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WJIB

Indeed. Meanwhile, The Boston Phoenix embraced the Occupy movement, hated big corporations; when Mindich sold WFNX
it was to..Clear Channel (now Iheart). The FM in Westerly wound up going to Entercom (now Audacy).
Mindich did feel bad about it.
(Decision was not a posthumous one.
Steven did pass away some time later.)
WBUR site: Mindich; "sustaining the station over the last four years in particular has been extremely difficult, and the recession has just really killed us, I made the decision. It had to be done."

WFNX Creator On Sale Of 101.7: Most Difficult Day Of My Career

When the sale of WFNX-FM was announced Wednesday, WBUR's Andrea Shea interviewed Stephen Mindich, publisher of the Phoenix Media Communications Group, to talk about the sale of 101.7.
www.wbur.org www.wbur.org
 
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The Ted Jones trust--keeping WCRB classical. Only not necessarily on 102.5;
switched to 99.5, bought. by 'GBH

>>(after Jones died) the owners hired some lawyers, broke the trust, and sold the station. They sold it to a company from New Jersey who switched the big transmitter over to a country and western station they owned and moved the classical music to a dinky little transmitter in Lowell ...Today they announced that WGBH was buying WCRB. This means that they’re going to eliminate classical music on WGBH and only have it on WCRB.
 
I noticed that the two estate sale station are gone from the RadioTVDeals Massachusetts listing, suggesting that Bob's stations are finding new homes.

I would think it a bad situation to refuse to sell at a good price to a "hated" corporation only to end up liquidating it at a fire sale. Even the term "estate sale" connotes to me bargain prices.

I could just imagine WNTN (who subleased "space" on WJIB's tower) buying it to get 5 watts on 740 and then sell their 3 watts on 1550. Or maybe keep the latter to run infomercials to sell gold and vitamins and mutual funds or even play oldies music.
 
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ajaynejr said:
I noticed that the two estate sale station are gone from the RadiotVDeals listing, suggesting that Bob's stations are finding new homes.

I would think it a bad situation to refuse to sell to a "hated" corporation only to end up liquidating it at a fire sale. Even the term "estate sale" connotes to me bargain prices.

I could just imagine WNTN (who subleased "space" on WJIB's tower) buying it to get 5 watts on 740 and then sell their 3 watts on 1550.
Click to expand...
I’d think that W267CE is much more valuable than WJIB.
 
Using search it lists WLVP and WLAM as
something like $395k, $315k asking prices (WJTO not listed of course). Don't know what asking prices were for WJIB and WBAS* though maybe former ad got
screenshotted elsewhere.

*--update: ad for WBAS as posted awhile back on New Eng Radio Stations FB group says WBAS asking price $275k

While there are various owners who could have bought/did buy the 2 MA stations, I
wonder if one of the big companies did.
iHeart, Audacy, and Beasley all have room for another AM if desired (not that they would) and FM translator would not put
them over--as it is Beasley has 5 FMs but also has the FM translator for WRCA as well as those.
iHeart AMs--680, 1030, 1200 [1430 was donated]
Beasley AMs--none
Audacy AMs--850
[There's Cumulus too who has no AMs in Boston, a few FMs in Worc.]
If they had a format they wanted to get out there...example, Black Info Network on 740, 101.3..or Fox Sports (soon to
likely show up on the Cape's 96.3)
Audacy going through woes though.

The FMt at 101.3, like Gois' FMt at 96.5, covers quite a bit of ground. As does 740--by day at least.
WNTN would do well by day moving to 740 but the FMt is the real prize.

But who would buy the Cambridge and
W. Yarmouth stations? We may soon find out.
 
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raccoonradio said:
Using search it lists WLVP and WLAM as
something like $395k, $315k asking prices (WJTO not listed of course). Don't know what asking prices were for WJIB and WBAS* though maybe former ad got
screenshotted elsewhere.

*--update: ad for WBAS as posted awhile back on New Eng Radio Stations FB group says WBAS asking price $275k

While there are various owners who could have bought/did buy the 2 MA stations, I
wonder if one of the big companies did.
iHeart, Audacy, and Beasley all have room for another AM if desired (not that they would) and FM translator would not put
them over--as it is Beasley has 5 FMs but also has the FM translator for WRCA as well as those.
iHeart AMs--680, 1030, 1200 [1430 was donated]
Beasley AMs--none
Audacy AMs--850
[There's Cumulus too who has no AMs in Boston, a few FMs in Worc.]
If they had a format they wanted to get out there...example, Black Info Network on 740, 101.3..or Fox Sports (soon to
likely show up on the Cape's 96.3)
Audacy going through woes though.

