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WNPQ in Canton Management/Owner change

M

meezermizer

Guest
I recently received an email from WNPQ The Light 95.9 about a management/Ownership change underway. I've noticed the music has changed some and they seem to have dropped thier liners during the overnight. Does anyone have any more info?

Thanks
 
Last I heard, Natoli was going to lease the FM station in Canton to some lady who was going to over see their operations, leaving Jim Natoli still the rightfull owner, but making money leasing it out, he will never sell WBTC 1540 AM, that has been his baby from the start in Uhrichsville in 1963, and will be with him to the end.
 
Here's what I've heard:

Natoli has agreed to lease the station to Troyer's Cheese Company through his trust, which will set specific conditions up for the lease. This way he still gets to control the station's programming - even after his death! Troyer's planned to get rid of WNPQ's teaching and preaching programs and go completely Christian AC - but the details of a format change haven't yet been worked out with Natoli.

www.cantonradiowatch.blogspot.com
 
Don't believe anything you hear about WNPQ. Jim Natoli WILL never sell the place. The most likely scenerio goes like this.....Malone college has been after Natoli for years to take over the place. Anytime old Jimbo wants a free meal(the most expensive restaurant in town).....he'll meet with University officials to discuss the possiblity of running it for him. Anything free he'll take it(re....see free satillite dish mounted on roof that is running CBS news.....that he uses to do other things with). Malone is the front runner in the take over game. PERIOD! The only way its going to be sold outright is when Jimbo is in a pine box.
 
Yes, Troyer Cheese...I heard that as well. However its going to be operated by Holmes Media Group LLC (sub name of Troyer Cheese). They want to make it basically a 95.5 The Fish format
 
Gary Petricola make any attempt to get WNPQ?

That would be a good fit for his AM station, seeing that the WNPQ transmitter is in Strasburg.
 
If any of the above about Troyer as in Lisa....taking control of the station is true, heaven help the Troyers. Does anyone remember the name Steve Schwartz as in Schwartz mobile homes? He tried to do the same thing in the 90's with the country format. He paid to lease the station from Jimbo, then updated the equipment, replacing all of the stuff that came from WKYC-TV trash bins, spent a ton of money on the place but couldn't make a go of it and wound up going bankrupt. Jimbo got the place back with pretty decent equipment and didn't pay a dime for any of it(see free meal post above). Jimbo has made a career of getting everyone else to pay for things he should have been buying. You would have thought he would have installed a back up generator to keep the transmitter on when the power went down......but not Jimbo. So, a piece of advice to the Troyers, if you ARE planning to lease that place, have it written it the cotracts that Natoli, not you is responsible for all repairs and equipment updates. That he is still the maintainer of the physical plant. If you don't, you are setting yourself up for a serious and costly expidition into the land of radio. You may know cheese but you don't know radio. Just a few suggestions, avoid the Schwartz effect.
 
Hi Folks......seems the banter is heavy concerning WNPQ. As far as I know, I'm not leasing the station in the near future. :) I continue to be part of the ministry via the air staff and I know that Mr. Natoli is committed to maintaining a Christian format - Malone is, and continues to be, a ministry partner of the station. More music? - that's a very viable possibility. We are listening to our listener's comments. I guess if you have any specific questions, you can direct them to me at [email protected] - thanks - have a great weekend.
 
I was up to visit the WNPQ tower site on the grave yard hill in Bolivar, and they now have a nice back up generator, moving up with the times I guess!!!
 
Natoli has to be about 90 years old so maybe he's thinkinga bout hanging up the microphone. Would make sense for Petricola to buy or LMA it, but who knows? Natoli has LMA'd it before so why not now if the bucks are right? I heard that the Schwartz bankruptcy had very little to do with the radio station, but there were some issues with his other business interests, and (I beleive) the feds. As for Mr. Robbins... last I heard he was with CBS in Chicago.
 
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