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Family Radio facing its own Apocalypse?

Theater of My Mind

Theater of My Mind

AllAccess, via the Contra Costa Times, predicts the end may be near for Family Radio. If so, this could have a few implications in the NYC tri-state area.

First it means they may not be actively seeking a replacement station for their former WFME Radio, so that makes one less motivated buyer for some of the prospective stations that were previously discussed.

It also means WFME-TV could be on the market soon enough, along with Family's recently acquired WDVY-FM and other nearby radio stations and/or translators.

The terms of Family's sale of WFME Radio stipulated that if Cumulus was successful in moving 94.7's transmitter into any of the five boroughs during the next five years, then Family gets an additional $8.5M~10M depending on the license class. What would happen to that obligation should Family be wound down? I suppose the answer might depend on whether another company acquired Family in its entirety or if the assets get sold off in pieces.

Of course Harold Camping posted a message on the Family Radio website last November that read, "Many listeners have heard news of this sale and are very concerned that it signals the demise of Family Radio. But, let me reassure you -- nothing could be further from the truth." And if there's one thing we know we can depend on from Camping, it's the truth.
 
Camping is very good at predicting things in the future, I hear...
 
Family Radio's international shortwave operation (WYFR) has shriveled to almost nothing over the past couple of years. It was once a major broadcaster. Yes, shortwave has been in overall decline in recent years, but the WYFR cuts have been breathtaking. What remains could be completely gone in a year or two.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
Family Radio's international shortwave operation (WYFR) has shriveled to almost nothing over the past couple of years. It was once a major broadcaster. Yes, shortwave has been in overall decline in recent years, but the WYFR cuts have been breathtaking. What remains could be completely gone in a year or two.
Click to expand...

They're down to one 5-hour English broadcast a day, 2200-0300Z on 6115 kHz, plus a handful of broadcasts each in Spanish (9 hours), Portuguese (3 hours), Chinese (2 hours), Vietnamese (1 hour), Filipino (1 hour), and Burmese (1 hour) from Florida and Taiwan. A sad (probable) ending to the oldest shortwave station in the US, beginning in 1927 as W2XAL in New York.
 
And the latest news via Glenn Hauser on the DXLD Yahoo Group on the demise of Family Radio: The already cut-to-the-bones shortwave service will be further reduced to virtually nothing on June 1. Broadcasts in Spanish and Portuguese are being cut.

Swirling more rapidly down the drain.
 
That's terrible, what will I do without my daily fix of the Bible being read by robotic-sounding people on shortwave? :D
 
They used to run 14 of those 100 KW shortwave transmitters at once....close to 24/7, I would think.
 
Obviously 950 in Philly and 106.3 in Westchester County will be sold. Maybe Greater Media will buy 950 back. I don't know about 106.3 in Westchester County though. I doubt Cumulus would buy it back. Maybe the owner of Thunder in Jersey will buy it and simulcast the station into West Chester County. Wildcard senario for the Philly station is DMG buys in and simulcasts their MEGA 1310 signal from Camden on it. In Connecticut I see their 1170AM going dark. There's not much one can do with a 1KW daytime that is east of the major city. Here's 1170's coverage map. http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/pat?call=WCTF&service=AM&status=L&hours=D

As for the TV station - is the station a non-commercial license or a commercial license? If it's non-commercial it will be harder to sell. I could be wrong, but I don't see them selling it to another religious outfit, though I'm sure TBN would like it to simulcast Channel 54 on it.
 
kenglish said:
They used to run 14 of those 100 KW shortwave transmitters at once....close to 24/7, I would think.
Click to expand...

Several of those transmitters at Family Radio's shortwave facility in Florida date back to the station's earlier "Radio New York Worldwide" incarnation in the 1960's (WNYW, not related to the current Channel 5 in NYC, although Metromedia briefly owned the even earlier WRUL.) Those units were moved from the old Scituate, Massachusetts site.
 
A certain part of their shortwave broadcast schedule involves relaying stations such as VoFC from Tipei, Taiwan.
 
And speaking of shortwave, I checked through the stations that 91.7 in Kingston, NY known as WFRH is still continues under Family Radio, but WFME when it was at 94.7 was out of the picture to make way for country as WNSH brought in its "Nash" approach. Family Radio is still being heard on 106.3 in Mount Kisco and like I said WFRH at 91.7 in Kingston, NY, and I don't really see Family Radio going away anytime soon. We've been gone through some tough times. We had a discussion about Harold Camping's "End of the World" remarks from two years ago which was kinda strange and the whole apocalyptic thing from 5 months ago. I don't know what's going to happen.
 
And more gloom and doom from Family Radio's shortwave service, via Glenn Hauser's DXLD Yahoo group: The now skeletal remains of WYFR are being further trimmed on July 1. Pretty much down to one transmitter on for a few hours. Several of the Radio Taiwan International relays via WYFR are also getting the axe.

They were hanging on by their fingernails, now they're down to just the pinky finger.
 
Those Chinese relays are likely trades to use Chinese-based transmitters for FR broadcasts to Asia.
If FR could squeeze some ¥uan out of the Chinese, they would sell them all the time they wanted.
The only way I would own an HF station would be if I could line up tenants 24/7 for each transmitter.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
And more gloom and doom from Family Radio's shortwave service, via Glenn Hauser's DXLD Yahoo group: The now skeletal remains of WYFR are being further trimmed on July 1.
Click to expand...

Update to the update, again via Glenn Hauser's DXLD Yahoo group/Dan Elyea/George Thurman: The WYFR shortwave facility will be closed down completely at the end of June. This includes the Radio Taiwan International relays.

A link in an earlier post traces back the station's history to 1927.
 
They should sell WYFR to Alan Weiner on the cheap... give WBCQ a boost!
 
I personally would like to see WRMI getting the transmitter, since it's way more powerful than the 50Kw one they use which is constantly jammed by the commies.
 
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