Civic Media Acquires WNOV & Milwaukee Courier
Civic Media is purchasing Black Talk/Gospel 860 WNOV/106.5 W293CX Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Courier weekly newspaper from Mary Ellen Jones'
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WNOV 860/102.5 Milwaukee sold
- Thread starter JJSPC
- Start date
radioinsight.com
Very interesting. It sounds like Civic will keep the format, and many of the people with the station (as well as the newspaper), while making needed upgrades and improving operations. They'll probably refine the on-air presence, which has long been notorious for, um, not being very professional.
WNOV has had plenty of ups and downs over the past decade. For awhile, they ran mostly syndicated programming, like Al Sharpton. A previous translator was taken off the air because some religious station in Madison bitched about non-existent interference. And the station's longtime owner passed away earlier this year. There was an item on Northpine a few days ago about a transfer of ownership to his daughter, which should have been done over the summer but neglected. Obviously, Civic's lawyers advised her to clean that up with the FCC before they could move forward.
Obviously, this is a different type of community station than Civic is used to. But it does sound like a good fit. WNOV is as community as it gets. And selling to Civic is obviously the best option for the station, if they wanted to continue the station's mission.
Though one wonders if they'll stay on Teutonia Avenue, right in the heart of the inner city, or if Civic will combine it into new space with WAUK (currently with WRJN in Racine). I heard there's an empty radio building on Good Hope Rd. on the far northwest side of town.
WNOV has had plenty of ups and downs over the past decade. For awhile, they ran mostly syndicated programming, like Al Sharpton. A previous translator was taken off the air because some religious station in Madison bitched about non-existent interference. And the station's longtime owner passed away earlier this year. There was an item on Northpine a few days ago about a transfer of ownership to his daughter, which should have been done over the summer but neglected. Obviously, Civic's lawyers advised her to clean that up with the FCC before they could move forward.
Obviously, this is a different type of community station than Civic is used to. But it does sound like a good fit. WNOV is as community as it gets. And selling to Civic is obviously the best option for the station, if they wanted to continue the station's mission.
Though one wonders if they'll stay on Teutonia Avenue, right in the heart of the inner city, or if Civic will combine it into new space with WAUK (currently with WRJN in Racine). I heard there's an empty radio building on Good Hope Rd. on the far northwest side of town.
Better this deal than anything else (and any religious sale outside WGLB or a commitment to gospel would've been rightfully pummeled in the local press and in town); also I think they got the better deal with the 106.5 translator in the end rather than 102.5 since Northwestern-St. Paul is a headache about reach in their own market on a good day, much less Madison. Midwest with WHBZ in Sheboygan really hasn't had complaints about it since most of the Green Bay/Appleton full-power station positions are shared by Milwaukee translators anyways and they know Milwaukee commuters probably stream the station past Port Washington.
I just noticed that 102.5 FM in Milwaukee is on the air and broadcasting the family radio network from Appleton - I’m shocked to see that the Madison station also on 102.5 isn’t complaining about 102.5 the family
The current translator actually got approved and hit the air for El Sol Broadcasting in 2022 and was Smooth Jazz 102.5 and 1460. The Family Network purchased those signals in 2024. Maybe WNWC didn't want to go through another objection in 2022, or the antenna site or power were different so it wasn't an issue. Not sure.
Purchase price is $1.4 million. Seems a little steep for basically a daytime AM (5 watts at night) and a 99 watt translator.
Does the price include the weekly newspaper?
Possibly? But of course that's not listed in the asset purchase agreement with the FCC.
It's possible that Courier also owns the land where the towers are located. Though I'm not sure how desirable the land is for anything else. It's a mostly industrial area on the north side, with low property values. However, they could theoretically move the 107.3 translator there. It's a bit redundant where it currently is in Oak Creek, with the 99.9 WRJN translator close by in Racine.
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Tower is owned by Ivan Moore of los angeles
the land is owned by courier communications.
Thank you FCC tower reg and city of milwaukee web data
(property address is 3042 w Locust and fcc Antenna reg number is 1052728)
I agree can't they move the translator to Oak Creek, I did notice the extreme overlap but I wasn't going to question it - I feel that would be the FCC's job to question such topics.
Looks like a delay in the sale to Civic Media. A Milwaukee attorney filed a pleading alleging the heirs of Jerrel Jones may not have the right at this point to sell the station.
They're already in Oak Creek, renting on the WDDW (104.7) stick near the WE Energies plant. Civic just recently purchased the 107.3 translator license, so obviously any kind of relocation isn't in play (yet?). I wouldn't be surprised if they filed to relocate. The WNOV land looks ideal (the 106.5 translator is already there), and from that location would likely cover all of Milwaukee County (depending on what the engineers say). But, nothing is going to happen until the WNOV purchase is official.
Gary George is a rather controversial character in Milwaukee. He represented the district in the state Senate, ran for governor a few times, and had a number of embarrassing scandals. He currently works as a lawyer.Looks like a delay in the sale to Civic Media. A Milwaukee attorney filed a pleading alleging the heirs of Jerrel Jones may not have the right at this point to sell the station.
Not sure what he's getting at here. His beef is about the estate of Jerrel Jones, who owned the station and newspaper until he passed away earlier this year. His daughter, presumably the heir to Courier Communications, took a while to file an ownership transfer with the FCC, which was probably required in order to sell to Civic. George is questioning Jones' will, and whether his daughter is authorized to sell the company (though this filing is about the station, since this is the FCC).
Again, not sure what his angle is here. Perhaps he's looking to get some money out of it (he was notorious for kickbacks). Or wants Courier to sell to more 'local' (read: African-American) interests. Or maybe he just still likes to cause trouble, like in his political days.