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Pat Sajak selling Annapolis' WNAV 1430

D

DXingRadio

Pat Sajack is selling WNAV 1430/99.9 to some local investors, looks similar to what happened with WTTR 1470 in Westminster. Station was sold for a cheap $1,000, but doesn't come with little things like the tower site or studios. Studios are easy enough to move, a tower site in pricey Annapolis not so much. I'd be surprised if it moved keeping two towers, probably only a single tower somewhere running sub-100 watts at night. While the station does have a translator at 99.9 it runs 13 watts only covering the city.

Armchair PDs on DCRTV already have the station dropping its semi-eccentric oldies format (50's to 80's tunes) for the usual generic 70's-80's classic hits.

wtop.com

Pat Sajak sells Annapolis radio station to investors, including a WTOP employee - WTOP News

Pat Sajak sells Annapolis, Maryland, radio station WNAV to Maryland investors
wtop.com wtop.com
 
Really saddened to hear this; I'm a fan of the station and its format, especially it being a real, old-fashioned full-service AM'er. I've been to the studios a few times and there was always a buzz of activity. I've long understood, though, that it was only Pat's wallet that kept it rolling with that format. That is a nice little piece of real estate; I guess Sajak just couldn't resist the $$$ it will bring.
 
I never knew the game show host also had a radio station! But yes, it is sad to see it go anyways, proving once again that money "talks". Also, with the passing of Alex Trebek, we need to protect Pat Sajak/Vanna White, Wayne Brady, and Drew Carey (and many others) with everything we've got. (Thankfully Pat/Vanna are comparatively youngish and we should have them for decades to come). Save the 1980s!
 
ZantennaG1 said:
I never knew the game show host also had a radio station! But yes, it is sad to see it go anyways, proving once again that money "talks". Also, with the passing of Alex Trebek, we need to protect Pat Sajak/Vanna White, Wayne Brady, and Drew Carey (and many others) with everything we've got. (Thankfully Pat/Vanna are comparatively youngish and we should have them for decades to come). Save the 1980s!
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This is actually the second discussion thread that was posted about this same station sale. Sajak sold the station for $1,000 to a small group that includes a former employee of WNAV, who currently works at WTOP and plans to remain at WTOP while helping manage WNAV. Sajak plans to sell the land that the current station building and tower are on, but he has offered to pitch in up to $100,000 for the new owners to use, to defray the costs of relocation and rebuilding.

Here is a link to the earlier discussion thread regarding this sale:
 
Pat Sajak also used to own WTTR 1470 Westminster, MD and i think about a decade ago ... leased (but did not own) WKHZ 1590 Ocean City, MD and the person who bought WNAV is also a former employee of WKHZ, but i forget if they worked there under Sajak or not.
 
Considering that Sajak is 75, certainly he should be looking at the future for his wife & family, and making sure loose ends are tied up. I was thinking, I wouldn't call him greedy for selling the transmitter property to a developer. If he gave it away to the stations new owners, or even paid them to take it, it would just be a matter of time before they themselves sold it. What bothers me most is that right now WNAV is, well, interesting radio. It is radio done right. I've had the chance to meet morning man/PD Bill Lusby a couple times and I've told him that myself. I can think of nothing they could do here that would actually improve anything going out over the airwaves; improve the ad revenue, the bottom line? Sure. But it will be the same boring playlist I can find on my cellphone or my FM dial. Alas, WNAV isn't a non-profit and short of someone else with deep pockets stepping in and footing the bill so that Bill Lusby, Bob Duckman & company can continue putting forth a quality product...I guess the days might be numbered.
 
Self correction; Annapolis' 99.9 translator is actually owned by the Hope Church of Marlton (aka "Hope FM"). With no current WNAV tower in the future that current 13 watt signal will have to move, along with an agreement with the new owners to carry WNAV programming. I doubt Hope FM needs/wants the relay in Annapolis with Baltimore's 97.5 translator reaching the area just fine, but another thing to work out.
 
In the initial story that was posted about this sale in the "other" discussion thread about this same topic, the new owners mentioned nearly immediately that they'd be cutting back.

This is from an article that was posted way back on 11/15, or more than a month ago. Again, the link to the full article is in the other discussion thread, link in my earlier post above:
“There is always going to be change. It is one of those things that we’re going to have to trim expenses. They’ve had an owner that was able to supply a lot of money. We will keep as much as we can,” Roth said.
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Getting around the Paywall.
Click on the padlock on the Browser address line.Click COOKIES.Remove the 3 Baltimore Sun items Click Remove.Then Refresh your page.Read the article..
 
Music is definitely more familiar, mostly 70's-80's hits with some 60's thrown in. Mornings sound hollow now without a morning show, sounds music heavy with voicetracking and prerecorded news pieces. Last week morning were much more talk heavy with banter between morning host and director. Imaging changed, one only mentioning the 13 watt FM translator.
 
As a follow-up, I've been listening to WNAV on occasion and have been pleasantly surprised at the format. I was concerned it would be totally canned and boring, but they've kept the playlist interesting and listenable. Lots of syndicated shows. I can't complain.
 
DelmarvaDX said:
As a follow-up, I've been listening to WNAV on occasion and have been pleasantly surprised at the format. I was concerned it would be totally canned and boring, but they've kept the playlist interesting and listenable. Lots of syndicated shows. I can't complain.
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As I understand, the station has moved to new studios, and is known as "Capital Gold", using the Gold format in place in Myrtle Beach, Havre De Grace, MD and far suburban Pittsburgh, but localized.
 
The station has been having many technical issues lately. Many times the station will have low audio, or like in the past 12 hours, no audio. Yesterday afternoon I was hearing straight 80's music instead of the usual Gold oldies music, maybe a backup system?
 
They've dropped the "Gold" network and are just WNAV again, though the playlist still seemed to be '60s-centered oldies as of this morning. They are apparently going through a bit of a rebuilding period, hence the technical issues, and also seem to be running unhosted for now.
 
mjb1124 said:
They've dropped the "Gold" network and are just WNAV again, though the playlist still seemed to be '60s-centered oldies as of this morning. They are apparently going through a bit of a rebuilding period, hence the technical issues, and also seem to be running unhosted for now.
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The station is back in the hands of Chris Roth and crew, Maryland Media One is no longer operating it
 


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