In this week’s issue… Beasley sells near Philly – WMGK picks DeBella successor – Remembering the voice of the Sabres – Evanov to shutter “Proud” – Corus cutbacks – New tower rises in Ontario, towers come down in Southern Tier – Translators file for changes ahead of LPFM window
By SCOTT FYBUSH
We don’t have a cover yet (stay tuned for that reveal soon!), but we’re hard at work on an achievement we never thought we’d reach – the landmark 24th edition of the world-famous Tower Site Calendar.
It’s not just a useful wall calendar. It’s also a tribute to more than a century of radio history.
And the proceeds from the calendar help sustain the reporting that we do on the broadcast industry here at Fybush Media, so your purchases matter a lot to us here. For just a few weeks, you can pre-order your 2025 calendar at a discount price, so it’s a good deal for you, too, as postage and printing costs keep going up. Visit the Fybush Media Store and place your pre-order now for the next calendar, get a great discount on previous calendars, and check out our selection of books and videos, too!
(Programming note: We had a lot of news this past week and some time to put an issue together, so here’s a NERW that’s slightly out of our summertime bi-weekly schedule. Depending on the news over the next week or two, we may or may not have issues on Aug. 28 or Sept. 4, but we will be back for certain on Sept. 11. Thanks again for your patience and continued support.)
*If you’ve ever sought out the highest point in every state, you may have ended up on Ebright Road at the very northern tip of DELAWARE, just 448 feet above sea level and just a few feet south of the Pennsylvania state line. And if you’re a radio aficionado standing at that point, it’s hard to miss the nearby tower of WJBR (99.5 Wilmington), with its big class B signal that reaches much of the Philadelphia market along with Wilmington and most of Delaware.
For years, WJBR has been a one-off in the Beasley Media Group portfolio, the company’s only station in the Wilmington market, operated mostly on its own but with some services shared with its nearby – and much larger – cluster in Philadelphia proper. After paying $42 million for WJBR in 2007, Beasley is now selling WJBR for just $5 million, a sign of how swiftly the value of standalone stations has declined in this decade.
The buyer? It’s VCY America, the Wisconsin-based Christian broadcaster that’s making an aggressive play for expansion into big cities. Just last year, VCY paid $7.25 million for the former WFAS-FM (103.9) in the New York market. Like WJBR into Philadelphia, 103.9 (now WVCN) serves some, but far from all, of the New York market – but for a religious broadcaster that’s driven by donations instead of ratings, what matters is simply the number of people covered, not how well that coverage matches the Nielsen market boundaries.
When the deal closes, WJBR’s “Mix 99.5” AC format will go away, leaving Forever’s WSTW (93.7) hot AC/top-40 format as the closest thing remaining in the Wilmington market, where it will be the only full-market commercial class B signal.
We expect the WJBR calls to go away (ending a legacy that goes back to the late 1950s, when John B. Reynolds, Sr. and Jr., put the station on the air), and we’ll be watching closely to see whether this is the only sale Beasley makes, or whether that company’s financial issues might prompt more selloffs.
In this week’s issue… Sterling returns, Castiglione retires - Bruins, Knicks name new voices - WNYC celebrates centennial, cuts jobs - Corey's new Canadian gig - Rock moves in VT - Zandy returns to PRO-FM
In this week’s issue… Evanov shutters Ottawa signal, two others - Quinn's new gig at WICC - New morning shows at WKTU, WAWZ - WFME lives again
In this week’s issue… NY's 98.7 enters stunt mode - Double shifting at WBLI - WICC, WFOX simulcast with talk - New country in Toronto - Big booster project in western Mass
In this week’s issue… An emotional, classy farewell to WCBS and all it meant - Beasley's Boston cutbacks - Shamrock shuffles Scranton (again) - WJTO's new dial spot - The 2025 Tower Site Calendar is coming!
