105.9 WGWE

[Radio_bored-Op]

If a few years, down the road this station
is up for sale, can it be sold on the open market
(such as Citadel, or another independent
stand alone station owner).

 

[Radio_bored-Op]

and, along with a sale of WGWE,
does it have to follow any "rules" to
go along with the lic., such as
WNED 94.5 being bought/sold,
it must remain classical ( correct) ?

 

[w9wi]

and, along with a sale of WGWE,
does it have to follow any "rules" to
go along with the lic., such as
WNED 94.5 being bought/sold,
it must remain classical ( correct) ?

I don't know the details or numbers on WGWE's specific case. I've a vague recollection of some kind of rules to the effect that a station that wins an advantage at auction due to characteristics of the ownership may not be sold to non-qualifying ownership for some period of time -- two years? I'm not entirely certain that regulation is yet in effect.

There's nothing in the rules requiring WNED 94.5 to remain classical if sold. Again I don't have the time to look it up right now but WNED may hold a non-commercial license, in which case it cannot air commercials if sold. It could however flip to a non-commercial adult alternative format, or to a variety of religion, or even to classic rock, as long as no commercials were aired.

And, since WNED's *frequency* is not reserved for non-commercial operation, if it *does* hold a non-commercial license, it would be a trivial task to get its license modified to allow commercial operation.

(as opposed, for example, to WBFO whose 88.7 frequency *is* reserved for non-commercial operation. WBFO could *not* get its license modified to allow commercial operation.)

 

[Radio_bored-Op]

sidebar:

thank you for the info. on WNED / 94.5
as always, that is why i Love this forum,
answers the questions, that my friends and i
ponder over - u guys are great !!
..... not too many people in the "regular population"
would know nor care if about WNED ,
. . doesnt matter who's buying or selling lol...

 

[Bob1370]

Any station that occupies a commercial frequency (i.e. any AM station, any FM on 92.1 or above, or any TV station on a non-reserved channel) can go from commercial to non-commercial and back again anytime a new owner wants, unless the owner itself is a noncommercial educational entity, in which case it has to either spin it off to a for-profit subsidiary and then pay taxes on whatever profit the for-profit station generates, or sell it outright.

WNED could sell its radio properties to anyone, who in turn could commercialize them--or they could spin them off to a for-profit subsidiary still under their control and run them as commercial stations, as long as they paid taxes like any business owner on whatever bottom-line profit resulted. WNED DID sell its other TV channel, WNEQ, to commercial interests who turned it into CW affiliate WNLO as part of a duopoly with WIVB. They had to flip the market's noncomm reservation from Channel 23 to Channel 17 (which had previously been occupied by a commercial NBC O&O before the Peacock donated the license to them in 1959) but that wasn't hard since the market still kept its one noncomm reservation and lost nothing.

 

[fybush]

That's almost completely true, Bob...except for a small subset of noncommercial FM channels that are reserved in the "commercial" band and specifically designated as such in the table of allocations.

94.5 isn't one of those channels - it started out commercial, of course, and could go back that way tomorrow if WNED so desired. (And yes, a nonprofit organization can own a commercially-licensed station; that's about to happen in Cleveland at WCLV.) But 92.1A in Amherst is specifically designated as a noncommercial allocation, and whoever ends up with that channel must continue to operate it noncommercially.

s