No reason to. Increased antenna height = lower ERP, and that wouldn’t be good given much of the broadcast area is hilly terrain. Plus isn’t WQKT grandfathered in somehow?
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WQKT 104.5 FM & WKVX 960 AM sold to River Radio
- Thread starter tblanks
- Start date
As pointed out, religious broadcasters are often non-profit organizations. Rules mandate that non-profits cannot accrue large amounts of cash without spending it on the cause the non-profit has declared in its charter. Therefore, having pots of donated money, they are using it to expand, fulfilling their mandate to "spread the word". They will pay more than market value because they can. So if you're a small owner looking to retire or a big company seeking to pay down crushing debt and boost stock price, it is an answer to their prayers when these companies come around flashing cash. Money talks, nobody walks.
How can you "spread the word" if nobody is listening?
Well, it may not be your cup of tea, but the Christian CCM format does very well and has quite a following listenership wise (and believe it or not quite a few non-Christians listen to CCM formatted stations because there a few out there that focus on being positive and encouraging).
There are so many different versions of Christian music/preaching/teaching and of different denominations with so many of them all over the dial nowadays [18 stations that I found in NE Ohio alone although some may be translators/LPFM/etc. of the same company] that I can't see how adding one more is going to get any more listeners. It's not like they're going to say "Woo hoo, more religious stations to listen to let's all flock to the new guy!" Chances are they're going to be happy with what they're listening to already.
The problem here is that this sale fully takes out the lone commercial radio voice in Wooster, and one of the city's two news departments (the Daily Record is a part of the Gannett death star so they may be doomed to closure).
River Radio's only intentions are to simulcast WCVO on the FM and turn the AM into a preacher dumping ground. Wooster becomes an information desert and that's not okay. It may be inescapable and predestined but it's not okay.
Looks like the new owners will be making the change in a few months.
Not surprised- Looking at FCC records the transfer was approved in January so pretty much they can flip format any moment now. From the article though it appears they want to wait till their current winter Pro Sports (seasons) contracts are up and then flip. I did notice listening today when I was in NE Ohio they aren't branding as "Sports Country" anymore in station IDs and I also noticed during one of the spot blocks an "ad" for River Radio's "River Fest" in Columbus later this year so the new owners are already making a slow touch to the station.
Besides, Wooster already has an established KLOVE affiliate on 90.9 (transmitter in Orville) which gets into Akron and Canton.
The business model for EMF (Air1 and K-Love) appears to be buy up as many stations as possible -- even if there is already an EMF station in the area -- and just flood the airwaves. I will point out that EMF is now the #2 owner of radio stations in the United States. Plus, commercial owners who have several stations in one area and want to cash one out, love EMF. Not only do the checks not bounce, but the spinoff goes non-commercial, eliminating a potential competitor.
My point is the Wooster area is losing their only local stations (with local and regional sports) to re-broadcast another CCM channel from another location. Probably isn't being well received.
I sincerely believe nobody in the town cares or listens anymore, which is probably why the owners are selling out in the first place.
Country music listeners in Wooster would likely switch to WNCO and WQMX if they haven't already.
Not sure where Sports listeners would go to for games (pro teams and OSU).
Not sure where Sports listeners would go to for games (pro teams and OSU).
I'm sure there are people who still listen, just not enough to justify expenses in a heavily disrupted industry in a small enough market.
It really says a lot that the Dix family prefers their woodworking business to radio station ownership.
WTAM comes in pretty well in Wooster 24/7 for the Guardians and Cavs. I think there are FM affiliates for all three Cleveland teams and OSU within a reasonable distance of Wooster that can be picked up, plus WKNR has the Browns and Buckeyes. I'm sure it suffers at night there, though. I didn't get to check when I was in Wooster for work back in the fall.
Honestly once the format changes and I visit NE Ohio I will likely listen to WQMX instead when I want to hear country. I listen to them time to time when I am up that way and they are very much still live and local radio!
WTF? If I had known, I would have been interested in taking it over. But I'm up in retirement territory also, so I don't know if I would have been able to handle it myself. Did he even list it for sale anywhere?
Sad to say, I believe him.
That tends to be standard for sales of this type. The seller agrees to it knowing they were never interested in owning a radio station again anyway.
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