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
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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.