103.1 WRNR SOLD!!!

[leethalweapon]

Another indie station bites the dust...

WRNR SOLD!!!

STEVE KINGSTON's EMPIRE BROADCASTING SYSTEM, INC. is selling Triple A WRNR/ANNAPOLIS, MD to PETER AND JOHN FELLOWSHIP INC. for $1.54 million. The buyer owns Religion WRBS-A and Contemporary Christian WRBS-F (BRIGHT FM)/BALTIMORE.

 

[TheBigA]

A hobby radio station is great until it starts to cost you money. I would bet the advertising drought that is hurting a lot of the big companies is hurting the small ones even more. The tragic part of this is that the station will go religious.

 

[rparky54]

A religious company picked off our AAA station KPRI in the San Diego area a few years ago. Even though it's a large metro area, a lot of the artists that were played no longer are on our local airwaves. What sucks is that there are multiple stations playing religious music, but none playing indie artists who existing local stations have deemed aren't a fit for their formats.

 

[udfan07]

I felt sick when I saw this news. Such a great station and it gets replaced by a religious station. Hate that this is the state of radio now. It also hurts that the only alternative in Baltimore is WTMD which isn't as good as WRNR.

 

[TheBigA]

What sucks is that there are multiple stations playing religious music, but none playing indie artists who existing local stations have deemed aren't a fit for their formats.

What sucks is that fans of religious music are more willing to pay their own money to support it on the radio. If fans of indie artists would do the same, you'd see less of this happening. Now the challenge will be to support WTMD.

Hate that this is the state of radio now.

The state of radio now is that advertisers are less interested in paying for small boutique genres. If the fans of that music want to see it on the radio, they need to take control. If WTMD isn't as good, get involved and help fix it. Don't expect someone else to do the work and pay the bills.

 

[KilowattKat]

A religious company picked off our AAA station KPRI in the San Diego area a few years ago. Even though it's a large metro area, a lot of the artists that were played no longer are on our local airwaves. What sucks is that there are multiple stations playing religious music, but none playing indie artists who existing local stations have deemed aren't a fit for their formats.

The only indie/college type of station in SD county is Palomar College's 500 watt 1320 KKSM. The transmitter is in Oceanside, so the signal only reaches as far south as La Jolla. They are an award winning college station with an outstanding radio/TV program for students. When not airing a specialty show, they play a rather strange, all over the road music mix.

KKSM AM 1320

The Radio Revolution

www.palomar.edu

 

[CTListener]

The only indie/college type of station in SD county is Palomar College's 500 watt 1320 KKSM. The transmitter is in Oceanside, so the signal only reaches as far south as La Jolla. They are an award winning college station with an outstanding radio/TV program for students. When not airing a specialty show, they play a rather strange, all over the road music mix.

KKSM AM 1320

The Radio Revolution

www.palomar.edu

On AM. Who besides the friends and significant others of the students involved in the programming could possibly be listening?

 

[TheBigA]

The only indie/college type of station in SD county is Palomar College's 500 watt 1320 KKSM.

So the college is paying the costs and the students work for free. That's how indie music gets on the radio because the fans think that music is free. It's not. Everything costs money. Fans of indie music need to get more proactive or the format will disappear.

 

[KilowattKat]

On AM. Who besides the friends and significant others of the students involved in the programming could possibly be listening?

The station was donated to the college back in the 90's. Adding a translator is too difficult due to an overcrowded FM dial. The college owns the land that the 3 towers sit on, which is some of the most expensive real estate in the country. I'm sure they've had offers to buy that land. It's probably a matter of time before the college sells that land. So far, Palomar seems committed to keep the station going.

 

[KilowattKat]

So the college is paying the costs and the students work for free. That's how indie music gets on the radio because the fans think that music is free. It's not. Everything costs money. Fans of indie music need to get more proactive or the format will disappear.

Especially as more schools and universities unload their radio properties, the number of these indie stations is dwindling. True, they will need to be proactive to keep radio as an outlet for this type of music. Certainly the schools don't see the value of it.

 

[TheBigA]

Especially as more schools and universities unload their radio properties

Good point, and to whom are they selling? EMF. Why not the Friends of Indie Rock?

 

[leethalweapon]

I seem to remember that some time in the last 12 months, WRNR facing potential signal interference from an adjacent market move-in. I wonder if the decision too sell 103.1 but retain calls and intellectual property is an attempt to find a clearer signal. Maybe something closer to Baltimore.

 

[lanceventa]

I seem to remember that some time in the last 12 months, WRNR facing potential signal interference from an adjacent market move-in. I wonder if the decision too sell 103.1 but but retain calls and intellectual property is an attempt to find a clearer signal. Maybe something closer to Baltimore.

Nothing like that has been proposed or can happen...