NorthEast Radio Watch 10/5/2020: Long Island AM Sells

In this week’s issue… Another Long Island AM sells - iHeart furloughs turn permanent - VT sports host returns - More US syndication in Toronto By SCOTT FYBUSH Jump to: ME - NH - VT - MA - RI - CT - NY - NJ - PA - Canada *What is it about the AM dial on Long Island that's kept ownership spinning fast and furious? This week, it's the signal at the very bottom of the dial changing hands, as Universal Stations strikes a deal to sell WBWD (540 Islip) to Metro Mex LLC, a group managed by Luis Morales, who owns WESX (1230 Nahant) and WJDA (1300 Quincy) in the Boston area. (There's a history here: Morales bought WESX and WJDA from Universal for $875,000 back in 2018; Universal had paid $2.3 million to buy 540 - then WLIE - along with WESX and WJDA a year earlier.) Morales runs Spanish-language Christian programming on those signals (and WJDA's new 99.9 translator in downtown Boston), and our sister site RadioInsight reports Metro Mex has already begun running a similar format on WBWD. MetroMex will pay $700,000 for WBWD, with an immediate LMA taking effect for $20,000 for each of the first two months and $10,000 for each subsequent month until the deal closes. As for the brokered Indian "Radio Zindagi" format that had been the reason for WBWD's current calls ("Bollywood," anyone?), it's now off 540 and looking for a new Long Island radio home. The WBWD deal is the latest in a flurry of AM sales on Long Island in recent years, including transfers of WTHE (1520 Mineola), the former WALK (1370 Patchogue, now WLID) and WLIM (1440 Medford) and WNYG (1580 Patchogue), all to Cantico Nuevo Ministries. And the end of Zindagi on 540 takes another south Asian format off the AM airwaves in greater New York, just as WWRL (1600 New York) is poised to drop its similar format to pick up iHeart's Black Information Network. [bucket id="8276" title="Calendar Ad"] [pmpro_login show_menu="false" show_logout_link="false"] [membership level="1,3,5,7,8,9,10,11"] *Some of the iHeart staffers who were furloughed when the COVID-19 pandemic hit back in the spring are now being informed they're not going to be able to come back to work at all, as the company continues to cope with slumping revenues in a slowed economy. We don't have a complete list, but we know those affected include Angie C (Angie Shaw), the WFNX veteran who'd been doing weekends on WZLX (100.7 Boston) and fill-ins there and on WHEB (100.3) in Portsmouth, NEW HAMPSHIRE. The layoffs in MASSACHUSETTS also included Jay Brown, who'd been on air and doing mix shows at WKAF (97.7) in the Boston market. Over at WBUR (90.9), the nationally syndicated "On Point" is cutting back from two daily hours to one starting this week, with Meghna Chakrabarti as its solo host. That means schedule adjustments for stations that took the second hour (fed live at 11 AM Eastern), including at MAINE Public, which is moving its daily "Maine Calling" talk show from 1 PM to 11 AM and adding the second hour of WBUR's other national show, "Here and Now," at 1 PM. (The Maine network is also picking up the CBC's "As It Happens," for a 9 PM weeknight airing.) *In VERMONT , Brady Farkas is headed back to the airwaves, where he's joining WDEV (550 Waterbury) a month after Vox let him go as PD and sports talk host at WCPV (101.3) in the Burlington market. Farkas will be doing news and sports updates on WDEV, and might have a sports talk show there as well in the months to come. *In northern PENNSYLVANIA , EMF changes the calls on WEKV (105.1 Sheffield) to WJKB; the WEKV calls are headed to a larger new "K-Love" acquisition, the former WQXQ (101.9 Central City KY) in the Evansville, Indiana market. *In CANADA , there's another US morning show hitting the Toronto airwaves. Premiere's Elvis Duran (syndicated up north by way of Orbyt Media) starts today on Evanov's CIRR (Proud FM 103.9), the LGBT-focused station serving Toronto. It's the second New York-based morning show to be picked up recently in Toronto, after "The Breakfast Club" (which originates just down the hall from Duran at sister station WWPR), which had been announced for Stingray's "Flow" (CFXJ 93.5) over the winter, postponed at the height of the pandemic, and then launched there over the summer. Duran's show replaces "Rise with Ryder," a local show hosted by comedian Richard Ryder. *And in Quebec City, the municipal government's decision to pull advertising from one local radio station is creating a bit of a kerfuffle. The station, RNC Media's CHOI (98.1 Radio X), is no stranger to controversy with its provocative talk format; this time, it's hosts who advocate against mask wearing and other public health mandates that prompted the city government to stop sending ad money to CHOI. Several advertisers have also followed suit, and the moves have drawn national media coverage as a spike in infection rates was causing the province to scale back its reopening of restaurants and other businesses. [/membership]

NorthEast Radio Watch 10/5/2020: Long Island AM Sells

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Scott Fybush

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NorthEast Radio Watch 10/5/2020: Long Island AM Sells

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Site of the Week 10/2/2020: The Missouri City Tower Farm, Houston

Site of the Week 10/9/2020: Houston’s Legendary KILT 610

Scott Fybush

Related Posts

Site of the Week 7/1/2022: Erie, PA (part I)

NorthEast Radio Watch 6/27/2022: Public Broadcasters’ New Brand

Site of the Week 6/24/2022: Dunkirk and Fredonia, New York

NorthEast Radio Watch 6/20/2022: iHeart Cuts Oust the “Mayor”

Site of the Week 10/9/2020: Houston's Legendary KILT 610

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