NorthEast Radio Watch 1/3/2023: State College’s Big Shuffle

In this week’s issue… Seven Mountains rearranges State College – Pamal makes big WHUD cuts – Elmira’s 94 Rock moves – New midday show at WIP – Remembering Osterlund

By SCOTT FYBUSH

Jump to: ME – NH – VT – MA – RI – CT – NY – NJ – PA – Canada

Did you miss it over the holidays? Our annual Year in Review package is back, complete with the year’s top-10 stories and a look at those we lost in 2022

*Our first big story of 2023 is one we began anticipating late in 2022. When Seven Mountains struck its $17 million deal to buy 34 stations from Forever, it set the stage for the near-complete rearrangement of the commercial radio dial in State College, PENNSYLVANIA that will kick off this morning.

Here’s what we know so far: because Seven Mountains already had its own cluster of stations in State College, it had to divest its own four signals in order to pick up Forever’s four FMs and two AMs.

Only two of Forever’s existing brands will remain intact as Seven Mountains moves over to the former Forever studios: country “Big Froggy 101.1” (WFGE) and classic rock “99.5 the Bus” (WBUS).

(Read on for all the details in our subscriber-only section…)

Looking to get into station ownership? Our StationSale division has some great new listings for you, including a major market FM translator opportunity, a profitable Midwest FM, an inexpensive entry into a fast-growing Western market, and a turnkey profitable FM/AM/translator small-market combo that’s ready for a new owner. Drop me a line at scott@fybush.com and I’ll set you up with an NDA and all the details…

And if your noncommercial FM station is ready to think about translators, there’s a filing window coming soon from the FCC and it’s the perfect time to start making plans.