The FMt at 101.3, like Gois' FMt at 96.5, covers quite a bit of ground. As does 740--by day at least.
WNTN would do well by day moving to 740 but the FMt is the real prize.

But who would buy the Cambridge and
W. Yarmouth stations? We may soon find out.
Click to expand...
Bob.

Stop, please, if for no other reason than out of respect for the memory of Bob and what he built over 30 years.

The "deals" sites are not reliable lists of everything that's for sale. They are ads placed by (some) brokers. Just because a listing appears or disappears doesn't mean any transaction has happened or is about to happen. It just means an ad stopped running.

If a transaction does happen, you are NOT going to find out about it from the "deals" sites. You will find out about it because it gets filed with the FCC, at which point it's public data anyone can see, and it gets reported in RadioInsight and in NERW.

If you have actual information to share, it is always welcome here. Just rattling off a list of who owns what doesn't help anything. Please, stop.
 
OK I get it, and I'm not the only one who
posted somewhere (like on FB) that the
listings for WJIB and WBAS were gone so
"who knows, maybe a deal came through". Yes, we await official word.
 
raccoonradio said:
OK I get it, and I'm not the only one who
posted somewhere (like on FB) that the
listings for WJIB and WBAS were gone so
"who knows, maybe a deal came through". Yes, we await official word.
Click to expand...
It is unfortunate that the late, great Bob Bitner’s legacy is not respected here. We should not be posting heresy FB or non official “sources” and continuing the disrespectful guessing. Please wait for official information.
 
The official word would seem to have come down.

radioinsight.com

John Garabedian Purchases WJIB Boston - RadioInsight

John Garabedian's RCRQ Inc. is acquiring Soft Oldies "The Memories Station" 740 WJIB/101.3 W267CE Cambridge/Boston MA from the estate of Bob Bittner for $575,010. Garabedian, a longtime Boston area programmer, personality and executive most widely known as the founder and host of the syndicated...
radioinsight.com radioinsight.com
 
www.universalhub.com

One-man Cambridge radio station WJIB bought by a Boston broadcasting legend

RadioInsight reports the estate of Bob Bittner, who died last May has sold WJIB in Cambridge to longtime Boston-area broadcaster and DJ John Garabedian. Read more.
www.universalhub.com www.universalhub.com
"According to filings with the FCC, Garabedian will, at least initially, continue to use WJIB's existing antenna ... and will pay the Bittner estate $3,000 a month, until he finds a new frequency and a site for a new antenna within the next year or until the building landlord decides it no longer wants an antenna on its roof, whichever comes first."
 
Hopefully, Garabedian will retain the current format of WJIB-740.

One thought: Could Garabedian move WJIB to 720 and it's transmitter site to somewhere west of Boston and beam it's signal east towards Boston? It might mean a stronger signal, especially at night.
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
Hopefully, Garabedian will retain the current format of WJIB-740.
Click to expand...

He'll need to recoup at least some of the purchase price, which mostly likely means looking for advertisers rather than donors. It would be nice to dream that John H., being a Boomer himself, would maintain the current mix of music, but that may not provide the return on investment needed. Then again, this may just be a hobby station, like Clark Smidt's WATX in Connecticut, which has no translator or tower and plays oldies for a potential four-figure audience. Time will tell what WJIB will become.
 
Joseph_Gallant said:
One thought: Could Garabedian move WJIB to 720 and it's transmitter site to somewhere west of Boston and beam it's signal east towards Boston? It might mean a stronger signal, especially at night.
Click to expand...
There has been a Haitian Catholic pirate station on 720 AM from Boston's Mattapan neighborhood for around a few decades now. It calls itself "WRVB" "Radio Verite Boston". Weak signal and terrible audio quality, but it would have to finally be tracked down and gotten rid of for that to happen.

Also, the Boston area gets strong nighttime skywave skip from blowtorch 720 WGN Chicago. Don't know if that would affect such a plan. But I guess if 890 WAMG can do it beamed eastward from Ashland at night with WLS Chicago on there, maybe...
 
I hope that when John relocates or replaces the AM transmitter and tower, that he leaves the AM Stereo on!

740 WJIB is now the last AM station still broadcasting in AM Stereo in greater Boston, maybe in all of MA! I know there are still a couple in RI and CT, but I also don't know of any left in northern New England.
 
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