Indiana RadioWatch: February 10, 2001
Northeast
Condolences to the family & friends of Robert Elliott, former GM at Federated Media's
WQHK(AM)/WMEE-FM (1380am, 97.3fm; both Fort Wayne). Elliott, 69, passed away on February 2. He
was VP/GM at the stations from 1971-1990. For a time, he also ran Federated Media's stations
in South Bend, and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Northcentral
Two Petitions to Deny for LPFM stations to report: Elkhart Adventist Broadcasting Service
Corp's application (96.3fm, Elkhart), and Voice of the Fighting Irish, Inc.'s application
(105.5fm, Notre Dame). IRW is unsure who filed the petitions.
Northwest
WZRK-CP (101.7fm, Kentland) flips calls under new owner Milner Broadcasting to WLRT.
Tom Murray, News Director at Country/WHZR (103.7fm, Royal Center), exits.
Eastcentral
Investment firm Forstmann Little & Co. acquires Citadel Communications, for $1 billion, plus
debt. In Indiana, Citadel owns News-Talk/WMDH(AM) & Country/WMDH-FM (1550am, 102.5fm; both New
Castle), and Country/WWKI (100.5fm, Kokomo).
The Indy station sale we alluded to in our last issue? Emmis Communications has sold WTLC(AM)
(1310, Indianapolis) and the "intellectual property" of WTLC-FM (105.7fm, Indianapolis) to Radio
One. According to an Emmis Communications press release, "intellectual property" means WTLC's
calls, trademarks, service marks, symbols, and logos, plus any contracts, and staff. That
means that Radio One will have to find a frequency to house "WTLC." According to the
Indianapolis Business Journal, that frequency will be 106.7fm, current home of WBKS
(106.7fm, Greenwood). Also according to the IBJ, this entire sale is valued at just over $8
million. The WTLC(AM) sale involves an LMA to Radio One, effective later this month until the
sale closes. Emmis Chairman and CEO Jeff Smulyan said that one condition of the sale was WTLC
employees moving to Radio One would, at minimum, have a guaranteed one year contract. Both
WTLC(AM) & FM were purchased by Emmis Communications from now-defunct Panache Broadcasting in
June, 1997. As for the to-be-vacant 105.7fm, after all is moved, nothing has been confirmed by
Emmis as to its future programming.
"The New Guy", nights at CHR/WZPL (99.5fm, Greenfield) decides to quit...being New, and use to
his given name: Jason "Buzz" Craven. He had been using the "New" moniker since his arrival in
October, 2000.
Religious/WPZZ (95.9fm, Franklin) flips formats from Gospel to Talk. We'll have more about
this in our next issue.
Country/WGRL (93.9fm, Noblesville) afternoon guy Brent Lee exits.
Following their switch to classic rock, WHTI & WHTY (96.7fm, Alexandria; 93.5fm, Hartford City)
inks Craiger Williams as their new imaging "voice." In addition to his voice work, Williams is
also morning man at WBBY in Tampa, Florida.
Some Bob & Tom affiliate news as they add three affiliates: WBYA (Bangor, Maine), WYNF
(Sarasota, Florida), and WZZP (Clarksville, Tennessee).
Southeast
Modern AC/WZTR (98.9fm, Salem) flips calls to WZKF. But there's more to the story: According
to station officials, they flipped formats to CHR on 26 December 2000, as "The New Kiss 98.9 -
Kiss FM." Also, as mentioned in our 2 December 2000 issue, "The Rick Dees in the Morning Show"
debuted on January 1, 2001.
Southcentral
WBRO (89.9fm, Marengo) is sold by Keith Reising's Good Shepherd Radio to Crawford County
Community Radio, Inc. We also note WBRO has a new web presence (well, new to IRW) at
http://www.wbrofm.com
A correction: The PD at Country/WKKG (101.5fm, Columbus) is Mike Patrick, not Mike Carter.
Southwest
Country/WFPC (102.3fm, Petersburg) flips calls to WBTO. Also, Evansville's Classic
Rock/WTRI (94.9fm, Mount Carmel, Illinois) flips calls to WKRI.
That's all for this issue. See you in two weeks!
Blaine Thompson
Indiana RadioWatch
irw@well.com
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