Cent was staying in a certain room at the Davenport Hotel. The DJ told listeners to call or go to the hotel.
About 40 people called the Davenport within an hour. Another 20 went to the hotel and had to be escorted out by security, according to the FCC report.
50 Cent wasn’t in that room, and wasn’t even in the hotel. He had been in Spokane filming "Home of the Brave," but checked out the day before.
A Davenport representative called the DJ and asked him to stop – and had no idea the call was being recorded. The DJ then played the call over the air, which is a no-no.
The station can appeal the ruling if it wishes.

Meanwhile, work on the south-facing façade of the Fernwell is nearing completion, more than a year after it was exposed by the controversial demolition of the Rookery and Mohawk building (see photo).